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With a six-inch-high pompadour topping a face dripping with eyeliner and pancake makeup, Little Richard (born Richard Wayne Penniman, 1935) came out of his native Macon, GA, to become one of the first Black artists not only to cross over to the national White pop charts, but to do it with an uncompromising set of recordings that virtually defined the inherent danger and wildness of rock & roll. Few records explode off a turntable the way the likes of "Tutti Frutti," "Long Tall Sally," "Rip It Up," "Lucille," or "Good Golly Miss Molly" do and Richard's banshee shrieks and propulsive beat (usually provided by crack New Orleans session players) were catnip to a young White audience who had never heard before a Black gospel singer sing with the brakes off. The hits kept coming, but by the late 50s Richard had quit show business to become a minister. The lure of success (his and the then-emerging Beatles) brought him back, recording dreadful remakes of his earlier hits for one label after another into the 70s and becoming a staple of the talk show circuit with his flamboyant costumes and chatter. The 90s now find him revitalized, making movie appearances and television commercials and recording new material. Though his claim to be "the architect of rock & roll" may be disputed by some, any list of pioneering rock & rollers that doesn't include Little Richard near the top has just become too damn sophisticated for its own good.
