Little Richard

• Born: December 5, 1932
• Birthplace: Macon, Georgia
• Died: May 9, 2020
• Place of death: Tullahoma, Tennessee

Musician and entertainer

A dynamic, flamboyant performer, Little Richard fused gospel, boogie-woogie, and rhythm and blues to create a new and original sound that evolved into rock and roll. At the height of his early success, he stopped performing to study religion, but he later returned to entertain new generations of music fans.

Early Life

Little Richard, born Richard Wayne Penniman, was the third of twelve children born to Charles "Bud" Penniman and Leva Mae Stewart Penniman. Part of a poor but deeply religious family, he began performing in African Methodist Episcopal and Pentecostal churches at an early age. He and his siblings formed a spiritual group known as the Penniman Singers. He also sang with the Tiny Tots Gospel Quartet, where he earned a reputation for shouting lyrics and entertained thoughts of becoming a preacher. Little Richard attended Hudson High School, where he played alto saxophone in the marching band. As a teenager, he also learned to play piano from the openly gay performer Esquerita (Steven Quincy Reeder, Jr., also known as Eskew Reeder, the Magnificent Malochi, and Fabulash).

In his mid-teens, Little Richard left home to play piano with Dr. Hudson’s Medicine Show. He went on to tour the South with Brown’s Orchestra. He later toured with a minstrel show, Sugarfoot Sam from Alabama, and performed in women’s clothing as "Princess Lavonne." In 1951, Little Richard won an Atlanta talent contest that landed him a recording contract with RCA, for whom he recorded a few nondescript rhythm-and-blues (R&B) tracks. The following year, his father was murdered, and Little Richard returned home to Macon to help support his family. He worked as a dishwasher and occasional nightclub performer, first with a backup band called the Tempo Toppers and later as front man for the Upsetters.

Life’s Work

In 1955, Little Richard earned a recording contract in New Orleans, where he cut his first hit, the up-tempo, boogie-woogie-flavored "Tutti Frutti." The single rocketed to the top of the R&B charts, made it into the pop Top 40, and eventually—after being covered by such diverse artists as Elvis Presley and Pat Boone—sold more than three million copies. A string of hits—including "Rip It Up," "Lucille," "Jenny, Jenny," "Good Golly, Miss Molly," "Keep A-Knockin’," "Long Tall Sally," and "Slippin’ and Slidin’"—followed over the next three years. Of some fifty Little Richard releases during this period, sixteen made Billboard charts, and seven reached number one. While his music excited listeners, his concert performances drove fans into a frenzy. He wore glittering capes, pancake makeup, and mascara; styled his hair in a pompadour; and screamed, pounded the piano, danced, and jumped about the stage. Segregated audiences boogied together to his music, and women of all races threw their underwear on stage. He also appeared in several early rock-and-roll-themed films, including The Girl Can’t Help It and Don’t Knock the Rock (both released in 1956).

Late in 1957, Little Richard had an apocalyptic vision that persuaded him to trade rock and roll for religion. He enrolled in a Seventh-day Adventist college in Alabama and became an ordained minister. He began recording gospel music. In 1959, he married Ernestine Campbell, a woman he had met during an evangelical gathering; they divorced in the mid-1960s.

In the early 1960s, Little Richard began touring again, performing in England and in Hamburg, Germany, alongside the newly formed Beatles. He formed the Little Richard Show, which included young Jimi Hendrix as guitarist, and toured widely, performing his early hits, for the next decade. Meanwhile, he succumbed to the lure of alcohol, drugs, and sex. Once again, he turned to religion for salvation, eschewing fame and the temptations of stardom to sell Bibles, record gospel music, and preach.

In the mid-1980s, Little Richard came to terms with his inner turmoil, dividing his time between the two major forces in his life—religion and rock and roll. He would continue to perform his popular songs, occasionally acting in television and in film—notably guest starring in Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986)—and serving as an evangelist, preaching, and performing marriage ceremonies. He also appeared in commercials for an array of products and companies.

The 1990s saw Little Richard introduce himself to yet another generation of music fans through several notable works for children. He appeared on a 1991 children's benefit album performing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and soon built upon this success. His album Shake It All About (1992) included many traditional children's songs in his trademark rock and roll style. Little Richard also recorded the theme song to The Magic School Bus, a PBS educational show for children.

Little Richard continued performing and making occasional guest appearances into the twenty-first century. A biographical film based on his life, Little Richard, was released in 2000, and he was also depicted in the James Brown biopic Get On Up in 2014. Health issues slowed his concert schedule somewhat in the 2010s, but he still earned critical acclaim as a pillar of original rock and roll.

Having essentially retired in 2013, the end of the second decade of the twenty-first century saw what has typically been cited as Little Richard's final public appearance. Only months after attending the Governor's Arts Awards ceremony in Tennessee in October 2019, during which he was honored with a Distinguished Artist Award, as his health continued to decline, he died from bone cancer in Tullahoma, Tennessee, on May 9, 2020.

Significance

A primary influence on such artists as James Brown, Otis Redding, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Prince, Michael Jackson, and others, Little Richard was showered with honors for his contributions to American music. He was among the inaugural class inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and he or his works have been listed on numerous compilations of the greatest rock artists, albums, and songs of all time by publications such as Rolling Stone. In 2007 Mojo named "Tutti Frutti" the most world-changing record of all time, and the track was inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2010.

Little Richard received lifetime achievement awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (1993) and the Rhythm and Blues Foundation (1994). He was also recognized with the BMI Icon Award (2002), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Hall of Fame Award (2002), and the National Museum of African American Music's Rhapsody & Rhythm Award. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (2003), the Apollo Theater Legends Hall of Fame (2006), the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame (2009), the Blues Hall of Fame (2015), and the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame (2015), among other honors.

Bibliography

Altschuler, Glenn C. All Shook Up: How Rock ’n’ Roll Changed America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Intriguing study of how postwar popular music influenced America, in racial, political, sexual, commercial, and cultural terms. Contains biographies of seminal rock-and-roll musicians, including Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, and Little Richard.

Kemp, Mark. "Little Richard Bio." Rolling Stone, 2018, www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/little-richard/biography. Accessed 29 Mar. 2018.

Kirby, David. Little Richard: The Birth of Rock ’n’ Roll. New York: Continuum, 2009. Well-researched biography of the rock-and-roll star, with special emphasis on how Little Richard’s music was influenced by his sojourns in Macon, New Orleans, and Los Angeles.

Malone, Chris. "A Brief History of Little Richard Grappling with His Sexuality & Religion." Billboard, 9 Oct. 2017, www.billboard.com/articles/news/7990551/richard-sexuality-religion-history. Accessed 29 Mar. 2018.

Marsh, David. The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New York: Da Capo Press, 1999. Guide to the best music of the past compiled by rock critic and biographer Marsh, with commentary.

Weiner, Tim. "Little Richard, Flamboyant Wild Man of Rock 'n' Roll, Dies at 87." The New York Times, 12 May 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/05/09/arts/music/little-richard-dead.html. Accessed 5 June 2020.

White, Charles. The Life and Times of Little Richard: The Authorized Biography. Rev. ed. London: Omnibus Press, 2003. Updated edition of an earlier authoritative biography largely based upon Little Richard’s own words and interviews with his family, friends, and other musicians. Includes lists of sessions, discography, and photographs.