I adore Prince and love Michael, but none of them would amount to anything without Richard setting the blueprint NOT JUST for black artists, NOT JUST for white artists.. but for the concept of what a pop artist is.

Name a musician before Little Richard who wore shiny clothing. Name a vocalist before Little Richard who sang fast songs with a beat. Name a musician -- no, a performer -- no, a celebrity who was the definition of a "pop star."

POP STAR - Meaning, a person who becomes notable for 1 particular skill they are traditionally competent at, who then builds an entirely new universe and persona on top of that talent in order to revolutionize entertainment, and in the process, inadvertantly write a script that mutliple generations of people will follow until the end of time.

People who say they can't see Richard's influence on Prince, who say they'd rather give credit to James Brown, Sly, Hendrix, etc.... In many cases Little Richard was the direct influence, and in some cases he was literally the one who started their careers.

But forget all that. How about the fact that he, just like Prince, to this day has music that has gone unreleased and was recorded during the prime of his talent? Richard was arguably at his best 10-20 years after he lost fame. Covering the Beatles coming full circle and smashing it...

Number1Crush said:

I adore Prince and love Michael, but none of them would amount to anything without Richard setting the blueprint NOT JUST for black artists, NOT JUST for white artists.. but for the concept of what a pop artist is.

Name a musician before Little Richard who wore shiny clothing. Name a vocalist before Little Richard who sang fast songs with a beat. Name a musician -- no, a performer -- no, a celebrity who was the definition of a "pop star."

POP STAR - Meaning, a person who becomes notable for 1 particular skill they are traditionally competent at, who then builds an entirely new universe and persona on top of that talent in order to revolutionize entertainment, and in the process, inadvertantly write a script that mutliple generations of people will follow until the end of time.

People who say they can't see Richard's influence on Prince, who say they'd rather give credit to James Brown, Sly, Hendrix, etc.... In many cases Little Richard was the direct influence, and in some cases he was literally the one who started their careers.

But forget all that. How about the fact that he, just like Prince, to this day has music that has gone unreleased and was recorded during the prime of his talent? Richard was arguably at his
best 10-20 years after he lost fame. Covering the Beatles coming full circle and smashing it...

All so true. But Little Richard did not spring fully formed from the ethers either, amazing as he was. He had contemporaries, during his time, doing similar acts. They just didn't get to the top. I mentioned Esquerita upthread and of course genius James Booker, "the Black Liberace". There are others too.

[Edited 5/13/20 6:16am]

RIP

tubemate apk , stream videos

[Edited 5/19/20 0:11am]

Number1Crush said:

I adore Prince and love Michael, but none of them would amount to anything without Richard setting the blueprint NOT JUST for black artists, NOT JUST for white artists.. but for the concept of what a pop artist is.

Name a musician before Little Richard who wore shiny clothing. Name a vocalist before Little Richard who sang fast songs with a beat. Name a musician -- no, a performer -- no, a celebrity who was the definition of a "pop star."

POP STAR - Meaning, a person who becomes notable for 1 particular skill they are traditionally competent at, who then builds an entirely new universe and persona on top of that talent in order to revolutionize entertainment, and in the process, inadvertantly write a script that mutliple generations of people will follow until the end of time.

People who say they can't see Richard's influence on Prince, who say they'd rather give credit to James Brown, Sly, Hendrix, etc.... In many cases Little Richard was the direct influence, and in some cases he was literally the one who started their careers.

But forget all that. How about the fact that he, just like Prince, to this day has music that has gone unreleased and was recorded during the prime of his talent? Richard was arguably at his best 10-20 years after he lost fame. Covering the Beatles coming full circle and smashing it...

I agree, so true! Imo, Little Richard never really got the credit or accolade he deserved.

If you want to HEAR Little Richard's influence listen to Deep Purple.
If you want to SEE his influence, watch Prince.

[Edited 5/16/20 3:55am]

Oh wow, sad to hear. I have his Specialty sessions cd collection and it is great. R.I.P

Rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Little Richard will be buried at Oakwood University, a historically black university in Huntsville, Alabama.

Gerald Kibble, director of Oakwood Memorial Gardens, said the private funeral will be held Wednesday (May 20) and will not be open to the public.

Little Richard’s close friend Pastor Bill Minson said the singer was an alumnus of the university. Little Richard died May 9 at the age of 87 in Tennessee due to bone cancer.

Billboard.com

LOTS of musical roots - wiki

Beginnings (1947–1955)

In October 1947, Sister Rosetta Tharpe overheard 14-year-old Penniman singing her songs before a performance at the Macon City Auditorium. She invited him to open her show.^[19] After the show, Tharpe paid him, inspiring him to become a professional performer.^[20][21] Penniman stated that he was inspired to play the piano after he heard Ike Turner's piano intro on "Rocket 88."^[22] In 1949, he began performing in Doctor Nubillo's traveling show. Penniman was inspired to wear turbans and capes in his career by Nubillo, who also "carried a black stick and exhibited something he called 'the devil's child'—the dried-up body of a baby with claw feet like a bird and horns on its head." Nubillo told Penniman he was "gonna be famous" but that he would have to "go where the grass is greener."^[23]

Before entering the tenth grade, Penniman left his family home and joined Dr. Hudson's Medicine Show in 1949, performing Louis Jordan's "Caldonia".^[23] Penniman recalled that the song was the first secular R&B song he learned, since his family had strict rules against playing R&B music, which they considered "devil music."^[24] Penniman also performed in drag during this time, performing under the name "Princess LaVonne".^[25] In 1950, Penniman joined his first musical band, Buster Brown's Orchestra, where Brown gave him the name Little Richard.^[26] Performing in the minstrel show circuit, Penniman, in and out of drag, performed for various vaudeville acts such as Sugarfoot Sam from Alabam, the Tidy Jolly Steppers, the King Brothers Circus and Broadway Follies.^[27]

Having settled in Atlanta, Georgia, at this point, Penniman began listening to rhythm and blues and frequented Atlanta clubs, including the Harlem Theater and the Royal Peacock where he saw performers such as Roy Brown and Billy Wright onstage. Penniman was further influenced by Brown's and Wright's flashy style of showmanship and was even more influenced by Wright's flamboyant persona and showmanship. Inspired by Brown and Wright, Penniman decided to become a rhythm-and-blues singer and after befriending Wright, began to learn how to be an entertainer from him, and began adapting a pompadour hairdo similar to Wright's, as well as styling a pencil mustache, using Wright's brand of facial pancake makeup and wearing flashier clothes.^[28]

Little Richard (right) weds Steven Van Zandt and Maureen Van Zandt (center) in 1982. (Photo: Courtesy of Steven Van Zandt/Contributed)

In addition to these celebrity weddings, the Grammy-Award winning singer and musician also appeared on daytime dramas One Life To Live and The Young and The Restless as himself performing fictional weddings with his usual brilliant panache.

Here is the video clip of the cover song I referenced earlier. For full disclousure I am just a kid in my 20s, I first saw this video a mere 2 years ago, but there is a certain point watching this video where you see exactly where Prince came from. I recall being in a state of shock when I realized it. Tell me if you can point to it.

https://www.youtube.com/w...fuDbjcbFY0

[Edited 5/18/20 19:14pm]

Someone at the funeral is streaming this live


https://www.facebook.com/...4ODgwMDkz/

luv4u said:

Someone at the funeral is streaming this live


https://www.facebook.com/...4ODgwMDkz/

This is wonderful Luv. It's still up - a 2 hour video of all the proceedings and speakers at the gravesite. Real roots. Little Richard was so loved.

From the moment Little Richard shouted “A wop bop a loo bop a wop bam boom!” in 1955, the world was never the same. His life was full of painful internal conflict, but no one better defined the freedom and raw energy of rock & roll

.

He was born the third of 12 children in Macon, Georgia, on December 5th, 1932, though he sometimes said it was December 25th, perhaps to honor Christ his savior, perhaps to burnish his own legend, or more likely both. His parents wanted to call him Ricardo, but the birth certificate said Richard, his maternal grandfather’s name. It was a sign from the start that he was no one thing, had no one identity.

.

He was different, born that way: His right leg was shorter than the left. He walked with short steps. “The kids didn’t realize I was crippled. They thought I was trying to twist and walk feminine,” he told Charles White in The Life and Times of Little Richard, an authorized biography. “The kids would call me faggot, sissy, freak, punk. They called me everything.”

.

Visit our Special Tribute... Influence

And in return, he became everything, an omnibeing who contained multitudes, whose art refracted, critiqued, and remade American identity, drawing explosive power from multiple consciousnesses: male, female; white, black; straight, gay; the pleasures of the flesh and the word of God. He sang in tongues, in codes. He wore makeup, teased his hair a foot high. He used masks to both conceal and reveal, to enact his truth in plain sight. If you knew, you knew. And if you didn’t, no matter. He did, and his knowledge gave his music world-conquering power.

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read more here--https://www.rollingstone....wkHKakTHXw

[Edited 5/20/20 13:29pm]

[Edited 5/20/20 13:41pm]

Little Richard Final Message - 2017


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTXfx4h4iPs

RIP Little Richard's appearance in the classic The Girl Can't Help It (1956) was truly amazing https://www.youtube.com/w...oxN55f7fzU

Goddess4Real said:

RIP Little Richard's appearance in the classic The Girl Can't Help It (1956) was truly amazing https://www.youtube.com/w...oxN55f7fzU

My favourite song by him too!