Little Richard, Founding Father of Rock Who Broke Musical Barriers, Dead at 87

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per Rolling Stone:

Little Richard, a founding father of rock and roll whose fervent shrieks, flamboyant garb, and joyful, gender-bending persona embodied the spirit and sound of that new art form, died Saturday. He was 87. The musician’s son, Danny Penniman, confirmed the pioneer’s death to Rolling Stone, but said the cause of death was unknown.

Starting with “Tutti Frutti” in 1956, Little Richard cut a series of unstoppable hits – “Long Tall Sally” and “Rip It Up” that same year, “Lucille” in 1957, and “Good Golly Miss Molly” in 1958 – driven by his simple, pumping piano, gospel-influenced vocal exclamations and sexually charged (often gibberish) lyrics. “I heard Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, and that was it,” Elton John told Rolling Stone in 1973. “I didn’t ever want to be anything else. I’m more of a Little Richard stylist than a Jerry Lee Lewis, I think. Jerry Lee is a very intricate piano player and very skillful, but Little Richard is more of a pounder.”

Although he never hit the top 10 again after 1958, Little Richard’s influence was massive. The Beatles recorded several of his songs, including “Long Tall Sally,” and Paul McCartney’s singing on those tracks – and the Beatles’ own “I’m Down” – paid tribute to Little Richard’s shredded-throat style. His songs became part of the rock and roll canon, covered over the decades by everyone from the Everly Brothers, the Kinks, and Creedence Clearwater Revival to Elvis Costello and the Scorpions.

www.rollingstone.com

Little Richard, Founding Father of Rock Who Broke Musical Barriers, Dead at 87

Pianist-singer behind “Tutti Frutti,” “Good Golly Miss Molly,” and “Long Tall Sally” set the template that a generation of musicians would follow
www.rollingstone.com www.rollingstone.com

Go Little Richard!!
 




RIP. He was a hell of an entertainer.

With his passing I think that leaves Jerry Lee Lewis as the last of the first wave of Rock and Roll stars.
 




Hired Jimi Hendrix as a guitarist in the mid 60's. Influenced the Beatles big time. Had massive hits. Was one of the best showmen in the business. Was weird before weird was good. R.I.P.
 

www.theguardian.com

Awopbopaloomopalopbombom! Sometimes the best lyrics mean nothing at all

Little Richard’s Tutti Frutti was recorded 60 years ago – part of the rich history of nonsense lyrics on great records
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

From a 2015 Guardian Article:

Sixty years ago, on 14 September 1955, Little Richard entered J&M studio in New Orleans to make his first recordings for Specialty Records, after four years of trying and failing to make hits for RCA and Peacock Records. The morning session didn’t go well; Richard laid down half a dozen tracks, but none of them managed to capture his ambisexual lightning. The producer, Bumps Blackwell, called lunch and took the crew to the Dew Drop Inn. “Richard saw a piano and a crowd of people: he was one of those people who’s always on stage, and he hit the piano and hollered, ‘A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-good-God-damn!’ – and those were the cleanest words of it,” Blackwell later remembered.

A quick rewrite later, so the song was no longer about anal sex (“If it don’t fit, don’t force it / You can grease it, make it easy,” ran the original), and the first great record of the rock’n’roll boom was ready to record, and with it the first great lyric – Richard’s ecstatic, percussive cry:

“Awopbopaloomopalopbombom!”

It would be altered – Elvis sang what sounds like “Awopbopalooahalopbamboom”; Pat Boone tried “Awopbopaloomopalopbopbop”; when Nik Cohn wrote his celebration of rock’n’roll’s already distant golden age in 1968, he called the book Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom, and that’s the pronunciation that seems most common nowadays – but it didn’t matter, because in those 10 syllables, Richard made rock’n’roll’s first greatest promise: we’re gonna have a real good time together. And he did so without making any sense whatsoever.


The phrase itself was something Richard used in everyday speech. “I had Awopbopaloobopalopbamboom! in my hometown, it was a word that I said,” he told Mojo in 1999. “People’d say, ‘How you doin’ Richard?’, I’d say, ‘Awopbopaloobopalopbamboom!’”
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www.startribune.com

How Little Richard influenced Minnesota's biggest rock acts

Bob Dylan, Prince, the Time and even the Replacements all showed off his impressions on them.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

If you had to name one influence that Minnesota’s biggest rock acts had in common, it would probably have to be Little Richard. Bob Dylan, Prince, the Time and the Replacements all showed off his imprint on them at various points in their careers; or in young Bobby Zimmerman’s case, well before he had a career.

On the occasion of the real-life Richard Penniman’s death from cancer Saturday at 87, here’s a rundown of how each of these Minnesota giants paid homage to Little Richard in their own individualistic ways.

BOB DYLAN: “To join Little Richard.” Those are the words that appear under Robert Zimmerman’s senior photo in the 1959 Hibbing High School yearbook. His classmates were already all-too-aware of how much the future Dylan idolized the singer, though.
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tikited said:
Hired Jimi Hendrix as a guitarist in the mid 60's. Influenced the Beatles big time. Had massive hits. Was one of the best showmen in the business. Was weird before weird was good. R.I.P.
Click to expand...

James Brown was also one of his vocalists.

He had the original Prince persona - flamboyant showman - and had the balls to do that starting in the 50s. From the Strib article -

PRINCE: Richard’s influence in this case is as obvious as the fact that “Little Red Corvette” isn’t really about a car. His feisty, fiery stage demeanor and flamboyant attire were certainly inspired if not outright mimicked by the rock star who was 26 years his junior. The newly unearthed “Piano & Microphone 1983” recording may be the most clear-cut of the musical influence, the way Prince playfully plunks the keys throughout the session. He covered his songs in concert at least a few times, too, including a version of “The Girl Can’t Help It” at Paisley Park in the mid-’90s.
 

In 1996 I was fortunate to attend the Grammys at the Shrine Auditorium in LA. The show was very entertaining, even if it did not cater to my musical tastes, Annie Lennox, Seal, Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men, Hootie and the Blowfish, Coolio, Alanis Morisette, Whitney Houston & TLC performed. I was in the front row of the balcony and straight down from was Pearl Jam, who did win an award that night. I think their only Grammy still.

I stood in line behind Dave Grohl & Pat Smear while waiting to use the restroom. They dressed up like Lloyd/Harry from Dumb and Dumber. They wound up winning for both Nirvana and the Foo Fighters. While exiting, I bumped into George Martin. Just your average day.

Afterwards there was a huge party at the Biltmore for all ticket holders with performers including Brian Setzer and Branford Marsalis in a half dozen ballrooms with free food and booze. Just roaming around, I met John Popper, Liz Phair and Tupac (who presented with KISS earlier).

As much fun as I was having, by 11pm I was wiped out (everything started at like 3pm Pacific). As I left, I walked out on where the red carpet was and a limo pulled up. The window went down and Little Richard poked his head out and said "Is the party over, already!?!?!" I assured him it was still going strong, just that I was wimping out and had to go to work the next day.

Pretty surreal.
 

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