Little Richard, Part 2

Welcome to Rock & Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John, and today's podcast is called Little Richard, Part 2.  In this installment of our two-part podcast I will discuss Little Richard's life, influence, and legacy after he received a sign from God in October 1957.  

Be sure to check out our companion podcast, Little Richard, Part 1, where I review the early career of the great American singer, songwriter, pianist, and entertainer:  Richard Wayne Penniman, also known as Little Richard!  

All podcasts on the Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast are produced by brothers-in-law Bill Price and "Jumpin' John" McDermott. The Podcast Theme Song, "You Essay", was written by John. It was initially recorded by Bill and John on April 1, 2004 with several revisions since then.
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Rock On!

Transcript

Thank you for that introduction and welcome to Rock & Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John, and we'll be looking back at some of Rock and Roll's greatest artists, songs, and stories.  Today's podcast is called Little Richard, Part 2.  In this installment of our two-part podcast I will discuss Little Richard's life, influence, and legacy after he received a sign from God in October 1957.  

As mentioned at the end of our companion podcast, Little Richard, Part 1, Richard Penniman was living the good life in L.A. in 1957.  However, during his October tour that year in Australia, Richard experienced some apocalyptic visions that convinced him he needed to turn away from the sinful influences of rock and roll.  So Little Richard suddenly disappeared from the rock and roll music scene, and in January 1958 he enrolled at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama, to study theology.

Despite his claims of spiritual rebirth, Richard would later admit that his reasons for leaving rock music were in part due to his unfavorable arrangement with Specialty Records.  Despite earning millions for the label, Specialty had reduced the percentage of royalties Richard earned for his recordings.  "Good Golly, Miss Molly" had previously been recorded on October 15, 1956.  It wasn't released by Specialty until January 1958, partially filling the void of Little Richard's absence from the rock and roll scene.  The song reached #4 on the charts.  Like most his early hits, it quickly became a rock and roll standard and has subsequently been recorded by hundreds of artists.  By the time he left Specialty Records in 1959, Richard had a total of nine top-40 pop singles, as well as seventeen top-40 R&B singles.  By ending his contract with the label, Richard agreed to relinquish any royalties for his material.

A month after his decision to leave secular music, Richard met Ernestine Harvin at an evangelical rally, and the couple married in July 1959.  During their six year marriage, Richard and Harvin adopted a one-year-old boy, Danny Jones.  They divorced in 1964.

In 1958, Richard formed the Little Richard Evangelistic Team and traveled across the country to preach.  In 1960, he cut two gospel albums for End Records.  Then he signed with Mercury Records in 1961, where in 1962 he released the Quincy Jones produced LP called King of the Gospel Singers.  In the fall of 1962, Don Arden booked Little Richard for a tour of the UK, where his rock and roll records continued to sell.  Sam Cooke was his co-headliner.  Little Richard's British fans expected to hear him sing his rock and roll hits.  On the first night, Richard was upset when fans booed his gospel set.  So, for the rest of the tour he played a selection of his classic rock and roll hits, resulting in frenetic responses from the audience.  The Beatle's manager Brian Epstein asked Don Arden to allow the Beatles to open for Richard on some October 1962 tour dates in Great Britain and Hamburg, Germany.  It was during this time that Little Richard gave suggestions to the Beatles on how to perform his songs and taught Paul McCartney his distinctive vocalizations.  

Then, in the fall of 1963, Richard was called by a concert promoter to rescue a struggling tour featuring The Everly Brothers, Bo Diddley, and the Rolling Stones.  At the end of that tour, Richard was given his own television special for Granada Television entitled The Little Richard Spectacular.  The special became a ratings hit and was rebroadcast twice.  

With Little Richard once again committed to rock and roll, he signed with Vee-Jay Records and cut a comeback album, 1964's Little Richard Is Back (And There's a Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On!).  Also released was his Greatest Hits album.  He was briefly signed with the Columbia-affiliated Okeh label, resulting in 1967's The Explosive Little Richard LP.

In the late 1960's Little Richard frequently toured North America, the UK,  and Europe.  These "Rock 'n' Roll Revival" concerts - alongside Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Fats Domino - filled arenas and resulted in him headlining showrooms in Las Vegas.  Reaffirming his status as one of rock & roll's most dynamic artists, Richard signed with Reprise Records.  1970's The Rill Thing album included his first popular hit single in thirteen years, "Freedom Blues," which peaked at #47 on the Billboard chart.  However, his two follow-up albums, 1971's King of Rock and Roll and 1972's The Second Coming, were poor sellers.

Success at the Atlantic City Pop Festival and Toronto Pop Festival led to talk show appearances on the Tonight Show and Dick Cavett, making him a major celebrity again.  While Richard continued to tour regularly in the 1970's, he had developed a severe drinking problem along with regularly abusing cocaine, heroin, and PCP.  In 1977, weary from touring and chemical dependence, Little Richard once again renounced rock and roll to embrace evangelism.  For the second time he abandoned secular music in favor of preaching.  He cut a gospel album for the Word label, 1979's God's Beautiful City, but largely vanished from the mainstream entertainment business.

In 1985 Charles White's book entitled The Life and Times of Little Richard, The Quasar of Rock sold well and put Little Richard back in the spotlight.  Richard's appearances on the talk show circuit promoting the book led to him being cast as a record producer in the 1986 comedy movie Down and Out in Beverly Hills.   Richard won critical acclaim for his film role and spent much of the rest of the decade as a guest on television shows and appearing in films.  He would appear in several movies and television projects well into the 2000's.  Throughout the 1990's, Little Richard performed around the world and appeared on TV, film, and tracks with other artists.  By then, his future recording efforts were limited to occasional guest appearances on multi-artist projects, but he continued to play live.  Worsening health problems led to Little Richard announced in 2013 that he was retiring.  Despite occasional public appearances, he became reclusive and rarely spoke to the media.  On May 9th, 2020, 87 year old Richard Penniman died in Tullahoma, Tennessee after struggling with bone cancer.  He was 87 years old.  

In today's vernacular, Little Richard would certainly be described as a major influencer.  A pioneering rock music celebrity who was both black and gay, he was clearly a trailblazer and ahead of his time.  Active in popular music and culture for seven decades, Little Richard influenced numerous singers and musicians across musical genres from rock to R&B to hip hop.  Many of his contemporaries recorded covers of Richard's songs.  Those who recorded covers included Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Gene Vincent, Pat Boone, and Eddie Cochran.  

Here are some examples of the many musicians influenced by Little Richard:  

•Both Otis Redding and Sam Cooke praised Little Richard's contributions to soul music's early development.  As Bill Price mentions in another Rock and Roll Flashback podcast, Otis Redding started his professional career with Richard's band, The Upsetters.  

•James Brown credited Richard and his mid-1950s backing band, The Upsetters, with having been the first to put the funk in the rock beat.  Brown allegedly came up with the Famous Flames debut hit, "Please, Please, Please", after Richard had written the words on a napkin.   

•In 1965 twenty-three year old Jimi Hendrix played guitar in Richard's band, The Upsetters.  

•Bob Dylan performed covers of Richard's songs on piano in high school with his rock and roll group, the Golden Chords.  In 1959 when Dylan left high school, he wrote in his yearbook that it  was his ambition [and I quote] "to join Little Richard"[end quote].  

•The members of the Beatles were heavily influenced by Richard.  Paul McCartney idolized him, and "Long Tall Sally" was the first song McCartney performed in public.  During the Beatles' Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, George Harrison pointed to Little Richard and said [and I quote] "thank you all very much, especially the rock 'n' rollers, an' Little Richard there…it was all his fault, really" [end quote].   John Lennon later commented that when he first heard "Long Tall Sally" in 1956, he was so impressed that he couldn't speak.  

•Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were also influenced by Richard, with Jagger citing Little Richard as his first introduction to R&B music and referring to him as [and I quote] "the originator and my first idol" [end quote].  

•Before Ritchie Valens became famous, he was known as the “Little Richard of San Fernando”.  •David Bowie called Richard his inspiration, stating that, upon listening to "Tutti Frutti",  he [and I quote] "heard God" [end quote].  

•Nineteen-year old Reginald Dwight, whose band Bluesology participated in a December 1966 recording session with Little Richard, was so impressed that he became determined to become a rock and roll piano player.  Reginald later changed his name to Elton John.  

•Farrokh Bulsara performed covers of Richard's songs as a teen, before finding fame as Queen's Freddie Mercury.  

Described as the "Architect of Rock and Roll", Little Richard's most celebrated work dates from the mid-1950s, when his charismatic showmanship and dynamic music laid the foundation for rock and roll.  In 2010, Time magazine listed the Here's Little Richard LP as one of the 100 Greatest and Most Influential Albums of All Time.  Rolling Stone magazine listed that same album at #50 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.  Little Richard was ranked #8 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.  Rolling Stone also listed three of Richard's recordings, "The Girl Can't Help It", "Long Tall Sally" and "Tutti Frutti", on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. "Long Tall Sally," "Tutti Frutti," and "Good Golly, Miss Molly" were listed on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.  

Little Richard was honored by many institutions and received numerous awards for his key role in early rock and roll.  In 1986 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the first class of inductees.  He was also inducted into many other Halls of Fame:  the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Apollo Theater Hall of Fame, the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, the Blues Hall of Fame, and the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame.  He was recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.  He received a star on both the Hollywood Walk of Fame and on Nashville's Music City Walk of Fame.  He received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993.  His album Here's Little Richard and three of his songs ("Tutti Frutti", "Lucille" and "Long Tall Sally") are inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. 

As the Reverend Richard Penniman, Little Richard officiated the weddings of musicians Steven Van Zandt & Maureen Santoro in 1982, Cyndi Lauper & David Thornton in 1991, and Tom Petty & Dana York in 2001.  Though he always remained a fervent Christian, throughout his life Richard was conflicted about his sexuality.  He often flip-flopped on his views about being gay, about homosexuality in general, and about the good or evil in rock and roll music.  Known worldwide for his flamboyant, androgynous look as a performer, he seemed torn between his Christian upbringing of living a God-centered life and taking part in a promiscuous rock and roll lifestyle.  

For an interesting take on Richard's life and career as a Black rock & roll icon and an early hero of queer culture I highly recommend Lisa Cortés's 2023 documentary film Little Richard: I Am Everything. 

This has been Rock and Roll Flashback…a podcast called Little Richard, Part 2.  In this installment of our two-part podcast I discussed Little Richard's life, influence, and legacy after he received a sign from God in October 1957.  Be sure to check out our companion podcast, Little Richard, Part 1, where I review the early career of the great American singer, songwriter, pianist, and entertainer:  Richard Wayne Penniman, also known as Little Richard!  I'm Jumpin' John McDermott, and until next time….Rock On!