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Showing posts with label Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Show all posts
January 21, 2026
May 9, 2020
Goodbye, Little Richard!
~
Viewfinder links:
Immortal Loves
Little Richard
Jayne Mansfield
Net links:
Billboard ~ Little Richard Grappling With His Sexuality & Religion
CBS News ~ Little Richard, rock 'n' roll pioneer, has died at 87
The Guardian ~
Awopbopaloobop alopbamboom
When John Waters met Little Richard
NPR ~ Little Richard, The 'King And Queen' Of Rock And Roll
NY Times ~ Little Richard, Flamboyant Wild Man of Rock ’n’ Roll
RollingStone ~ Little Richard, Founding Father of Rock, Dead at 87
YouTube links:
The Girl Can't Help It
The Girl Can't Help It (film clip)
Long Tall Sally - Tutti Frutti (1958 film)
Lucille (1958 film)
Tutti Frutti
date & photographer unknown
Richard Wayne Penniman (aka Little Richard) died today, Saturday, May 9, 2020. He is one of my "immortal" loves (link below) to pass on.
I will always remember hearing Tutti Frutti for the first time in 1955 when I was a teenager. What a fun and joyous song; never realized the original version of it was X-rated (John Waters link below)!
But it will always be Lucille, which came two years later in 1957, that will be my favorite song by him. However, it took me decades to find out it is, "I asked my friends about her but all their lips were tight" and not, ". . . all they did was fight", which never made sense to me! After Lucille my next favorite song by him is The Girl Can't Help It from the film of the same name. The film also introduced me to that blond bombshell, Jayne Mansfield.
But it will always be Lucille, which came two years later in 1957, that will be my favorite song by him. However, it took me decades to find out it is, "I asked my friends about her but all their lips were tight" and not, ". . . all they did was fight", which never made sense to me! After Lucille my next favorite song by him is The Girl Can't Help It from the film of the same name. The film also introduced me to that blond bombshell, Jayne Mansfield.
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.—Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Little Richard was born on December 5, 1932, in Macon, Georgia, his father was a church deacon and a brick mason, who sold bootlegged moonshine on the side and owned a nightclub called the Tip In Inn. His mother was a member of Macon's New Hope Baptist Church.
Gifted with a loud singing voice, Penniman recalled that he was "always
changing the key upwards" and that they once stopped him from singing in
church for "screaming and hollering" so loud, earning him the nickname
"War Hawk".
As a child, he would "beat on the steps of the house, and on tin cans
and pots and pans, or whatever" while singing, which annoyed neighbors.
While in high school, he got a part-time job at Macon City Auditorium for local secular and gospel concert promoter Clint Brantley. He sold Coca-Cola to crowds during concerts of star performers of the day such as Cab Calloway, Lucky Millinder, and his favorite singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
In
October 1947, Tharpe overheard 14-year-old Penniman singing her songs
before a performance at the Auditorium. She invited him to open her
show. After the show, she paid him, inspiring him to become a
professional performer.
He joined Dr. Hudson's Medicine Show in 1949; during this time he performed in drag
under the name "Princess LaVonne." In 1950, he joined his first musical
band, Buster Brown's Orchestra, where Brown gave him the name "Little
Richard".
Disillusioned by the record business, he returned to Macon in 1954
and, struggling with poverty, settled for work as a dishwasher for Greyhound Lines.
At the suggestion of Lloyd Price, Penniman (Little Richard) sent a demo to Price's label, Specialty Records, in February 1955. In September of that year, Specialty owner Art Rupe loaned Penniman money to buy out of his Peacock contract and set him to work with producer Robert "Bumps" Blackwell. Upon hearing Penniman's demo, Blackwell felt Penniman was Specialty's answer to Ray Charles, however, Penniman told him he preferred the sound of Fats Domino. Blackwell sent him to New Orleans where he recorded at Cosimo Matassa's J&M Studios, recording there with several of Domino's session musicians, including drummer Earl Palmer and saxophonist Lee Allen.
Blackwell and Penniman went to relax at the Dew Drop Inn nightclub.
According to Blackwell, Penniman then launched into a risqué dirty blues he titled Tutti Frutti. Blackwell said he felt the song had hit potential and hired songwriter Dorothy LaBostrie to replace some of Penniman's sexual lyrics with less controversial words. Recorded in three takes in September 1955, Tutti Frutti was released as a single that November and, as they say, the rest is history.
Tutti Frutti became an instant hit, reaching No. 2 on Billboard magazine's Rhythm and Blues Best-Sellers
chart and crossing over to the pop charts in both the United States and
overseas in the United Kingdom. It reached No. 21 on the Billboard Top 100 in America and No. 29 on the British singles chart, eventually selling a million copies.
Little Richard appeared in some of the earliest rock-and-roll movies: Don’t Knock the Rock (1956) which starred Bill Haley & His Comets (link below) . . .
. . . and The Girl Can’t Help It, which introduced me to the blond, bombshell, Jayne Mansfield (link below), (1956) and Mr. Rock and Roll (1957).
Little Richard appeared in some of the earliest rock-and-roll movies: Don’t Knock the Rock (1956) which starred Bill Haley & His Comets (link below) . . .
Don’t Knock the Rock movie poster
. . . and The Girl Can’t Help It, which introduced me to the blond, bombshell, Jayne Mansfield (link below), (1956) and Mr. Rock and Roll (1957).
Jayne Mansfield - 1966
The Girl Can’t Help It movie still
Little
Richard was among the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's first class of
inductees in 1986. He received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy and
performed at Bill Clinton's presidential inauguration in 1992. The
Library of Congress added “Tutti Frutti” to the National Recording
Registry in 2010.
He was in Tullahoma, TN when it was announced that his death was related to bone cancer. He was 87 years old.
He was in Tullahoma, TN when it was announced that his death was related to bone cancer. He was 87 years old.
Viewfinder links:
Immortal Loves
Little Richard
Jayne Mansfield
Net links:
Billboard ~ Little Richard Grappling With His Sexuality & Religion
CBS News ~ Little Richard, rock 'n' roll pioneer, has died at 87
The Guardian ~
Awopbopaloobop alopbamboom
When John Waters met Little Richard
NPR ~ Little Richard, The 'King And Queen' Of Rock And Roll
NY Times ~ Little Richard, Flamboyant Wild Man of Rock ’n’ Roll
RollingStone ~ Little Richard, Founding Father of Rock, Dead at 87
YouTube links:
The Girl Can't Help It
The Girl Can't Help It (film clip)
Long Tall Sally - Tutti Frutti (1958 film)
Lucille (1958 film)
Tutti Frutti
"God gives us the ability,
but rock 'n' roll was created by men."
~ Little Richard
but rock 'n' roll was created by men."
~ Little Richard
~
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