Little Richard

The Architect of Rock and Roll, whose pounding piano and raspy vocals helped launch a new era of music.

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Little Richard, born Richard Wayne Penniman, was an American singer-songwriter and pianist whose influence on popular music stretched across seven decades. Called the Architect of Rock and Roll, he did his most celebrated work in the mid-1950s, when wild piano playing, a hammering backbeat and a raw, raspy voice helped build the foundations of rock and roll. His emotional vocal style and fast rhythms also fed into soul and funk, and shaped rhythm and blues for generations. He was among the first black artists to cross over to audiences of every race, and his shows brought black and white fans together in defiance of segregation.

Quick Facts

Birth name: Richard Wayne Penniman
Born: 5 December 1932
Birthplace: Macon, Georgia, U.S.
Died: 9 May 2020
Place of death: Tullahoma, Tennessee, U.S.
Education: Oakwood College
Resting place: Oakwood University Memorial Gardens
Spouse: Ernestine Harvin (1959–1964)

Facts from the source article.

Lore & Background

Penniman was born in Macon, Georgia, on December 5, 1932, the third of twelve children. His father was a church deacon and brick mason who also ran a nightclub, and his family moved among A.M.E., Baptist and Pentecostal congregations. Small and skinny, he was called Lil' Richard at home, and his loud church singing earned him the nickname War Hawk. Gospel artists such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Mahalia Jackson shaped his early style. In October 1947 Tharpe heard him sing and invited him to open her show at the Macon City Auditorium. He toured with medicine shows from 1949, and in 1950 Buster Brown's Orchestra gave him the name Little Richard. In Atlanta, the flamboyant Billy Wright became a key influence on his look and stagecraft.

Did You Know?

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