As Townsman Al pointed out, Little Richard is 80 years old today. Happy birthday! Although he’s alive he seems to be a bit forgotten as the rock legend he was. These days early rock ‘n roll seems thought of more in terms of Chuck Berry, Elvis, and a few semi-obscuro figures who make us feel high minded. Has Little Richard’s legacy shifted to more of a cultural icon for his influence on our age’s more fluid notions of sexuality? So be it. That in itself is a significant contribution to this world.
My uncle turned me onto him as a kid, and I always found him fascinating on both musical and cultural levels. There’s some concert movie from the early ’70s my uncle took me to see the culminated in an All-Star Jam among these early rock ‘n roll titans. Maybe it was the movie from which this clip was pulled. I remember Richard winning a fierce battle by scaling a tower of monitors in a white cape, or something like that. Baby, that’s rock ‘n roll! My uncle also owned a few of his gospel albums. He told me stories about seeing Richard pre- and post-ministerial days. After high school my uncle briefly entered a seminary. He’s always straddled the lines between rock ‘n roll and religion. He clearly identified with that part of Richard’s story. Does that part of his story still mean anything to people, or is he just a shadow of the caricature he played so well in Down and Out in Beverly Hills?
Kids, take a moment before it’s too late to tune into all the power and glory that was Little Richard.
I always thought of him as a more marketable version of Ray Charles — who in my book straddled the world of R&B and gospel in a more believable way.
True, Little Richard may have rocked more … but better than Jerry Lee Lewis? I always lumped those two together in my young, white-boy way.
Oh, and every time I think of Little Richard the image of him saying “It’s Adam and Eve … not Adam and Steve!” pops into my mind. It was from some talk show he was on when he spoke about his re-conversion back to heterosexuality or something.
I’ve always been a Little Richard fan and think of Little Richard as a 1950s parent’s worst nightmare. Ray Charles was the earl of suavedom compared to Little Richard, and don’t even get me started on Esquerita….
Little Richard sells pomade: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geD4MJCcLl8
My first experience of Little Richard was when he appeared on the early ’70s version of “What’s My Line”. I thought, why does that man dress/ wear makeup like a woman? My 10 year old mind didn’t really delve into the cultural/sexual meanings beyond that. I just though he was kind of weird.
I still see Little Richard as part of the pantheon of early rock and roll greats. Moreso lately because I’ve been listening to a lot of post-war R&B and jump blues that I never really bothered with before. Little Richard really distilled the essence of that sound into an even faster, tighter model and with an even smaller band unit (small jump blues bands had replaced the big band before that) and brought the vocals up several notches to what became the the rock and roll level.
Little Richard played piano on BTO’s final appearance in the Top 40 (#33 in 1976).
“Play it, Richard!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVNeoDnkpgc
Happy birthday Richard Pennimann. My father co starred with you in Fred Sears directed “Don’t knock the Rock”
He’s one character that needs a really in depth documentary. He gets name checked all the time but even the people who “LOVE Little Richard” can’t really explain him. When his name comes up it’s usually followed by something like “when he was maybe a gay preacher wearing a peacock feathered corset on the Joan Rivers show……i think”
HE IS THE GREATEST!!! ANYONE WHO DOESN’T “GET IT” W/ HIM, DOESN’T GET ROCK & ROLL (RAY CHARLES!?! PFFFT!!! MARKETABLE? IN 1950s AMERICA!?!)!!! THE EVIDENCE AND THE INFORMATION ARE ALL VERY EASILY OBTAINABLE (I’M PRESUMING YOU ALL HAVE INTERNET ACCESS, CORRECT?…SHEESH), SO, CHECK HIM OUT, OR, IN RICHARD’S WORDS, “SHUT UP!”
I recently watched the trainwreck called 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee for the 1st time & Little Richard appeared w/Jerry Lee Lewis & Fats Domino. They were playing pianos on top of each other & Little Richard was on top. It’s amazing that all three are still alive.
I remember seeing Little Richard for the first time on an episode of American Bandstand in 1973 when I was seven years old. Even though he was long past his prime, he scared the hell out of my mom who was watching TV with me.
No about it. He’s one of the all-time greats.