Richard Wayne Penniman popularly known as Little Richard, one of the chief architects of rock ‘n’ roll has died at the age of 87 after battling bone cancer.
Pastor Bill Minson, a close friend of Little Richard announced this on Saturday. His son, Danny Jones Penniman, also confirmed his father’s death, which was first reported by Rolling Stone.
Bill Sobel, Little Richard’s attorney for more than three decades, told the AP in an email that the musician died of bone cancer at a family home in Tullahoma, Tennessee.
He said;
He was not only an iconic and legendary musician, but he was also a kind, empathetic, and insightful human being.
Little Richard, known for his wild, flamboyant performing style, is one of founding fathers who helped pushed the rock ‘n’ roll on the music charts.
Richard’s hyperkinetic piano playing, coupled with his howling vocals and hairdo, made him an implausible sensation.
Some of his most famous and successful works are “Tutti Frutti,” “Long Tall Sally,” and “Good Golly Miss Molly”— which were in the mid-1950s.
His music was covered by contemporaries like Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, and Bill Haley. A wave of young British musicians—the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Rod Stewart, and Lemmy Kilmister cited Little Richard as an influence.
In his personal life, he wavered between raunchy and religious, alternating embracing Christianity and flamboyant behavior and looks with mascara-lined eyes, pencil-thin mustache and glittery suits.
He sold more than 30 million records worldwide. Little Richard was among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s first class of inductees in 1986. He received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy and performed at Bill Clinton’s presidential inauguration in 1992. The Library of Congress added “Tutti Frutti” to the National Recording Registry in 2010.
