Rock Pioneer Little Richard Dead At 87
• Little Richard, the flamboyant rock and roll pioneer who gifted us with such timeless classics as “Tutti Frutti,” “Long Tall Sally,” “Rip It Up,” “Jenny Jenny,” “Keep A-Knockin'” and “Good Golly Miss Molly” — has died. Richard, whose birth name was Richard Penniman, was 87, although some sources say he was older. His passing was confirmed by his son, Danny Penniman, who told the New York Times the cause of death was bone cancer.
In his Variety remembrance of Little Richard, Chris Morris perfectly described his persona — “Pompadoured, mustachioed, slathered with pancake makeup and popping his mascara-painted eyes — ‘Ooh my soul, I’m the prettiest man in rock ‘n’ roll,’ he declaimed — and graced with an ego as outsized as his personality and his voice, the daringly androgynous musician established himself as the wildest performer of his musical era.”
Little Richard’s influence on other rock stars was notable —Elvis Presleycovered four of Richard’s hits in his breakthrough year of 1956. The Beatles — who shared a stage with him on a 1962 U.K. tour — paid homage to his style in performances like their cover of “Long Tall Sally” and their own homages, like “I’m Down.” In 1964 he signed with Chicago indie Vee-Jay Records in 1964, where he had a No. 12 R&B single with “I Don’t Know What You’ve Got (But It’s Got Me),” featuring his then-guitarist, Jimi Hendrix.
In 1957, at the height of his popularity, Little Richard quit the music business, enrolled in theological school and undertook a new career as an evangelical minister and gospel singer. He made a splashy return to rock on his 1962 tour of England and cashed in on the rock ‘n’ roll revival of the ’60s and ’70s, but returned to religion again in 1977.
An inaugural inductee in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and a 1993 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award honoree, Richard was plagued by poor health in his later years. He suffered a heart attack onstage in Las Vegas in June 2013; three months later, he announced his retirement in an interview with Rolling Stone.
