History Music / LittleRichard

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he mounted several comeback attempts on a variety of labels, including Vee-Jay (with whom he had the hit "I Don't Know What You Got (But It's Got Me)", featuring the guitar playing of an obscure young session musician called JimiHendrix), Modern, Okeh and Reprise, though many of his efforts were just re-recordings of his Specialty hits. Eventually, after oscillating between his roles as a reverend and a rocker for nearly 20 years, he reconciled himself to rock and roll in the late 1980s, declaring that it could be used for good as well as evil.

* OlderThanTheyLook: Sure, he got cosmetic surgery, but [[http://www.bing.com/getimage?q=FCLB_9c91b5bb-327f-36c5-cd5f-9d2b55aafd48_2&wf=Genimage it seemed to have went well.]] He pretty much ''defines'' this trope. You would need to see his birth certificate to be convinced he's ''83''.
* OneWomanSong: "Good Golly Miss Molly", "Long Tall Sally", "Miss Ann", "Lucille", "Jenny, Jenny", "The Girl Can't Help It".
* RhymingWithItself: "Jenny, Jenny".

Things changed in 1957, when Richard, at the height of his success, announced that he was quitting rock and roll, and subsequently entered a seminary to become a priest. The precise reason for his decision isn't entirely clear, but the most common story is that Richard experienced a [[DreamingOfThingsToCome prophetic dream]] about the [[ApocalypseHow end of the world]], just before learning about the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik, compounded by a vision of angels supporting the wings of his plane to Australia when he thought it was crashing. He didn't quite music altogether, and went back to his gospel roots for several albums.

** He also elongates his "i"s into a falsetto.[[{{Aerosmith}} Steven Tyler]] seems to have borrowed this from him.

* OlderThanTheyLook: Sure, he got cosmetic surgery, but [[http://www.bing.com/getimage?q=FCLB_9c91b5bb-327f-36c5-cd5f-9d2b55aafd48_2&wf=Genimage it seemed to have went well.]] He pretty much ''defines'' this trope. You would need to see his fucking birth certificate to be convinced he's almost 80.

* BigBeautifulWoman: "Long Tall Sally".

* 1992 - ''Shake It All About'' (an album of children's songs recorded for Creator/Disney)

* 1992 - ''Shake It All About'' (an album of children's songs recorded for [[Disney]])

'''Richard Wayne Penniman''' (better known as '''Little Richard''', born 5 December 1932) is an American singer, songwriter and pianist who proclaims himself as "the architect of RockAndRoll". One of the few artists active in TheFifties whose mass popularity approached that of Music/ElvisPresley, Little Richard remains one of the most important figures in the history of rock music, and few would dispute him the title.

Born to a gospel-singing family, Richard Penniman recorded a few minor singles for small independent labels before he was discovered by record producers Art Rupe and Bumps Blackwell, who thought he could be a viable rival to Music/RayCharles. Richard recorded a string of hits, including "Tutti Frutti", "Good Golly Miss Molly" and "Long Tall Sally" and starred in rock and roll films around the same time teenagers were recognised as a whole new demographic. His performances were famously wild and frenetic and his playing style, incorporating boogie-woogie influences, {{Funk}} rhythms and raw, energetic vocals, made Richard a huge hit with his audiences.

Things changed in 1957, when Penniman had a seemingly [[DreamingOfThingsToCome prophetic dream]] about the [[ApocalypseHow end of the world]], believed he saw angels carrying a plane he thought was crashing and heard that the Russians had just launched Sputnik. He became convinced that God was telling him to stop playing rock music, so he entered a seminary, became a minister and began recording gospel songs instead. After that, Little Richard oscillated between gospel and his old rock and roll style until he eventually reconciled his roles as a reverend and a rocker.

* 1965 - ''Little Richard's Greatest Hits''
* 1966 - ''The Incredible Little Richard Sings His Greatest Hits – Live!''

* 1967 - ''Little Richard's Greatest Hits: Recorded Live!''

* 1971 - ''Mr. Big''

* 1974 - ''Talkin' Bout Soul''

* 1992 - ''Shake It All About''

* AmbiguouslyGay and/or AmbiguouslyBi: Little Richard's sexual orientation has been debated for more than half a century. The singer himself has described himself as gay in some interviews, but has also named himself an "omnisexual" in other interviews. Nevertheless his outrageously effeminate stage presence is part of his public persona and made him a gay icon nevertheless.

Things changed in 1957, when Penniman had a seemingly PropheticDream about the [[ApocalypseHow end of the world]], believed he saw angels carrying a plane he thought was crashing and heard that the Russians had just launched Sputnik. He became convinced that God was telling him to stop playing rock music, so he entered a seminary, became a minister and began recording gospel songs instead. After that, Little Richard oscillated between gospel and his old rock and roll style until he eventually reconciled his roles as a reverend and a rocker.

* IAmTheBand

* ShoutOut: On ''Music/FreakOut'' Music/FrankZappa mentions in the liner notes that ''Wowie Zowie'' is a song Little Richard likes. The singer obviously never heard Zappa's album, by the way.

* LongRunners: From 1956 onwards he is still performing live.

His song ''Tutti Frutti'' was inducted in the NationalRecordingRegistry in 2010.

!! Ready, Teddy for these tropes?:

'''Richard Wayne Penniman''' (better known as '''Little Richard''', born 5 December 1932) is an American singer, songwriter and pianist who proclaims himself as "the architect of RockAndRoll". One of the few artists active in TheFifties whose mass popularity approached that of Music/ElvisPresley, '''Little Richard''' remains one of the most important figures in the history of rock music, and few would dispute him the title.

'''Richard Wayne Penniman''' (better known as '''Little Richard''') (born 5 December 1932) is an American singer, songwriter and pianist who proclaims himself as "the architect of RockAndRoll". One of the few artists active in TheFifties whose mass popularity approached that of Music/ElvisPresley, '''Little Richard''' remains one of the most important figures in the history of rock music, and few would dispute him the title.

An American singer, songwriter and pianist who proclaims himself as "the architect of RockAndRoll". One of the few artists active in TheFifties whose mass popularity approached that of Music/ElvisPresley, Little Richard remains one of the most important figures in the history of rock music, and few would dispute him the title.

Born in 1932 to a gospel-singing family, Richard Wayne Penniman recorded a few minor singles for small independent labels before he was discovered by record producers Art Rupe and Bumps Blackwell, who thought he could be a viable rival to Music/RayCharles. Richard recorded a string of hits, including "Tutti Frutti", "Good Golly Miss Molly" and "Long Tall Sally" and starred in rock and roll films around the same time teenagers were recognised as a whole new demographic. His performances were famously wild and frenetic and his playing style, incorporating boogie-woogie influences, {{Funk}} rhythms and raw, energetic vocals, made Richard a huge hit with his audiences.

[[LongRunners And he was still going strong until 2013, when he finally retired.]]

Albums by him that have their own article:
* ''Music/HeresLittleRichard'' (1957)

* CoolOldGuy: He's approaching eighty and still sounds as good as he did in the 1950s. [[OlderThanTheyLook Not to mention the man looks damn good for his age.]]

* LongRunners: From 1956 until 2013 (!) he was still giving concerts.

* SnakeOilSalesman: He worked for a traveling medicine show when he was a teenager. His job was to scream, sing and leap around the stage to attract a crowd and demonstrate the "results" of the stuff the salesman was pushing.

* AmbiguouslyGay and/or AmbiguouslyBi: Little Richard's sexual orientation has been debated for more than half a century. The singer himself has described himself as gay in some interviews, but has also named himself an "omnisexual" in other interviews. Nevertheless his outrageously effeminate stage presence are part of his public persona and made him a gay icon nevertheless.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Little_Richard_4593.jpg]]

->''A whop bop-a-lu a whop bam boo!''

Things changed in 1957, when Penniman had a seemingly prophetic dream about the [[ApocalypseHow end of the world]], believed he saw angels carrying a plane he thought was crashing and heard that the Russians had just launched Sputnik. He became convinced that God was telling him to stop playing rock music, so he entered a seminary, became a minister and began recording gospel songs instead. After that, Little Richard oscillated between gospel and his old rock and roll style until he eventually reconciled his roles as a reverend and a rocker.

!!This artist provides examples of:

* AmbiguouslyGay: At least one source says so.
* BiTheWay: Just here to cover all the possible options.
* CampStraight: At least, according to the Other Wiki.

* LongRunners
* LyricalTic: He loves his "Whooooooh!"s and "Ah Hoooooooo!"s

* TheMoralSubstitute: His gospel recordings, as well as Pat Boone's cover versions of some of his early hits.

* SignatureStyle: A mixture of boogie-woogie piano playing with funk rhythms and raspy vocals, or alternatively, "[[FamilyGuy piano riff WOO!]]".

-->"Tutti Frutti"
An American singer, songwriter and pianist who proclaims himself as "the architect of RockAndRoll". One of the few artists active in TheFifties whose mass popularity approached that of Music/ElvisPresley, Little Richard remains one of the most important figures in the history of rock music, few would dispute him the title.

Born in 1932 to a gospel-singing family, Richard Wayne Penniman recorded a few minor singles for small independent labels before he was discovered by record producers Art Rupe and Bumps Blackwell, who thought he could be a viable rival to RayCharles. Richard recorded a string of hits, including "Tutti Frutti", "Good Golly Miss Molly" and "Long Tall Sally" and starred in rock and roll films around the same time teenagers were recognised as a whole new demographic. His performances were famously wild and frenetic and his playing style, incorporating boogie-woogie influences, {{Funk}} rhythms and raw, energetic vocals, made Richard a huge hit with his audiences.

* SnakeOilSalesman: He worked for a travelling medicine show when he was a teenager. His job was to scream, sing and leap around the stage to attract a crowd and demonstrate the "results" of the stuff the salesman was pushing.

* ThrowItIn: Essentially how Richard became successful - an initial session with Blackwell failed to produce anything satisfactory and proved frustrating, so he started pounding out "Tutti Frutti" during a lunch break. Blackwell quickly recorded the song, with only a small adjustment to {{Bowdlerize}} the lyrics, and it became a hit.

[[LongRunners And he's still going strong fifty years later.]]

* SignatureSong: "Tutti Frutti".

An American singer, songwriter and pianist who proclaims himself as "the architect of RockAndRoll". One of the few artists active in TheFifties whose mass popularity approached that of ElvisPresley, Little Richard remains one of the most important figures in the history of rock music, few would dispute him the title.

* FirstAndForemost: "Long Tall Sally" was written to deliberately invoke this (it was meant to be a song that white singers wouldn't cover). While it was initially successful, [[ElvisPresley it didn't]] [[TheBeatles quite last]].
* HeyItsThatGuy: At one point his band included a then unknown guitarist named JimiHendrix, who went on to do ''quite'' well after leaving (Richard kicked him out for refusing to wear his uniform).

* CoolOldGuy: He's approaching eighty and still sounds as good as he did in the 1950s.

* OlderThanTheyLook: He pretty much ''defines'' this trope. You would need to see his fucking birth certificate to be convinced he's almost 80.

* OlderThanTheyLook: For a guy in his late seventies, he looks ''incredibly'' good. He looks, at the most, maybe 50.