The screaming vocals,
rattling keyboard style and outrageous showmanship of Little Richard
set the standard for the flamboyant excess rock 'n' roll has come to
symbolize.
Richard Wayne Penniman was born December 5, 1932 one of twelve
children. His father Charles "Bud" Penniman was a Seventh
Day Adventist preacher who sold moonshine on the side. Richard grew
up on a dirt street in an impoverished section of Macon, Georgia.
Music was everywhere. Street vendors and evangelist who paraded down
his block would sing as loud as they could, whether selling
vegetables or religion, to get attention of folks inside. All the
neighborhood sang freely as well, improvising on spiritual songs to
keep them company as they worked. Some gospel singers, particularly
Marion Williams of the Clara Ward singers, Sister Rosetta Tharpe,
and Mahalia Jackson had a profound influence on Richard.
As a youngster he sang gospel with the Penniman Singers and Tiny
Tots Quartet. Richard had an infectious, hyperactive personality
that was contagious and made him popular, but also got him into
trouble and his homosexuality didn't help matters and he left home
to dance to draw customer in a traveling medicine. By age fifteen he
was a regular with Sugarfoot Sam's Minstrel Show.
In 1951 at 18 he won a talent contest in Atlanta that led to a
recording contract with RCA Victor. Four records were recorded that
went nowhere.
A local musician Esquerita took an
interest in Richard and taught him some piano techniques. In the
winter of 1952 his father was murdered and he returned to Macon to
perform the blues at the Tick Tock Club in the evening while washing
dishes at the cafeteria of a Greyhound bus station during the day.
Bill Wright, a local blues singer
from New Orleans, might have been the person who had the greatest
influence on Richard. When Richard met Wright in 1952 he was
immediately taken with Wright's appearance. Wright wore pomade
in hair that was piled high on his head and flashy clothes. It
was Wright's stage make up of eyeliner and face powder that really
caught Richard's attention.
While in Houston, his contract with RCA Victor expired, he recorded
two singles for Peacock Records. One of the records "Rice, Red
Beans and Turnip Greens" sounded like a precursor to
"She's Got It". In early 1955 he recorded his last
two singles for Peacock backed by the Johnny Otis Trio. One of the
songs "Little Richard's Boogie" offer a glimmer of his
style.
Back in Macon in early 1955 Richard
was again working as a dishwasher when he cut a demo tape. Lloyd
Price, whom he knew, suggested that the demo be sent to Specialty
Records with whom Price recorded. Art Rupe, the
owner of Speciality, was hardly impressed and it would be six months
before he got a call. A recording session was arranged
in New Orleans' J&M Studios, owned by Cosimo Matassa and the
home studio of Fats
Domino. Bumps Blackwell was given the responsibility of
meeting Richard and recording the session.
Initially Blackwell, was no more
successful then his predecessors. Richard choose to record
generally slow blues and he felt that none were particularly good.
During a break he and Richard went to the Dew Drop Inn. With few
people there and an old upright piano, Richard started playing like
crazy, singing loud, lewd and hamming it up. Blackwell was stunned
why couldn't he record this? Local lyricist was Dorothy LaBostrie
was called to clean up the lyric. They went back to J&M and with
only fifteen minutes left in the session. "Tutti Fruiti, good
booty" became "Tutti Fruiti, aw-rootie" and the rest
is history.
From the time he began with Specialty on September 13, 1955 until he
left in October, 1957 Richard would record fifty songs,
including alternate takes. From this wealth of material Specialty
would release 9 singles and two albums.
For eighteen months between early
1956 to the middle of 1957 everything he recorded was a hit and club
dates were sellouts. He appeared in several movies including
"The Girl Can't Help It' for which he recorded the title track.
On October 12, 1957 he began a tour of Australia with Eddie
Cochran and Gene
Vincent. In 1957, in the midst of a sold-out tour, Richard
quit rock 'n' roll, after a plane scare, to become a preacher
in the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Specialty wouldn't let
him out of his contract without one last session.
He entered Oakwood Seminary in
Huntsville, Alabama where he began studies to become a Seventh Day
Adventist Preacher. In the meantime Specialty had enough material to
keep releasing singles and albums for another year. Sensing he was
being cheated Richard hired a lawyer to collect back royalties from
Specialty Records that he estimated at $25,000.
In January 1959 he signed with an Los
Angeles agency to set up a gospel tour and in June signed a
recording contract with Gone Records.
After three years of little success
as a gospel performer Richard went back to Rock and Roll..
October, 1962 he began a tour of England and year later toured
Europe with the Rolling Stones as his opening act.
A number of record companies took
notice and invited him back to the studio, but they were only
interested in repackaging his old hits. Specialty, in five sessions
attempted to rekindle the 1957 magic.
During this period Jimi Hendrix was
briefly Richard's guitarists.
Little Richard enjoyed a renewed
popularity with the rock and roll revivals in the late '60s. In 1970
he signed with Reprise Records and had a minor hit with
"Freedom Blues." For The Second Coming he was reunited
with Bumps Blackwell, Lee Allen, and Earl Palmer.
In 1976 Little Richard returned to
the ministry, and by 1979 had recorded God's Beautiful City for
World Records, and had become a full-time evangelist. In October
1985 he was seriously injured in an accident in West Hollywood.
In 1986 he appeared in the hit movie
Down and Out in Beverly Hills, which included his first hit in
sixteen years, "Great Gosh a 'Mighty," and recorded
Lifetime Friend for Warner Brothers. He dueted with Phillip Bailey
on the title song to the 1988 film Twins and sang background vocals
on the minor U2-B.b. King hit "when Love Comes to town" in
1989. In 1993 Little Richard performed at Bill Clinton's
presidential inaugural.
Little Richard was inducted into The
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986
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