The Flaming Hits Of The 50s,60s and 70s!

Broadcast Schedule   |   The Shows   |   Radio DJs   |   Spotlight Artist   |   Advertising   |   The Biz!   |   Listener Feedback   |   World News   |   Superstar Stores   |   Rock'n Roll Heaven 2007   |   Performance Artist Of The Month   |   About Us   |   Store   |   Privacy Policy   |   Music Request
Spotlight Artist
September 2007

Little Richard

Richard Wayne Penniman (born December 5, 1932), better known by the stage name Little Richard, is an African-American singer, songwriter, and pianist, who began performing in the 1940s and recording from 2004 with his child love interest, and was a key figure in the transition from Rhythm & Blues to Rock n Roll in the mid-1950s.

Penniman's reputation rests on a string of groundbreaking hit singles from 1955 through 1957, such as "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally", which helped lay the foundation for rock and roll music,[1] influencing generations of rhythm and blues, rock and soul music artists. Little Richard's injection of funk during this period also influenced the development of that genre of music.

Little Richard's early work was a mix of boogie-woogie, rhythm and blues and gospel music, but with a heavily accentuated back-beat, funky saxophone grooves and raspy, shouted vocals, moans, screams, and other emotive inflections that marked a new kind of music. In 1957, while at the height of stardom, he became a born-again Christian and withdrew from recording and performing secular music.

James Brown, who called Little Richard his idol, credited him with "first putting the funk in the rock and roll beat" via his saxophone-studded, mid-'50s road band, by Smokey Robinson, in 1997 as, "the start of that driving, funky, never let up rock 'n' roll", by Dick Clark as "the model for almost every rock and roll performer of the '50s and years thereafter", and Ray Charles, in 1989, as "the man that started a kind of music that set the pace for a lot of what's happening today." In 1969, Elvis Presley told Little Richard, "Your music has inspired me - you are the greatest.". Otis Redding, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Mick Jagger, John Fogerty, Bob Dylan, Bob Seger, David Bowie, and numerous other rock n roll icons have also cited Little Richard as being their first major influence.

Recording career

Modeled after recording artist Billy Wright, Little Richard had recorded songs for the Peacock Records label between 1951 and 1954, including "Little Richard's Boogie". These records sold poorly and Penniman had little success until he sent a demo tape to Specialty Records on February 17, 1955. Specialty's owner Art Rupe placed Richard's career in the hands of Robert 'Bumps' Blackwell, who had nurtured and groomed Ray Charles (then known as R.C. Robinson) and Quincy Jones at the start of their careers in the music business.

Blackwell had intended to pit Little Richard against Ray Charles and B.B. King by having him record blues tracks. He arranged for a recording session in New Orleans in the late summer of 1955, when, during a break, Penniman began singing an impromptu recital of "Tutti Frutti", in his raspy, shouted vocal style, while pounding out a boogie-woogie based rhythm on the piano. Blackwell, who knew a hit when he heard one, was knocked out and had Little Richard record the song. However, in order to make it commercially acceptable, he had Little Richard's lyrics changed from "tutti-frutti, good booty" to "tutti frutti, aw rooty."

The song, with Little Richard shouting its unique introductory "A-wop-bop-a-loo-mop-a-whop-bam-boom!", became the model for many subsequent Little Richard songs, with a driving piano, boogie-woogie bass, funky saxophone arrangements, with sax solos usually from Lee Allen. Over the next few years, Little Richard had many hit singles, such as "Long Tall Sally", "Rip It Up". "The Girl Can't Help It", "Slippin' and Slidin'", "Jenny, Jenny", "Good Golly, Miss Molly", and "Keep A Knockin'". His performing style can be seen in such period films as Don't Knock the Rock (1956) and The Girl Can't Help It (also 1956), for which he sang the title song.

In the commercial fashion of the day, several of his early hits were re-recorded in other styles. Little Richard's first national success, "Tutti Frutti," was covered by Pat Boone, whose version outdid the source record, #12 to #17. Boone also released a version of "Long Tall Sally," with slightly bowdlerized lyrics. But this time, the Little Richard original outperformed it on the Billboard charts, #6 to #8. Bill Haley tackled Little Richard's third major hit, "Rip It Up," but again, Little Richard prevailed. With the record-buying public's preference established, Little Richard's subsequent releases did not face the same chart competition.

Despite the raw sound of his music, the singles were carefully arranged, as documented on the three-volume album The Specialty Sessions, which include many false starts and variations.

HIT SINGLES

Release date
Title
Chart Positions
US Charts
US R&B chart
UK Singles Chart
11/55
"Tutti Frutti"
#17
#2
#29
4/56
"Long Tall Sally"
#6
#1
#3
4/56
"Slippin' and Slidin'"
#33
#2
-
6/56
"Rip It Up"
#17
#1
#30
6/56
"Ready Teddy"
#44
#8
-
10/56
"Heebie-Jeebies"
-
#7
-
10/56
"She's Got It"
-
#9
#15
12/56
"The Girl Can't Help It"
#49
#7
#9
12/56
"All Around the World"
-
#13
-
3/57
"Lucille"
#21
#1
#10
3/57
"Send Me Some Lovin'"
#54
#3
-
6/57
"Jenny Jenny"
#10
#2
#11
6/57
"Miss Ann"
#56
#6
-
9/57
"Keep A Knockin'"
#8
#2
#21
2/58
"Good Golly, Miss Molly"
#10
#4
#8
6/58
"Ooh! My Soul"
#31
#15
#22
6/58
"True, Fine Mama"
#68
-
-
9/57
"Baby Face'"
#41
#12
#2
2/58
"Kansas City"
#95
-
#26
3/59
"By the Light of the Silvery Moon"
-
-
#17
11/62
"He Got What He Wanted"
-
-
#38
7/64
"Bama Lama Lama Loo"
#82
#82
#20
11/65
"I Don't Know What You've Got But It's Got Me"
#92
#12
-
8/66
"Poor Dog (Who Can't Wag His Own Tail)"
-
#41
-
5/70
"Freedom Blues"
#47
#28
-
9/70
"Greenwood Mississippi"
#85
-
-
8/73
"In the Middle of the Night"
-
#71
-
3/86
"Great Gosh A'Mighty!"
#42
-
#62
10/86
"Operator"
-
-
#67
 


Other Little Richard links:








Visit The Little Richard Music Store!