"Little Richard" Penniman, 1933 - 2020

Around 2010, when I picked up my oldest son at high school, he described an assignment for American literature. He had to give a persuasive speech on a topic of his choice. I thought for a moment and said, half jokingly, "You should write about how Little Richard was the most important cultural figure from the second half of the Twentieth Century." I followed up with, "Remember: everyone stole from Little Richard," a comment the entertainer had made many times.

Notice I've said that I was half joking. "Little" Richard Penniman, born in Macon, Georgia, in 1932, may have come across as the self-described architect of rock and roll, but through the boasting, makeup, and whining emerged a towering personality and talent. Although I had long since lost the ability to think of Little Richard without envisioning Keenan Ivory Wayans's "Shut up" over-the-top impersonation from the influential and irreverent In Living Color, I could nevertheless remember praise heaped upon my fellow Georgian by Bob Dylan, James Brown, Prince, and others. He was, indeed, a seminal figure.

You have to be of a certain age to remember a time before Little Richard and his influence on music. Penniman had already achieved some fame before "Tutti Frutti" vaulted him to stardom in 1955. With respect to rock and roll, Little Richard was, as Beach Boy Brian Williams tweeted upon learning of his death, "there at the beginning." Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones added a couple of hours later, "There will never be another!!! He was the true spirit of Rock'n Roll!" If you doubt Wilson and Richards, consult your oldest relatives and ask them to describe rock music before Little Richard. They can't because it didn't exist. Not only was Little Richard there, but he laid some of the cornerstones. He really was the architect after all.

The day my son delivered his speech at school, the student before him spoke about The Beatles. This lad claimed that the lads from Liverpool were the most influential cultural figures of the age. Then, my son's turn came, and one of his points was the direct, acknowledged influence Little Richard had on The Beatles. The classmate conceded the point graciously, vicariously presenting one legendary group's homage to another even greater legend.

Little Richard had a point that not everyone whom he influenced acknowledged as much, and that may have been less larceny than ignorance. Much of what we simply take for granted in rock music came from Little Richard. I can't blame him for occasionally resenting the flowers he wasn't delivered while still alive.

"Everyone stole from Little Richard" may sound like a complaint from an aging icon. It was more than that. It was a simple reminder of Penniman's unique place in the annals of at least one musical genre. Elvis may still be "The King," but without Little Richard, there would not have been a throne for the man from Tupelo to occupy. RIP, Little Richard.