Little Richard

Little Richard

Rev. Richard Wayne Penniman (born December 5, 1932), known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter and pianist. He is considered the key figure in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock 'n roll in the 1950s. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame web site entry on Richard observes that "he claims to be 'the architect of rock and roll,' and history would seem to bear out Little Richard’s boast. More than any other performer - save, perhaps, Elvis Presley, Little Richard blew the lid off the Fifties, laying the foundation for rock and roll with his explosive music and charismatic persona. On record, he made spine-tingling rock and roll. His frantically charged piano playing and raspy, shouted vocals on such classics as "Tutti Frutti", "Long Tall Sally" and "Good Golly, Miss Molly" defined the dynamic sound of rock and roll."

Although he began his recording career in 1951, Penniman's reputation rests on a string of groundbreaking hit singles recorded from 1955 through 1957, which not only helped lay the foundation for rock and roll music, but also influenced generations of rhythm & blues, rock and soul music artists. Little Richard's injection of funk during this period, via his saxophone-studded mid-1950s road band, The Upsetters, also influenced the development of that genre of music. He was subsequently honored by being among the seven initial inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and was one of only four of these honorees (along with Ray Charles, James Brown, and Fats Domino) to also receive the Rhythm & Blues Foundation's Pioneer Lifetime Achievement Award.

Little Richard's early work was a mix of boogie-woogie, rhythm & blues and gospel music, but with a heavily accentuated back-beat, funky saxophone grooves and raspy, shouted vocals, moans, screams, and other emotive inflections that marked a new kind of music. In 1957, while at the height of stardom, he became a born-again Christian, enrolled in and attended Bible college, and withdrew from recording and performing secular music. Claiming he was called to be an evangelist, he has since devoted large segments of his life to this calling.

Since releasing his original recordings in the mid-1950s, Little Richard has received significant praise from many of the major icons of rock and roll music for being a primary influence on them and a pioneer of the genre (see Influence).

Biography

Penniman was born in Macon, Georgia, the third of twelve children of Charles "Bud" Penniman, a bootlegger, and his wife Leva Mae Stewart. He grew up in a religious family, amid poverty and racism, and singing made his family feel closer to God. His family had a group called the Penniman Singers, who performed in local churches and entered contests with other singing families. His family called him 'War Hawk' because of his loud, screaming singing voice. His grandfather, Walter Penniman, was a preacher, and his father's family were members of the Foundation Templar African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Macon. His maternal grandmother was a member of Macon's Holiness Temple Baptist Church. Penniman attended the New Hope Baptist Church in Macon, where his mother was a member. Penniman's favorites were the Pentecostal churches because of the music and the fun he would have doing the holy dance and talking in tongues with members of the congregation. When he was ten, he became a healer, singing gospel songs and touching people, who would testify that they felt better afterwards. Inspired by Brother Joe May, a singing evangelist known as 'The Thunderbolt of the West', Penniman wanted to become a preacher. It was through the church where Richard's life in music began.

Nearly all of Penniman's dramatic phrasing and swift vocal turns are derived from black Gospel artists of the 1930s and '40s. He said Sister Rosetta Tharpe was his favorite singer when he was a child. She had invited him to sing a song with her onstage at the Macon City Auditorium in 1945, after hearing him sing before the concert. The crowd cheered, and she paid him more money than he had ever seen after the show. He was also influenced by Marion Williams, from whom he got the trademark "whoooo" in his vocal, Mahalia Jackson and Brother Joe May. He was influenced in appearance (hair, clothing, shoes, makeup, etc.) and sound by late 1940s gospel-style, jump blues shouter Billy Wright, who was known as the 'Prince of the Blues'.

One of Penniman's main influences in piano-playing was Esquerita (Eskew Reeder Jr.), who showed Penniman how to play high notes without compromising bass. Penniman met Esquerita when he traveled through Macon with a preacher named Sister Rosa. Another influence was Brother Joe May. Penniman explained, "I used to get in a room and try to make my piano sound just like him. He had so much energy." May generated energy by moving from a subtle whisper to a thunderous tenor and back in a four-bar phrase.

He learned to mix ministerial qualities with theatrics by watching the traveling medicine shows that rolled through his native Macon. Colorful medicine men would wear lavish capes, robes and turbans, all of which left an impression on Penniman.

1950s

In 1951, Little Richard began recording for RCA Victor and then in 1953 Peacock Records. Although the records did not make the commercial splash that the record company had hoped, one of the songs, "Little Richard's Boogie", did offer a glimmer of the style that would later make him famous and change the world of music. In 1954, he prepared a demo tape that was received by Specialty Records on February 17, 1955. Specialty's owner, Art Rupe, purchased Richard's contract from Peacock and placed Richard's career in the hands of A&R man Robert "Bumps" Blackwell. Blackwell had nurtured and groomed Ray Charles (then known as R.C. Robinson) and Quincy Jones at the start of their careers in the music business.

Blackwell had intended to pit Little Richard against Ray Charles and B.B. King by having him record blues tracks. He arranged for a recording session at Cosimo Matassa's recording studio in New Orleans in the late summer of 1955, when, during a break, Penniman began singing an impromptu recital of "Tutti Frutti", in his raspy, shouted vocal style, while pounding out a boogie-woogie based rhythm on the piano. Blackwell, who knew a hit when he heard one, was knocked out and had Little Richard record the song. However, in order to make it commercially acceptable, he had Little Richard's lyrics changed from "tutti-frutti, loose booty" to "tutti frutti, aw rooty." The song was released on Specialty in late 1955, and became the first of Richard's many hits.

The song, with Little Richard shouting its unique introductory "A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam-boom!", was the start of a rapid succession of Little Richard hit songs, characterized by a driving piano, boogie-woogie bass, funky saxophone arrangements, and screams before sax solos performed by Lee Allen, such as "Long Tall Sally", "Lucille", "Rip It Up", "The Girl Can't Help It", "Slippin' and Slidin'", "Jenny, Jenny", "Good Golly, Miss Molly", and "Keep A-Knockin'". His performing style can be seen in such period films as Don't Knock the Rock (1956) and The Girl Can't Help It (also 1956), for which he sang the title song.

Little Richard's first national success, "Tutti Frutti", was covered by Pat Boone, whose version outdid the source record, #12 to #17. Boone also released a version of "Long Tall Sally" with slightly bowdlerized lyrics. But this time, the Little Richard original outperformed it on the Billboard charts, #6 to #8. Bill Haley tackled Little Richard's third major hit, "Rip It Up", but again, Little Richard prevailed. With the record-buying public's preference established, Little Richard's subsequent releases did not face the same chart competition.

Then, suddenly, when at the top of the music world, Little Richard, fearing his own damnation, abandoned rock and roll music to become a born-again Christian, in which he was called to be an evangelist. Although his secular music career in the 1950s was rather brief, his impact on late-twentieth century popular music was incalculable and arguably unparalleled amongst American-born performers.

While Little Richard's retreat to the faith in which he was groomed as a child resulted in an abrupt halt to the recording style that made him famous and changed the world of music, he continued in and out of rock & roll and the ministry into the twenty-first century. He recorded only Gospel music after his spiritual conversion from 1957 to the early 1960s, claiming at the time that rock music was of the devil and that it was not possible to be a rocker and please God at the same time. He was married in 1959.

1960s

In 1962 on a tour of parts of Europe, Little Richard backslid from the ministry. His opening act was an unknown band called The Beatles. In 1963, he toured Great Britain with Bo Diddley, The Everly Brothers and a little-known band called called The Rolling Stones. He returned to recording and performing secular material, returning to the Specialty label and the UK charts with "Bama Lama, Bama Loo" He was divorced in 1964. On March 1 of that year, he brought a fledgling Jimi Hendrix into his band, who was then known as Maurice James. Prior to becoming world famous, he toured with Little Richard and played on at least a dozen tracks between the spring of 1964 and 1965. In 1966, Hendrix was quoted as saying, "I want to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice.". Little Richard recorded Rock and Roll and funky soul music in the mid-1960s for the Vee Jay label and when the label folded he moved to Modern records. He then signed to the Okeh label for two albums with his old friend Larry Williams as producer and Johnny Guitar Watson on guitar. He also had three Soul 45's released on the Brunswick label.

1970s

Little Richard had minor hits in the 1960s and 1970s, although not with the greater success of his 1950s recordings. In 1977, following the death of a nephew that he loved as a son, along with a violent clash with his long-time friend Larry Williams over a drug debt, Little Richard repented for his wayward living and returned to evangelism. He then recorded more gospel music and remained fully in the ministry until the mid-1980s. He also represented Memorial Bibles International and sold their Black Heritage Bible, which highlighted the many black people in the Bible. In many sermons during this period, he once again proclaimed that it was not possible to perform rock and serve God at the same time.

In 1975, Little Richard played backing piano on the song "Take It Like A Man", which was a Bachman-Turner Overdrive hit, from the album Head On.

In 1979, Little Richard said: "If God can save an old homosexual like me, he can save anybody".

1980s

In the mid-1980s, the music world's attention was refocused on Little Richard, following the release of Charles White's authorized biography The Life and Times of Little Richard, in which he candidly explains his struggles with substance abuse, homosexuality, and his repentance which coincided with him reembracing the born-again Christianity that he was raised with as a child. At the same time, the new Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honored Little Richard as one of the first inductees. This resulted in a show business comeback for Little Richard.

In 1986, Little Richard finally reconciled his role as a minister and as a rock & roll artist. He recorded an album of inspirational songs for Warner Brother Records that he called "message music" and "messages in rhythm." He had his old friend Billy Preston help him write a song with spiritual lyrics that sounded like rock & roll for the soundtrack of the motion picture Down and Out in Beverly Hills in which he also co-starred. The result was "Great Gosh A'Mighty", which became a hit; he also received critical acclaim for his acting performance. During the second season of Miami Vice, he had a small part in the episode, "Where the Buses Don't Run".

He made a commitment to his mother before she died that he would remain a Christian, saying that he would "stay with the Lord and just travel around." He began performing his old classic rock & roll hits again in the late 1980s, but continued to evangelize by performing some gospel material in his original rocking style, testifying to people on and off-stage, distributing a born-again Christian booklet, and reminding people of God's love for them on his photographs.

1990s

Through the remainder of the 1980s, 1990s and into the twenty-first century, Little Richard has remained a popular guest on television, in music videos, commercials, movies and as a recording artist. He has contributed new recordings to movie soundtracks (eg Twins, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Why Do Fools Fall in Love) and wrote and performed a song for the 2001 film The Trumpet of the Swan. He also sang background vocals on the U2-BB King hit song "When Love Comes to Town," and in the extended "Live From The Kingdom Mix" of the track he preaches as well, sometimes amid funky saxophone playing. Penniman appeared on Living Colour's "Elvis Is Dead", and also recorded new tracks for tribute albums, such as Folkways: A Vision Shared ("The Rock Island Line", backed by Fishbone) (1989) and Kindred Spirits: A Tribute to Johnny Cash ("Get Rhythm") (2002).

He also recorded duets in the 1990s with Jon Bon Jovi, Hank Williams Jr., Living Colour, Elton John, Tanya Tucker, Solomon Burke, and in 2006 with Jerry Lee Lewis, in which they covered the Little Richard-influenced, early 1960s, hit Beatles track "I Saw Her Standing There". He also recently headlined the University of Texas event "40 Acres Fest".

In the 1990s, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) catapulted Macon, Georgia wrestler Marc Mero to fame under the ring name Johnny B. Badd by promoting him as a Little Richard look-alike. Little Richard also guest starred in an episode of Columbo (Columbo: Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star), playing himself.

In 1994, Penniman was featured on an episode of Full House entitled "Too Little Richard Too Late". He played himself in the 1999 film, Mystery, Alaska, singing the "Star-Spangled Banner" and "O Canada" before a pond hockey game between the local team and the New York Rangers.

Richard later recorded the opening theme song for the science mystery cartoon The Magic School Bus.

2000s

In 2000, Robert Townsend directed a biopic about Little Richard's life from childhood to his early 30's (circa 1962). Leon Robinson received an Emmy Award nomination for his outstanding performance in the starring role.

In 2001, Little Richard performed at the July 4 music event in Dublin, Ohio. In 2006 he also appeared as judge on Celebrity Duets on FOX. In 2006-2007, he was featured in a Geico advertisement, wherein he uses his signature "whoop" to denote the joy he would receive while consuming "mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce" at a Thanksgiving dinner. In 2007, his song "All Around The World" was featured in a Cravendale advertisement for an animation by PicPic. In 2007, he also performed at the Capitol Fourth—a July 4 celebration (televised live on PBS) in front of the White House in Washington D.C. On July 25, 2007, he made an appearance on the ABC show The Next Best Thing. On November 22, 2007, he headlined the halftime show for the Thanksgiving football game of Arizona State University vs. the University of Southern California at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, broadcast on ESPN. In June 2008, Little Richard also made a cameo appearance on the CBS daytime drama, The Young and the Restless as an ordained piano-playing minister marrying a doubting Gloria and Jeff Bardwell for the second time.

In recent years, Rev. Richard Penniman's spiritual fervor and calling to the ministry have become more obvious, such as when he spoke at his old friend Wilson Pickett's January 2006 funeral, when he officiated at a wedding of twenty couples in December 2006, and when he spoke at Ike Turner's December 2007 funeral. He also allowed a DVD to be recorded of him preaching in the middle of his performance of "Precious Lord" at one of his bandmembers mother's funeral in June 2008. In November 22, 2008 Little Richard came to the Norman Seventh-day Adventist Church to sing praises. On May 30, 2009, Little Richard, following a performance named in honor of Fats Domino, led Domino and others present in prayer. On June 12, 2009, Little Richard, prior to performing for the grand finale of 29th annual Riverbend Music Festival in Chattanooga, Tennessee said, "although I sing rock 'n' roll, God still loves me. I'm a rock 'n' roll singer, but I'm still a Christian."

Awards and Honors

• In 1956, Cashbox awarded Little Richard the Cashbox Triple Crown Award for his second hit single "Long Tall Sally".
• In 1986, Little Richard was one of the first group of recording artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• In 1990, Little Richard was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• In 1993, he then received an Honorary Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
• In 1994, Little Richard was the fourth recording artist (the others being Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and James Brown) to be recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.
• In 1995, he received two Keys to the City of Providence, Rhode Island; one was awarded spontaneously, on stage, by Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci
• In 1997, he received the American Music Award of Merit.
• In 2002, BMI, during the 50th Annual BMI Pop Awards celebration, Little Richard, along with Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry, were awarded the first BMI Icon Awards in recognition of their “unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers.”
• In 2002, Little Richard received the NAACP Image Award - Hall of Fame Award for having "distinguished himself as not only an unparalleled musical genius, but also as a unique and innovative performing artist—fusing pure vocal talent with exhilarating showmanship."
• In 2003, Little Richard was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
• In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Little Richard #8 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
• In 2006, Little Richard was inducted into the Apollo Theater Legends Hall of Fame, at the same time as Ella Fitzgerald (who was one of the first winners of 'Amateur Night at the Apollo' in 1934) and Gladys Knight & the Pips.
• In 2007, Little Richard's 1955 original hit "Tutti Frutti" topped Mojo's The Top 100 Records That Changed The World.
• In 2009, while performing at "The Domino Effect", a charitable event to help raise funds to rebuild playgrounds for children that were destroyed in New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, Little Richard was surprised by being formally inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. LMHOF Executive Director Mike Shepherd presented him with his official certificate and a blown-up photo of his first gold record, “Tutti Frutti."

Influence

Little Richard has earned acclaim from many major rock & roll icons. Ray Charles asserted that Little Richard was "the man that started a kind of music that set the pace for a lot of what's happening today." James Brown called Little Richard his idol and credited him with "first putting the funk in the rock and roll beat." Pat Boone has been quoted as saying that "no one person has been imitated more than Little Richard." Elvis Presley told Little Richard, "your music has inspired me - you are the greatest." Smokey Robinson said, "Little Richard was the beginning of Rock 'n' Roll." Otis Redding declared, "I entered the music business because of Richard - he is my inspiration." Wilson Pickett said, "Little Richard is the architect of Rock 'n' Roll." In his high school year book, Bob Dylan declared that his ambition was "to join Little Richard." In 1966, Jimi Hendrix, who played and recorded with Little Richard's band from 1964 to 1965, was quoted as saying: "I want to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice." Mick Jagger referred to Little Richard as "the originator and my first idol". In addition, Paul McCartney, Bob Seger, John Fogerty, Rod Stewart, David Bowie and Angus Young are among the artists who have stated that Little Richard was their first major rock 'n' roll influence. Fellow AC/DC band members Bon Scott and Brian Johnson used Little Richard as the model for their vocals. In 1979, as he began to develop into a major solo artist, Michael Jackson was quoted as saying that Little Richard was a huge influence on him.

Little Richard was chosen as the eighth greatest artist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. Six of the seven artists who preceded him on the list have stated that they were significantly influenced by him.

Discography

Main article: Little Richard discography

Filmography

• The Girl Can't Help It (1956), performing the title number, "Lucille" and "She's Got It"
• Catalina Caper (aka Never Steal Anything Wet, 1967)
• Little Richard: Live at the Toronto Peace Festival (1969)
• The London Rock & Roll Show (1972), performing: "Lucille", "Rip It Up", "Good Golly Miss Molly", "Tutti Frutti" and "Jenny Jenny"
• Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986)
• Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll (1987)

External links

• Little Richard biography at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Little Richard biography at the Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Little Richard in Rolling Stones Top 10 Artists of all Time
• Little Richard MySpace Website with testimonials, bio, awards, spiritual info.
• Little Richard Tribute at Digitaldreamdoor.com
• Little Richard News site
• Little Richard biography with pictures
• Little Richard at London Rock 'n' Roll Festival, November 20th, 2008
• Album reviews
• "Little Richard" Penniman (entry in the New Georgia Encyclopedia)
• Louisiana Music Hall of Fame Induction Page