and we all know the difference between R'n'B and Rock'n'Roll.

I think there's noone you could reach Richard's genius, he has even today an amazing voice and in these clips he looks hot and like Prince's father

http://www.youtube.com/wa...ruhfR-cxvo

He was definetly the king of them all.

Little Richard - best ROCK singer ever!!!

There, corrected it for you.

Timmy84 said:

graecophilos said:

SIMPLY RED is amazing live band

Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder. Not disputing what you said about Little Richard. Just felt like putting their names in this thread.

ThreadBare said:

Timmy84 said:

Well, I think there's a difference between Stevie and Marvin and Richard. I take the phrase R'n'B quite seriously. Little Richard did rhythm peppered blues songs.

Marvin and Stevie certainly have done some songs with blues chord structures (Room 112, Boogie On Reaggae Woman) but Marvin imo did quintessentel Soul and Stevie had more of a Gospel influence and mixed it with his wide spread musical taste and pop music sensibilities!!

I mean, Motown was more gospel than blues. The doo-wop and blues chord structures are relatives but a bit different though.

i'm into doo-wop music at the moment, and Motown was, from the very first single, more doo-wop than blues.

graecophilos said:

And in this aspect I think LR's rivals are Elvis, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis...
And I think he outsings them all, and certainly he outsings Elvis. But we all know why Elvis always was bigger than anyone else from that scene... it's because of racism. People liked black music but they prefered it to be sung by whites and renamed R'n'B to R'n'R. How awful!!

But they still call Little Richard and Chuck Berry "rock 'n' roll". I haven't heard them mention as "R&B singers" since their careers were born.

Timmy84 said:

If they are called like that, it's wrong.

Imo, the name R'n'B has bee misused ever since. Nowadays it seems to be the synonym for black music in general but you hardly can say Usher or Yo-Yo do R'n'B. I cringe everytime I hear that.

And I disagree LR was no rock singer because the term rock was first used in the mid 60s and made to draw the line between RnR and Rock like it was made by the Beatles. Rock was supposed to be cleverer and funnier and with more influences.

ThreadBare said:

[Edited 3/27/09 3:41am]

These 2 mastered the grassroot movement thats now called "R&B".

excuse my ignorance, but who can be seen on those pictures`?

Louis Jordan & Dinah Washington.

Both of them were given the title "King & Queen of the Jukeboxes" at some point.

Harlepolis said:

According to Chuck D, Louis Jordan could also rap as well!

TonyVanDam said:

So was Louis Armestrong

It was called "lip lapping" if I'm not mistaken.

Harlepolis said:

Lena Horne once mention the technique as "scatting", which happen on some jazz tracks.

TonyVanDam said:

yeah, it's scatting.

In Germany, in the mid 90s, there was someone called Scatman he had a strange hit with Bi-bap-bu-bala-bup (as it's pronounced in German). Awful, but one of the songs everypne can remember

Little Richard is the greatest!

Harlepolis said:

graecophilos said:

Well we know how rhythm and blues has been miscontrue but the origins of rock 'n' roll people know occurred between the late 1930s through the early 1950s. Rock 'n' roll was actually three genres when it started: R&B, rockabilly and doo-wop. Soul added to the rock 'n' roll subversion a full decade later. So in MY opinion, Richard Penniman had as much to do with the origins of rock 'n' roll than he did with rhythm and blues which, as Harley pointed out, Louis Jordan and Dinah Washington played more pivotal roles in. Richard's influence was for not only R&B but for modern rock acts as well including you-know-who that we dedicate the board to.

I don't know if Richard was the best R&B singer ever, but he's certainly extremely underrated. Most people associate him with his Rock 'n' Roll releases, but he put out some mind blowing Deep Soul ballads, and I have to agree that he's one of the stronger singers of his era. I love Richard.

MrSoulpower said:

Oh no doubt he can sing some great soul. I heard him sing "Don't Deceive Me" once so no doubt he could sing soul music. Hell he DID inspire Otis Redding!

Timmy84 said:

He did, Johnny Jenkins can be blamed for that.

MrSoulpower said:

Oh yeah I remembered the story. Johnny Jenkins was signed to Stax Records and Otis was Johnny's drummer. When the band went into break, Otis began working on a song and rehearsing it with his voice. One of the producers heard this and convinced him to record it. After that, he got signed. The song was "These Arms of Mine". He had been recording before that but "These Arms..." was his first hit.

Timmy84 said:

Actually, the legend is that Otis was Johnny's driver. And after the session, Johnny went back to Macon, GA, while Otis became the greatest Soul singer this world has ever seen.

MrSoulpower said:

Oh yeah that's right. He WAS Johnny's driver. I forget that, lol.

Timmy84 said:

okay, you've got a point with that, Timmy84.

I think he should deserve more rrspect among the white audience anyway. Elvis did good for a white singer and I believe he was an honest soul singer.

But he was bigger as Richard because he was white and he was provided with the better song material. They both have something in common though: They went away for a while (army vs church) and after that both became different. Some kind of joke, a living caricature of their former selves.
[Edited 3/27/09 11:47am]

Lets not forget....

Jackie Brenston songwriter, singer and saxophonist in Ike Turners band wrote what is considered by many the first rock and roll song "Rocket 88".