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Blackwell, who had nurtured Ray Charles and Quincy Jones at the start of their careers, intended to have Richard compete against Ray Charles and B.B. Specialty's owner, Art Rupe, purchased Richard's contract from Peacock and connected him to A&R man Robert 'Bumps' Blackwell. These records sold poorly, however, and Penniman had little success until he sent a demo tape to Specialty Records on February 17, 1955. In early 1955, he recorded his last two singles for Peacock backed by the Johnny Otis Trio. He went on to record for Peacock Records in Houston from 1951 to 1955. In 1952, Richard's father was murdered, after which he returned to Macon and performed blues and boogie-woogie music at the local Tick Tock Club in the evenings. In 1951, Penniman won a talent show in Atlanta, which resulted in a recording contract with RCA that produced no notable successes. In these shows, colorful lead performers would often wear lavish capes, robes, or turbans. Richard also learned to mix ministerial qualities with theatrics by watching the traveling medicine shows that rolled through his native Macon. Penniman explained, 'I used to get in a room and try to make my piano sound just like him.

WHO WROTE GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY HOW TO

Penniman's piano-playing was partly inherited from pianist Eskew Reeder Jr., better known as Esquerita, who demonstrated to Richard how to emphasize high notes without compromising the driving boogie bass line that would also characterize Penniman's playing. Another influence was powerful gospel vocalist Brother Joe May, known as the 'Thunderbolt.' His appearance (hair, clothing, shoes, makeup, and so on) and sound were also reportedly influenced by the blues shouter Billy Wright. He was also strongly influenced by Marion Williams, from whom he got his trademark shout of 'who-o-o-o,' inserted in his vocals. In 1945, after hearing him sing before a concert, she invited him to sing a song with her onstage at the Macon City Auditorium. People sometimes testified to the young Richard's gift of healing when ministered to them while singing.ĭeeply influenced by the gospel artists of the 1930s and 40s, Richard cited Sister Rosetta Tharpe as his favorite singer when he was a child. However, of all the churches he frequented, Richard's favorites were the Pentecostal churches because of the music and excitement he and his friends experienced doing the 'holy dance' and speaking in tongues with members of the congregation. Richard regularly attended the New Hope Baptist Church in Macon, where his mother was a member. Richard's siblings nicknamed him 'War Hawk' because of his loud, screaming-style singing voice. The family formed a gospel group called the Penniman Singers that sang in local churches and entered contests with other singing families. Growing up amid poverty and racism, singing was an important part of his early life that, according to Richard, brought him and his family closer to God. Despite his father's occupation, the family was a religious one.

Richard Penniman was born in Macon, Georgia, the son of Leva Mae (née Stewart) and Charles 'Bud' Penniman, a bootlegger. Little Richard was honored as one of the first seven inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and was one of only four of these honorees (along with Ray Charles, James Brown, and Fats Domino) to also receive the Rhythm & Blues Foundation's Pioneer Lifetime Achievement Award. He has since devoted large segments of his life to his ministry, but has also often performed in rock revival shows, films, commercials, and documentaries on the history of rock and roll. Citing a calling to be an evangelist, attended Bible college and was ordained as a Seventh Day Adventist minister in 1958. In 1957, while at the height of his stardom, he became a born-again Christian and withdrew from recording and performing secular music. Little Richard's early work was a mix of boogie-woogie, rhythm and blues, and gospel music, with a heavily accentuated back-beat, saxophone accompaniment, and raspy, shouted vocals, moans, screams, and other emotive inflections that marked a kind of music not previously heard by mainstream audiences. A key figure in the transition from rhythm & blues to rock and roll in the 1950s, Penniman's legacy rests on a string of groundbreaking hit singles from 1955 through 1957, such as 'Tutti Frutti,' 'Lucille,' 'Good Golly Miss Molly,' and 'Long Tall Sally,' which helped lay the foundations of rock and roll and later influenced generations of later artists. Richard Wayne Penniman (DecemMay 9, 2020), better known by the stage name Little Richard, was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. The Originator, The Emancipator, The Architect Of Rock 'n' Roll The Georgia Peach

Little Richard performing in Austin, Texas in March, 2007

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