Remembering Little Richard, Born On This Day In 1932 , Sheet Music Library (PDF)

Remembering Little Richard, born on this day in 1932 (1932-2020).

Little Richard (short bio)

Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932, Macon, Georgia – May 9, 2020, Nashville, Tennessee), known universally by his stage name, Little Richard , was an American singer and songwriter.

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The influence of Little Richard on the popular music of the 20th century is difficult to exaggerate: his revolutionary singles of the fifties, such as Tutti Frutti or Long Tall Sally , together with his undoubted charisma, laid the foundations of rock, as shown by some of his nicknames. : “ The Innovator ”, “ The Originator ” and “ The Architect of Rock and Roll ”.

He was born in Macon, Georgia, in the deep south of the United States, being the third of twelve children. His nickname, “Lil” Richard , was because he was a small, skinny boy. His father was, at the same time, a bricklayer and an alcohol smuggler; which did not prevent them from being a very religious family, so very soon he began to learn gospel hymns and sang in the church choir.

He learned to play the saxophone to join the school marching band; and while in high school, he took a part-time job at the local auditorium, selling soft drinks to the public, which allowed him to become acquainted with gospel and blues music stars of the time, such as Rosetta Tharpe . He had a very conflictive relationship with his father, since Richard , although he had relationships with both sexes, was fundamentally gay, so at the age of fifteen he kicked him out of the house.

By 1950, he was already a professional musician and played in different bands that performed in the nightclubs of Atlanta, the capital of Georgia. There he discovered R&B, which his parents had forbidden him to listen to or perform since they considered it “devilish music.” He made some recordings, which became local hits. In 1955, he was signed by Specialty Records, which sent him to New Orleans to record.

While in a nightclub with a producer, Little Richard improvised Tutti Frutt , which was released as a single in November of that year. It became an instant hit, as was Long Tall Sally the following year. The dynamic performances of African-American rock pioneers, such as Little Richard , Fats Domino and Chuck Berry , popularized through radio stations, attracted white audiences, especially younger ones, for the first time, breaking the rules of the racial segregation of the time and caused alarm among supremacist groups such as the Ku-Klux-Klan.

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Their first album, Here Little Richard, appeared in 1957, and often appears on lists of the best albums in history. Shortly afterward, during a tour of Australia, Little Richard suffered a religious crisis, so he decided to enroll at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama, to study theology and be ordained as a priest. He decided to return to gospel and for a few years he sang for different religious congregations. In 1962, however, they convinced him to tour Europe with Sam Cooke , since there his Rock and Roll songs had become well known; Seeing that the public was demanding them, he played them again. During the course of this tour, a then unknown British band, The Beatles , based in Hamburg, performed on several occasions as their opening act. Little Richard had a very good relationship with his members, advising them during rehearsals how to play their songs and perform their distinctive vocalizations.

In 1963, in Great Britain, another newly formed group, The Rolling Stones , also performed at his shows. Mick Jagger would later claim that Little Richard was his first idol. Back in the United States, he released his comeback album Little Richard is Back . One of the musicians in his band, Upsetters , was a young guitarist named Jimi Hendrix .

Among his following albums we must highlight The Rill Thing (1970), whose single Freedom Blues was one of his greatest hits. However, starting in the 70s, his drug and alcohol addiction problems began to take their toll. From that moment on, he would try to make rock, gospel and his spiritual concerns compatible, and lead a more serene life. Although his albums no longer had the impact of his previous works, he continued to be revered as a music icon, and still displayed his legendary energy in his live shows well into the 2010s. Finally, in 2013, he announced in a interview in Rolling Stone his retirement.

Little Richard was married (and divorced) once and had an adopted son. In addition to his career as a musician, he acted as an evangelical minister and preacher for several decades.