Little Richard

Richard Penniman was born in Macon, Georgia, and came out from anonymity thanks to his visceral way of singing gospel, gaining his first jobs in 1951 as a rhythm and blues singer. When he found out piano, he gained success (on December, 1955) as a rock and roll singer and pianist, with a new version of his old non-sense song Tutti Frutti (september 1955), a song with the immortal lyrics "Whop bop b-luma b-lop bam bom... Awop-bop-a-loo-mop alop-bom-bom". Thanks to his intensity and his non-sense, this song infected a lot of rockers but none of them succeeded in imitating his hasty and childish appearance. His on stage antics were impressive , especially when he drew his face and played the piano with feet; moreover his performances included narcissistic and self-absorbed monologues . His spectacular scenic ultra-boogie was re-called "thang". In reality Little Richard was inspired by two underground musicians: Billy Wright, an unknown blues singer from Atlanta who was the first one wearing make ups and decadent clothes; and Esquerita, another maniacal pianist.

In 1956 Little Richard performed a lot of hits, all built on his principles of feverish and clownish aggressiveness: Long Tall Sally (february 1956) (The first of his heroines: "she`s built for speed/ she`s got anything uncle John needs"), a frenzy syncopated rhythm and blues in the limits of his vocal possibility, Bumps Blackwell's Rip It Up (may 1956) (the closest song to gospel, spelled by claps in a very speedy rhythm, with also guitar and winds) and the ironical The Girl Can’t Help It (october 1956) (soundtrack of his first movie).

The following year, his sound got even naughtier, and every songs entered the charts soft as hurricanes: Lucille (july 1956), an anthropophagic boogie as well as one of his most epileptic performances; Jenny Jenny (october 1956), hallucinated as well, with the best non-sense lyrics of the period, and Keep A Knocking (january 1957) (based on a LOuis Jordan hit that was based on an old hit of the 1920s), wherein his ferocious singing had apparently the same rhythm of percussions, winds and guitars (its drums introduction will soon become a rock standard). Bumps Blackwell's Good Golly Miss Molly (october 1956, but released only in 1958) was his swan song, or rather shout. Here’s Little Richard (1957) was his first album, and included a lot of hits.

However, a lot of this songs became internationally famous in the (more rational) form of whites’ performances, because of an old racist tradition.

His shouting singing, with usual uninhibited howls and syncopated phrases in progression, excelled in his highly cadenced and full of saxes rhythm & blues, performed by a fantastic accompanying band (with Earl Palmer playing drums, Lee Allen tenor sax, Alvin Tyler baritone sax; and two or three guitar player). Moreover, his songs were absolutely non-sense and more his lyrics got meaningless, more his singing got sensitive and evocative. All of this was the most maniacal and dissolute apology to chaos, the apocalypse of rock and roll. His volcanic and frenzy boogie became a symbol of the aggressive, impolite and extroverted young man of the era.

In the history of rock and roll, Little Richard’s music was the first sacrilege of gospel, the first declaration of sound excesses and theatrical antics; he used both his voice and his piano as powerful and flexible percussions, through which he hit the listener in a savage, uncontrolled and emotional primitivism.

After this period, he surprised fans when, after a serious religious crisis, he left music business (in reality he had left in 1957, but his record company hid it until his last hit). His best gospel album was King Of Gospel Singers (september 1961 - Mercury, 1962). In this period Little Richard’s band features a young guitar player, Jimi Hendrix. However, he only recycled his own songs in a docile soul-rock style; one of the best efforts in this period (and of his whole career, as well) was Bama Lama Bama Loo (april 1964). He remained close to religious even during the "revival" which could have allowed his great come-back as a protagonist.

During the 1970s Little Richard tried in vain to restart his career as a rock and roll musician, but The Rill Thing (Reprise, 1970), King Of Rock'n'Roll (1971) and Second Coming (1972) were rather mediocre albums by the standards of that decade, and following ones fared even worse. He was still a devout Christian, repenting his youthful sins, who had renounced his old decadent habits. In the 1990s he recorded songs for benefits and children.

Little Richard died in 2020 at the age of 87.