Little Richard
Overview
Richard Wayne Penniman (born December 5, 1932), known by the stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...

 Little Richard, is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...

 to rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

 in the rock and roll beat and contributed significantly to the development of soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...

 music. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...

 website entry on Penniman states that:


He claims to be "the architect of rock and roll", and history would seem to bear out Little Richard’s boast.
Quotations

I came from a family where my people didn't like rhythm and blues. Bing Crosby - "Pennies from Heaven" - Ella Fitzgerald, was all I heard.

quoted in Hamm (1979). Yesterdays, p.391.

"I wanna introduce a man that started a kind of music that set the pace for a lot of what's happening today. Ladies and gentlemen, if you don't mind, here is my man, bless his little sweet heart, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Little Richard!"

Ray Charles (1989), Legends of Rock n Roll concert in Rome, Italy.

"Little Richard was a one-of-a-kind show business genius. He influenced so many people in the business."

Bo Diddley White, Charles. (2003), p. 226. The Life and Times of Little Richard: The Authorised Biography. Omnibus Press.

"Little Richard is my idol."

James Brown White (2003), p. 229

"Your music has inspired me - you are the greatest."

Elvis Presley (1969) White (2003), p. 225

"Little Richard is the beginning of Rock 'n' Roll."

Smokey Robinson White (2003), p. 226

"Richard is an original, and the songs he's written and the songs he's done and made famous are just one of a kind."

Phil Everly White (2003), p. 228

"Little Richard represented what I wanted to be. He was, and still is, my idol."

Don Covay White (2003), p. 227

 
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