Some call Little Richard was one of the father's of rock and roll.  He hit the beat in the
mid 1950s.  He was born in Macon, Georgia on December 5, 1932, and began singing
in the church at a very early age.  Gospel music played a big influence in his own
music, and as a kid he sang gospel with the Penniman Singers and Tiny Tots Quartet.
In 1951 he signed with RCA Records, after winning a talent contest.   He left home to
dance in a traveling medicine. By age fifteen he was a regular with Sugarfoot Sam's
Minstrel Show.

After sending a tape to Specialty Records the song "Tutti Frutti," would see him for
sure starting a road to kicking up some rock and roll dust.  From 1955, and this signing
Richard would record 50 songs, making up 9 singles and two albums.  He appeared in
several movies including "The Girl Can't Help It" and recorded the title track.  During
a tour with Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent in 1957, and after a plane crash scare,
Little Richard left Rock and Roll to become a Seventh Day Adventist Church preacher.

He went back to Rock and Roll after an attempt to make it as a gospel singer.  In 1962
he toured England with the Rolling Stones as his opening act.  After this he had Jimi
Hendrix play guitar in his band for a short time.  When rock and roll began to make a
big comeback in the mid 1960s he signed with Reprise Records and had a small hit
with "Freedom Blues."  In 1976 he returned to the ministry.

In 1986 he appeared in the movie "Down and OUt in Beverly Hills" including his hit
"Great Gosh a 'Mighty."  This same year he was inducted into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame.  He appeared with many big rock acts and recorded a song with U2 and
B.B. King's "When Love Comes to Town."  In 1993 Little Richard performed at Bill
Clinton's presidential inaugural.
 

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