Little Richard: "I Am Done"

Ultimate Classic Rock ^ | 9/3/2013

[My Favorite Headache]

One of rock’s most distinctive and influential performers is calling it quits.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, legendary recording artist Little Richard admitted that, just a few months shy of his 81st birthday, he’s hanging it up as a performer. “I am done, in a sense,” he told the magazine, adding, “I don’t feel like doing anything right now.”

Troubled by sciatica and a degenerating hip, Little Richard (born Richard Penniman on Dec. 5, 1932) has performed sparingly in recent years and hasn’t always managed to play up to his usual standards. In June 2012, he was forced to stop a show, telling the crowd, “Jesus, please help me – I can’t hardly breathe. It’s horrible.” He recovered sufficiently to headline at 2013′s Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend, but that seems to have been a temporary reprieve.

According to the Rolling Stone article, he now spends his time designing clothes and praying — and thinking about the impact left by his groundbreaking early singles like ‘Tutti-Frutti’ and ‘Long Tall Sally.’ “I think my legacy should be that when I started in show business, there wasn’t no such thing as rock ‘n’ roll,” he mused. “When I started with ‘Tutti Frutti,’ that’s when rock really started rocking.”

A 65-year veteran of show business and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, as well as a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Little Richard helped lay the groundwork for scores of rock artists during the ’50s before announcing his retirement from secular music toward the end of the decade. Although he returned to his recording career during the following decade, he struggled to regain his commercial momentum, suffering through a few fallow years before reinventing himself as a steady live performer and studio sideman during the ’70s. His most recent LP, the Disney Records release ‘Shake It All About,’ was issued in 1992.

[popdonnelly]

Richard, you rocked the house!

[Gator113]

“Don’t Knock the Rock” (1956)

[Revolting cat!]

This is from 2001 (!) “Get Rhythm”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bxN6S2dfAs

[Recon Dad]

Little Richard IS Rock and Roll.

AMEN!!!

[TheLawyerFormerlyKnownAsAl]

By pestered I meant he kept calling the recording co. and asking did you get my tape, did you get my tape, have you listened to it . . .? It’s my understanding that uo to that point he was scraping by playing at frat dances, etc.

[ExNewsExSpook]

Evidently, he made the switch not long after he became famous. In his autobiography, Little Richard relates a threesome he shared with his stripper girlfriend and Buddy Holly.

[Fiji Hill]

He sang the title song of my favorite movie, “The Girl Can’t Help It.” I’ve seen that film at least nine times in the theater, and if a local theater screens it, I’ll see it again.

[Jack Black]

Who started rock and roll? Bill Haley and the Comets are often mentioned as the artists who played the first Rock and Roll hit song "Rock around the Clock". Written in 1952 it was recorded by Haley in 1954.

The article in Wikipedia points out that Haley charted a year earlier with "Crazy Man, Crazy". And that "Shake, Rattle and Roll" hit #1 in 1954, also by Bill Haley.

Some say "Rocket 88" by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats (which was really Ike Turner's band under a different name). March of 1951.

Tutti Frutti was released in 1955. Here's a nice article on the from Wikipedia.

1949 Rocket 88.

Louis Jordan, early Rock and Roll performer.

He'll tell you he's the REAL King of Rock and Roll, not Elvis: Little Richard.

[exit82]

I agree. 17 no. 1 hits from 1955-1957.

In a time of discrimination in the South, too. His concerts were the first ones where whites and blacks mixed, because his appeal was so great.

Little Richard was in England and met the Beatles, who were big fans of his. He had legions of fans in England and France.

He showed them how to do the “wooooo” sound that become their trademark.

He was giving concerts even in 2012.

His life story is an amazing one.

[Bikkuri]

Lol :^)

I was just thinking of the 45s and LPs I used to have a couple of days ago ;)

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

Bit of trivia - one of Hendrix’s first gigs was playing in the Little Richard’s band. I have nothing but respect for Little Richard and wish him well.

[a fool in paradise]

“I think my legacy should be that when I started in show business, there wasn’t no such thing as rock ‘n’ roll,” he mused. “When I started with ‘Tutti Frutti,’ that’s when rock really started rocking.”

Louis Jordan - Keep a Knockin' (1939)

Little Richard - Keep a Knockin' (1957)

Roy Brown - Butcher Pete (part 1 of 2) (1950)

Roy Brown also is credited with writing Good Rockin' Tonight in 1948

[Ben Ficklin]

Louis Jordan played swing music. Some of his old hits were later recorded and made popular in the 70s and 80s by the western swing band, Asleep at the Wheel: Caldonia, Choo Choo Choo Boogie, Is you is or is you ain’t, Nobody here but us chickens.

[a fool in paradise]

IMO, he had the greatest Rock and Roll band in the 50’s, The Upsetters. Having Grady Gains as lead sax man didn’t hurt either. His ‘Ready Teddy’ and ‘Good Golly Miss Molly’ drove all of us teenagers into a frenzy. Great top down convertible music.

And Grady is still playing after all these years (mostly around Houston publicly and for private parties). He's even released a few albums in the last 3 decades but the best to start with is the gray market compilation of his original recordings

http://www.gradygaines.com/cms_home/index.html

GRADY WAS SAXOPHONIST AND BANDLEADER for Peacock Records' Don Robey when he met Little Richard and became leader of the Upsetters. They recorded many classics like "Long Tall Sally", "Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On" and when Richard (temporarily) retired, Grady was hired by Sam Cooke to lead his band. After Cookes' death, Grady continued to play all the great houses like The Apollo and the Palladium, backing up Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Bo Diddley, Etta James, Jackie Wilson and many, many others. When Grady came off the road he returned to Houston for some years but the force of disco in the 80's moved Grady to tour Europe, and to play festivals. Starting again in the early 90's, Grady re-formed the Upsetters and has been playing private parties, clubs, and festivals ever since. His music is authentic, soulful and represents the best music from 6 decades - Grady is the real deal.

Milton Hopkins (Sam Lightnin' Hopkins' cousin) is also still playing and recording. He was in the Upsetters for a time in the 1950s-early 1960s. He had previously played with Big Mama Thornton and Johnny Ace (he recorded with Johnny Ace and was at the show where Johnny accidentally killed himself). He later played guitar for BB King.

[a fool in paradise]

He also retired twice from the music industry, including at the height of his fame, because of concerns over his lifestyle being counter to his religious upbringing and beliefs.

[a fool in paradise]

The trick nowadays is to take high pitched female country singers and slow them down a bit (playing 45s at 33RPM).

Can’t figure out why this dude is singing about his man.
(Dolly Parton Jolene at 33 rpm)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doz1QJ7LwjA

Wanda Jackson - Funnel of Love (33 rpm)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojb7xSW610Y

[a fool in paradise]

One of a kind....

Little Richards learned a bit about how to play from Esquerita

Rockin' The Joint

Esquerita and the Voola

Hey Miss Lucy

Maybe Baby

[a fool in paradise]

His biggest problem seems to be complications from a hip surgery.

[duckman]

Thanks for the info. The bottom photo is what I usually visualize in my mind when I think of Grady. I believe it was from the movie ‘The Girl Cant Help It’.