I don't know about Little Richard, but there is no question Elvis ripped off black artists but passed himself off as an original.
And Led Zeppelin ripped off blues artists...but who is remembered more? Howling Wolf, Willie Dixon or the mighty Zep? Yeah, Page, Plant and crew, because they took elements of blues songs and made it something unique and reinvented. Which is exactly what Elvis did...he interpreted the material and made it better than the original.
He was combining the R&B of the time with Country and Western influences in a way that others were not doing.
Another case was “What Lester brung, Stan Getz”, where black jazz musicians complain about Getz learning and profiting from Lester Young’s tenor style.
I’m not making it, but a better argument is that Little Richard was an underrated black person.
Personally, I think Jerry Lee Lewis is the Man.
There is indeed question. In fact you’re very mistaken.
Elvis was humble, especially by superstar standards. He didn’t go around boasting he was a genius or the voice of a generation like others have done since. He was always quick to give credit to his many influences. These influences included country music artists, white gospel singers, and black gospel singers. Elvis grew up around all of this. How could he not be influenced by it all? It’s not like he was a studio creation where he and his handlers decided to take X from one genre, Y from another. If Elvis ripped off black artists, then he also ripped off country and gospel artists.
He took it all in and it formed his style. And his style - the blend and fusion of country, gospel, rockabilly, r & b, etc - , put forth by one of the all time great voices, was unique and original.
One could criticize Elvis for allowing himself to get songwriting credit on some of those early songs that he actually didn’t deserve at all. That would be fair. But that was a business decision made by Colonel Tom Parker, and Elvis was always weak when it came to business decisions or standing up to Parker.
Strongly, strongly disagree. Elvis was an original, in that there had never been anyone like him before. He was influenced by blues, gospel and country music, and all three strands met in him and formed something new. It is ridiculous to compare him to Little Richard, hello, a pianist - whom he looked and sounded nothing like. And LR never sang ballads, which Elvis did beautifully.