Rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Little Richard dies aged 87

Richard Penniman was among rock ‘n’ roll’s founding fathers and helped shatter the colour divide on music charts.

Singer Little Richard performs at 3rd annual TV Land Awards show.
Richard sold more than 30 million records worldwide, and his influence on other musicians was equally staggering [File: Fred Prouser/Reuters]

Little Richard, the self-proclaimed “architect of rock ‘n’ roll” who built his ground-breaking sound with a boiling blend of boogie-woogie, rhythm and blues, and gospel, died on Saturday at the age of 87.

Richard, a Grammy Award winner and inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame whose electrifying 1950s hits such as Tutti Frutti and Long Tall Sally and flamboyant stage presence influenced legions of performers, succumbed to cancer.

“Little Richard died in Tullahoma, Tennessee of bone cancer. He was loved by his family and adored by millions,” his family said in a statement through their lawyer, Bill Sobel.

Richard’s bass guitarist, Charles Glenn, told celebrity website TMZ the musician had been sick for two months and that he died surrounded by his brother, sister and son.

Born Richard Penniman, Little Richard was one of rock n‘ rolls founding fathers who helped shatter the colour line on the music charts, joining Chuck Berry and Fats Domino in bringing what was once called race music” into the mainstream.

Richards hyperkinetic piano playing, coupled with his howling vocals and hairdo, made him an implausible sensation a gay, black man celebrated across America during the buttoned-down Eisenhower era.

He sold more than 30 million records worldwide, and his influence on other musicians was equally staggering, from The Beatles and Otis Redding to Creedence Clearwater Revival and David Bowie. In his personal life, he wavered between raunch and religion, alternately embracing the Bible and outrageous behaviour.

“Little Richard? Thats rock n‘ roll,” Neil Young, who heard Richards riffs on the radio in Canada, told biographer Jimmy McDonough. Little Richard was great on every record.

It was 1956 when his classic Tutti Frutti landed like a hand grenade in the Top 40, exploding from radios and off turntables across the country. It was highlighted by Richards memorable call of wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom.

A string of hits followed, providing the foundation of rock music: Lucille, Keep A Knockin, Long Tall Sally, Good Golly Miss Molly. More than 40 years after the latter charted, Bruce Springsteen was still performing Good Golly Miss Molly live.

The Beatles‘ Paul McCartney imitated Richards signature yelps perhaps most notably in the Wooooo!” from the hit She Loves You. Ex-bandmate John Lennon covered RichardRip It Up and Ready Teddy on the 1975 Rock and Roll album.

When the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opened in 1986, he was among the charter members with Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sam Cooke and others.

Few were quicker to acknowledge Little Richards seminal role than Richard himself. The flamboyant singer claimed he paved the way for Elvis, provided Mick Jagger with his stage moves and conducted vocal lessons for McCartney.

“I am the architect of rock n‘ roll!” Little Richard crowed at the 1988 Grammy Awards as the crowd rose in a standing ovation. I am the originator!

Early life

Richard Penniman was born in Macon, Georgia, during the Great Depression, one of 12 children. He was ostracised because he was effeminate and suffered a small deformity: his right leg was shorter than his left.

The family was religious and Richard sang in local churches with a group called the Tiny Tots. The tug-of-war between his upbringing and rock n‘ roll excess tormented Penniman throughout his career.

Penniman was performing with bands by the age of 14, but there were problems at home over his sexual orientation. His father beat the boy and derided him as half a son“.

Richard left home to join a minstrel show run by a man known as Sugarloaf Sam, occasionally appearing in drag.

In late 1955, Little Richard recorded the bawdy Tutti Frutti, with lyrics that were sanitised by a New Orleans songwriter. It went on to sell one million records over the next year.

When Little Richards hit was banned by many white-owned radio stations, white performers like Pat Boone and Elvis Presley did cover versions that topped the charts.

Little Richard went to Hollywood with an appearance in Dont Knock the Rock. But his wild lifestyle remained at odds with his faith, and a conflicted Richard quit the business in 1957 to enrol in a theological school and get married.

Richard remained on the charts when his label released previously recorded material. And he recorded a gospel record, returning to his roots.

Ups and downs

A 1962 arrest for a homosexual encounter in a bus station toilet led to his divorce and return to performing.

He mounted three tours of England between 1962 and 1964, with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones serving as opening acts. Back in the US, he put together a band that included guitarist Jimi Hendrix and later fired Hendrix when he was late for a bus.

In 1968, Richard hit Las Vegas and relaunched his career. Within two years, he had another hit single and made the cover of Rolling Stone.

By the mid-1970s, Richard was battling a $1,000-a-day cocaine problem and once again abandoned his musical career. He returned to religion, selling Bibles and renouncing homosexuality. For more than a decade, he vanished.

“If God can save an old homosexual like me, he can save anybody,” Richard said.

But he returned, in 1986, in spectacular fashion. Little Richard was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and appeared in the movie Down and Out in Beverly Hills.

A Little Richard song from the soundtrack, Great Gosh AMighty, even put him back on the charts for the first time in more than 15 years. Little Richard was back to stay, enjoying another dose of celebrity that he fully embraced.

Macon, Georgia, named a street after its favourite son. And Little Richard was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In August 2002, he announced his retirement from live performing. But he continued to appear frequently on television, including a humorous appearance on a 2006 commercial for GEICO insurance.

Richard had hip surgery in November 2009 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville and asked fans at the time to pray for him. He lived in the Nashville area at the time.

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Source: News Agencies