Richard Wayne Penniman was born December 5, 1932 in Macon,
Georgia, the third of twelve children of Charles "Bud"
Penniman, a bootlegger, and his wife Leva Mae Stewart. More than any
other performer - except 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. In 1957, while at the height of stardom,
he became a born-again Christian, enrolled in and attended Bible
college, and withdrew from recording and performing secular music. In
1962 on a tour of parts of Europe, Little Richard backslid from the
ministry. His opening act was The Beatles. On June 12, 2009, Little
Richard, prior to performing for the grand finale of 29th annual
Riverbend Music Festival in Chattanooga, Tennessee said, "although
I sing rock 'n' roll, God still loves me. I'm a rock 'n' roll singer,
but I'm still a Christian." On May 9, 2020, after a two-month
illness, Richard died at the age of 87 at his home in Tullahoma,
Tennessee,from a cause related to bone cancer.
This is a non-profit, informational web page, meant to be a
reminder of the music we listened to 50 years ago. Use of copyrighted
material is consistent with the "fair use" provisions contained in
section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976; the use of copyrighted material is
of a nonprofit, educational nature, intended for the sole purposes of
research and comment and does not significantly negatively affect "the
potential market for or value of the copyrighted work(s)."