R.I.P. Little Richard Penniman

[lbpesq]

A true foundational pillar of rock ‘n roll.

May the Four Winds Blow You Safely Home.

Bill, tgo

[cozmik_cowboy]

We would not be where - or who - we are today without him.
Farewell, Rev. Penniman!

Peter

[StefanieJones]

Saw this earlier today. Sigh...

[David Houck]

Rolling Stone's obit:  https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/little-richard-dead-48505/

[bigredbass]

Imagine being a gay, black rock & roller in mid-50's America, with separate bathrooms, water fountains, restuarants, everything, and then . . . . . you get ripped off by . . . . Pat Boone ?!?!?!?  What a showman, an OK piano player, one of the guys that wrote the book and laid the foundation.

He battled his inner demons between himself and what he perceived as his God.  The Right Reverend Richard Penniman retired for several years at the height of his fame, and later came back as he made some piece with all that.  Ironic in that three first cousins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jimmy Swaggart, and Mickey Gilley, raised up in hellfire and brimstone churches in South Louisiana stared down the same barrel.

He will be missed.

[edwin]

He sure shocked the heck out of the establishment. This is from an article in MOJO magazine in 2007; the entire article was really revealing and insightful as to the massive impact he had and the struggles he faced. I wish I had saved it. It really stuck it to Pat Boone and the others who tried to whitewash Little Richard.

"A wop bop a loo mop a good goddam
Tutti Frutti, good booty
If it don't fit, don't force it
You can grease it, make it easy."
Mojo magazine called it the most important song of rock and roll, saying it was "A torrent of filth wailed by a bi-sexual alien, Little Richard's Tutti Frutti smashed down the doors of culture and ushered in an attitude we call rock and roll....the biggest bang in rock and roll."

[cozmik_cowboy]

1985, we were car shopping; sitting on a couch talking to the young African-American salesman, when suddenly Number 2 Son, then 3 years old, explodes into the air, lands on the arm of the couch, and lets rip with "A wop bop a boo bop a wop a bam boom! Tutti Frutti, aw Rudy..." Said salesman says in wonder "He does Little Richard??!?!?"   Dad (who, of course, is used to such things and has not batted an eyelid), Answered "Of course he does."


We got a good deal...................


Peter