Nickname: The inventor of rock and roll
Genre: Rock and Roll
Most Memorable Recording: "Tutti Frutti"
Followers: John Mars, Nick Curran, Backbeat Band, Kid Thomas, Troy Shondell, Corey Glover, Marc Bolan, Lazy Cowgirls, Barry Goldberg, Jayne County & the Electric Chairs, Don Covay, Herman Brood, Billy Harper, Larry Williams, T. Rex, Sylvester, Doug Sahm, Mitch Ryder, Otis Redding, Queen, Freddie Mercury, Paul McCartney, MC5, Living Colour, The Flamin' Groovies, Esquerita, Bob Dylan, The Blasters, The Big Bopper, The Beatles, Katie Webster, Casey Jones, Eddy Clearwater
One of the original rock & roll greats, Little Richard merged the fire of gospel with New Orleans R&B, pounding the piano and wailing with gleeful abandon. While numerous other R&B greats of the early '50s had been moving in a similar direction, none of them matched the sheer electricity of Richard's vocals. With his bullet-speed deliveries, ecstatic trills, and the overjoyed force of personality in his singing, he was crucial in upping the voltage from high-powered R&B into the similar, yet different, guise of rock & roll. Although he was only a hitmaker for a couple of years or so, his influence upon both the soul and British Invasion stars of the 1960s was vast, and his early hits remain core classics of the rock repertoire.
