I saw this documentary on Little Richard yesterday & I couldnt help but notice how simlilar his dress sense is to that of Prince.

Has Prince ever listed Little Richard as one of his influences?

"Listed influence" - I don't know of any interview reference.

But:

Prince's performance of 'Let's Pretend We're Married' on the Purple Rain Tour is a good example of Prince appearing to allude to Little Richard;
Commentators, around the time of Purple Rain, started suggesting that Little Richard was one of the artists that Prince was 'drawing on' - at least image-wise;
Little Richard makes a cameo appearance in 'Prince - A Musical Portrait' commenting on Prince's prolific output;
One verse of 'The Everlasting Now' is believed to refer to Little Richard;

Little Richard will tell you Prince's whole act/image is a copy of his own.

Prince down the chance to play Richard in the film of his life.

langebleu said:

Where is the Little Richard reference? I see a blatant Sly Stone one but nothing to LR.

Little Richard had said once in an interview that prince and him r friends... my point? i don't have one

Essence said:

The suggestion has been made that the first verse refers to Little Richard and the second verse to Sly. I agree that the Sly references are blatant.

As for the first verse, my guess is that the first four lines describe Little Richard at the height of his commercial popularity. Publicity shots showed him dressed in ermine with a crown at one stage posing as the king of rock and roll (a picture even appears in magazine produced about Prince around about 1984).

But then Little Richard undertook a self-imposed break from music, went to 'school' - i.e. turned to christianity, and became a Minister.

Anyway - that, I suspect , is the theory.

Little Richard is great!!! He inspired the Beatles famous "woooo!!!!"

um..*ahem*...