Little Richard has Passed Away 😢

Aww, she was always so funny

Sad RIP

“First Lady of Rock and Roll”

RIP

His penis was not up to the task.

1962 - Beatles opening for Little Richard

John Lennon opened Little Richard?

A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam-boom!

G———————A———————Y

And Andre Harrell has passed. 2020 is horrible

RIP to both little Richard and Andre Harrell.

"I'm a singer. I can sing anything. And that's the reason I'm the king."

RIP Little Richard

Wow, at r5, his head seems so much bigger than those of the Beatles.

The Quasar of Rock and Roll! He just liked to watch... to watch.

damn r9, is just saw the tweets from Mariah and other big timers. Big losses for music

Little Richard was chased out of his hometown, Macon Georgia, in 1954 on foot.

Was a true character RIP

Famously huge uncut cock.

Did Little Richard ever write about his fast hussy days before he found the Lord? He was fine and Im sure he had some mens in every city

Did he have a huge head or did the Beatles have small heads?

H

O

M

O

S

E

X

U

A

L

!

The star of the Chuck Berry tribute. Everybody else was mediocre.

Andre Harrell is 59. Smh . Lord help us!

I thought he had died years ago.

He may have had a big head, but he had a little richard.

I loved Little Richard. He was HILARIOUS always!

Fly high flamboyant one.

WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

What a fucking day! We lose Andre Harrell and Little Richard on the same day! Fuck 2020!

My favorite clip of Little Richard...

It was sad to see him consorting with televangelists in the latter part of his life.

Did either die of the virus? Andre Harrell was tweeting yesterday, so probably not him.

In 24 Hours we’ve lost 2 pioneers. Rest in Peace Andre Harrell and Little Richard. 🙏

Yassss r27! "he made my big toe shoot up in my boot, he did it so good, give it all to you"

He arrived in full makeup. My job is done.

Andre Harrell was family, right?

Didn't miss his shot and stayed true to himself. Respect for this man and his art. RIP

[Quote] stayed true to himself.

No, he didn't. You only have to look up some of the interviews he did with awful religion peddlers to see that.

No! Little Richard was a trailblazer. His music, his outrageous stage antics, his humor. I love his music, airways have. RIP

[quote] What a fucking day! We lose Andre Harrell and Little Richard on the same day! Fuck 2020!

*cough*

I loved this....still do! RIP LR.

r33, yesss hunny

Andre Harrell > Puff Daddy > Usher > Justin Bieber

What happened to Andre!?

A radio station in Chicago used to play an audio clip of him from his religion peddling days where he was talking about homosexuality. He said, "It is a dirty. It is a disgusting. It is a despicable." That was the whole quote. No nouns.

Doesn’t John Waters have a really interesting story of his experience with Little Richard?

Celebs die in threes-Roy Horn, Little Richard, and so who will be the third?

My pick is Bob Newhart.

Little Richard fluctuated from being gay to not being gay many times. I'm not sure if he ever found peace as an authentic person. A great musician but great inner turmoil.

Did anyone pick him in the 2020 celebrity death thread?

R35, I meant his music and the way he presented it. I knew next to nothing about his personal life or his religious beliefs. At least R28 had the class to make the same commentary with some restraint.

Good golly

Little Richard is up in the stars now.

The greatest award presentation ever. Thanks Little Richard! Love you.

[Quote] He said, "It is a dirty. It is a disgusting. It is a despicable."

And yet, he was known to be handsy in his dotage. Handsy towards any strapping orderly who might cross his path.

RIP. Even John Waters utilized his talent.

You can tell it was shot in one take and those are real people not actors look at the way the heads turn when Divine walks down the street. I love this scene!

Real name - Richard Penniman.

R50, hate to break it to you, but things get a little complicated when you are depised for race and gender. You new to reality? I bet if dug in your life we'd find some hypocrisy, so shut it.

Love Little Richard! RIP

R53 Preach. Give it a rest.

The Life and Times of Little Richard is an amazing document. Seems like he just acted like that book never happened.

Shut up!

[Quote] hate to break it to you, but things get a little complicated when you are depised for race and gender. You new to reality? I bet if dug in your life we'd find some hypocrisy, so shut it.

People who have public platforms can do a lot of damage. Little Richard inspired many, positively. His latterday hypocrisy tainted his legacy.

In full makeup years later.

A comment from LSA

[Quote] I called other relatives to tell, they mentioned his sexuality and said they hoped he get it right.

This is the kind of damaging bullshit that Penniman played into...

I hope Morrissey is reading this. It’s not too late, Moz!

The French men adored him. Homoeroticism at its finest.

[quote] This is the kind of damaging bullshit that Penniman played into...

What, poor grammar?

Morrisey has become disappointing in old age, so he's taken after Little Richard in that respect.

[Quote] What, poor grammar?

That renouncing homosexuality was "getting right."

I just can't understand why there are no women in the audience at R61

R.I.P. Little Richard, December 5, 1932 - May 9, 2020.

Little Richard was unstoppable on talk shows. Once on David Frost, he was a guest and John Simon and Eric Segal were debating Love Story. He got fed up and said to the audience that no one was interested in hearing them talk, they just wanted to hear how pretty he was. He wasn't too far off the mark because those two pompous idiots made for excruciating TV. Another time, maybe the Tonight Show, Don Rickles tried to insult him by calling him a "coon" and Richard responded by calling him Mr. Wrinkles.

He was on Hollywood Squares in the early 2000s and one of the other celebrities was Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. The insults came fast and furious and Little Richard kept saying "Who dat dog?" One of Triumph's lines was "Elvis copied you, The Beatles copied you, Rupaul copied you".

I believe this leaves Jerry Lee Lewis as the last of the founding fathers of rock and roll.

The Beatles opened for Little Richard and years later ended up owning all the publishing rights to all of LR's music. When Michael Jackson bought the Beatles catalog he didn't know that included all of LR's music too. He then gave LR all of his rights back for free because he felt LR should be compensated for all his work after having been disrespected by the record companies for so many years.

The world is poorer for his loss.

Specialty records screwed him.

I was just listening to Little a Richard while cooking yesterday. I said to my husband “I’ll be really sad when Little Richard and Jerry Lee go”. Uh oh, I hope JLL isn’t next! Along with Elvis and Fats, Little Richard was my favorite. RIP.

If Little Richard signed away his publishing, that was on him. Ben E. King, who had a gambling problem, did the same thing - at least for some of his songs.

Didn't Jerry Lee Lewis marry his underage cousin?

I honestly think Little Richard just got tired of dick because he got so much. It happens.

LR knew he was pretty from a very young age and according to legend, brothers down south were fucking him before he was even grown. After he got famous Im sure he had men waiting for him after every show. He reminds me of porn stars today who just quit the industry cold turkey and fall off the face of the earth after they've had enough.

[Quote] I honestly think Little Richard just got tired of dick because he got so much. It happens.

Has it happened to you? How have you... filled the void?

R74 Yes, he did.

JLL was said to have been a total asshole to Janis Joplin. The Harry Dean Stanton character in the Rose was based on him and the scene itself was based on a Joplin interaction with one of JLL's bandmates.

As a little gay boy I was fascinated by Little Richard, and how openly flamboyant he was. I remember, when I was about 14, he was going to be on the Merv Griffin show, which my mom and I watched faithfully every day. I was so excited. I don't remember how he got on the subject, but he said being gay was just selfish and playing games and eventually men should grow up and marry women and have children. I was completely devastated, as even then I knew I was gay and I was fine with it. These celebrities can be so harmful when using their platforms this way, just like Prince. For me, these instances outweigh their talent or "contribution" so society, as for me, he did much more harm than good.

"Just like Prince" ?? Essplain, please.

r79

Thank you for the insight your comment provides.

R41 "He said, "It is a dirty. It is a disgusting. It is a despicable." That was the whole quote. No nouns. "

But I do it every chance I get.

R80 as has been discussed ad nauseam on this site, Prince often made derogatory comments about gay men and how is was against his religious beliefs. Even when links to articles and interviews have provided indisputable evidence to this fact, there are people on this site who will refute it. I don't know if it's ignorance, or internalized homophobia or just simply complacency, but for me, I was always sensitive to it, especially when very young. Maybe they are given this advice from the PR people and it gains them something, IDK - as for me, if I were ever famous, when on camera I would profess to love everyone. I mean even Liza Minelli and Carol Channing have made anti-gay comments, and gay people close to them have talked about the fact that they were misunderstood, or taken out of context (I don't know what context hateful comments are OK in, but that's another story I guess) but that doesn't make it right, and doesn't make me feel any better.

Prince also pretended he was biracial/mixed. He was quite the phony.

What were Liza's antigay comments?

That man was pure joy, and the world is a much lesser place without him.

87 is obviously not young, but I'm shocked to find out LR was only 87 years old. I knew he was still alive, but I thought he was close to100 'cause he's been around forever.

R49's clip is funny. I don't blame LR for being bitter about not receiving his due. All those early rock and roll guys were ripped off and screwed over by record labels and younger artists.

That's why I've always been ambivalent about the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin among others 'cause they aped the sound of those early R&R guys and became fabulously rich and famous, but didn't always give credit.

Thanks for the all the music and the entertainment Little Richard. Rest easy.

Great performance of his duet with Tanya Tucker from the album Rhythm, Country & Blues.

Didn't the Beatles have Little Richard on a tour? I'm not a Beatles fan but haven't they always been effusive in their praise for the American writers they loved?

He contributed to this great moment in cinema.

I met Richard backstage in Charlotte after his 1978 comeback tour. He was a surprisingly gentle lover.

My friend Sylvia had won two all-access pass tickets by calling into the local radio station and answering a trivia question. It was a rather easy question. Who was the lead singer of Steely Dan, I think it was.

When our eyes met, I knew he would that night become my lover. The endless dance of seduction. Like two ships passing in the night, he was gay and I was pretending to be a straight, but then, my lust burst forth, like the Hoover Dam breaking out into the Colorado river. Wave upon wave of orgasms.

Richard could have broken up the Beatles. Paul was always following him around asking for food off his plate.

He was a black gay man born in the fucking south in the 1930s. Only a complete moron can't comprehend or forgive Little Richard's embrace of religious dogma considering the internalized hate.

Do you have any fucking idea of what it must have been like for him growing up? I'm not surprised he was a religious nut. How could he not be fucked up? Throw in being a pioneer of Rock n' Roll and going through your life watching white acts with half your talent getting more famous and wealthy.

R79, that is why you never want to look too closely at your idols. They have a tendency to come crashing down.

Richard was the business.

He should of went on Ed Sullivan in 1956 in a harness & jockstrap, announced his pronouns and then got fucked by a Gay Biker Gang as he was bent over the piano playing Tutti Frutti simultaneously to protect my rights.

LOL R96

Bless him. For so much of his life there was a tortured internal struggle between a God inside him that had been formed in his youth, and the wild freedom that sex and wild music that was in his DNA. For those disappointed that sometimes that "God" had a few years' dominance in his life... he was more "out" in the 50s than anyone, ever. No accident that the hedonistic liberation of rock n roll traced from him into James Brown, British rock, Hendrix, the Ramones, Prince, Usher.... and was the soundtrack of the liberation movements of the 60s and following...

Like his music... God's raw joy and sex's driven hunger fighting with each other... to make something hybrid, more powerful than either.

RIP.

RIP

very sad.

"Tutti Frutti" by Little Richard is on the February 1994 Gap In-Store Playlist.

"The Power" by Elton John & Little Richard is on the March 1994 Gap In-Store Playlist.

#RIPLegend

[quote]He should of went on Ed Sullivan in 1956

Oh, dear X 2.

Little Richard LIVED!

Agree with r93. The fact that he even made a decent life for himself coming out of Georgia as a feminine black man during the Civil Rights era alone shows what an exceptional person he was. He then made significant cultural contributions on top of that, while being completely outside the norm. And then on top of that he survived through the AIDS crisis, and then lived to a very old age. He is was practically indestructible.

Like Cher.

Biopic TV movie explains a lot.

He died of bone cancer with his brother and son at bedside

LOL, R28. I read your post as "consnorting with televangelists".

Shut up!

Keep A Knockin' was one of my favorite songs by Little Richard. Here he is at his flamboyant best. The dancing was grand. RIP.

r93

That's nice, but I object to his PUBLIC rants. I don't give a fuck if he wanted to be an ex-gay. He WORKED FOR religion peddlers. I don't like it and I make no apologies for calling it out. (And he didn't give up the mens. He couldn't keep his hands to himself.)

[Quote] He is was practically indestructible.

That makes his latterday destructive words even worse.

Jackie Shane, a minor figure sure, but someone who lived through much the same time, never came out with hateful, destructive words. Good on Jackie.

I wonder who'll play him in the inevitable biopic. Would Will Smith have the balls?

something Mackie should play him (sorry but I forgot his name...)

Anthony Mackie.

[quote]I don't blame LR for being bitter about not receiving his due. All those early rock and roll guys were ripped off and screwed over by record labels and younger artists.

Lots of artists into the 60s too, both black and white. They sold millions of records and toured non-stop but many ended up broke or near-broke when they should've been millionaires. So many of them got royally screwed by record labels and shady management.

Aretha Franklin demanded up-front payment in cash before she would step out on stage, for her entire career. She saw how many of her contemporaries got swindled out of their money, and wouldn't even accept a check from concert promoters. She would only accept cash.

The sad thing is if there is a biopic soon, his sexuality will likely be minimized, as it was for Mercury in the Queen biopic.

And Aretha still fucked up her estate.

Will Smith and Anthony Mackie are too old and not pretty enough to play Little Richard in his prime.

Anthony Mackie is inspired casting.

Reading this thread, I can't help feeling cheated. We should have had Prince this long.

[Quote] Will Smith and Anthony Mackie are too old and not pretty enough to play Little Richard in his prime.

Who would you suggest?

Prince treaded water since the mid 1990s.

Agreed R120. Its depressing the number of artists we've lost prematurely in the last ten years.

GOTTA SAY kathy griffin talking about him when she was on "the hollywood squares" in her life on the d list special was and remains HILARIOUS!...

Can’t remember what live recording it is, but LR starts playing Blueberry Hill, then abruptly stops and announces that “I got my own songs!”

Closet Case

What did she say, R124?

This is sad. I’m a diehard fan and they’re are few of us left.

Looking forward to now everyone claiming what a huge fan they are.

I know he already played Ray Charles, but Jamie Foxx would be perfect.

Foxx is 52 years old. A bit too old for Little Richard, unless he's going to play him in his middle age.

Prince already played him in a biopic, R27

OP, Little Richard is DEAD. He didn't "pass away." This is not a religious site.

Little Richard is with Jesus now.

RIP!!! Loved his music

Im sorry but guys like Jamie Foxx and Will Smith, who are both over 50 now, cant be a youthful firecracker Little Richard. Maybe they can play him as a senior lol.

r121 I think Jacob Latimore would be good, an up and coming actor. He caught my eye in the movie Detroit. Very cute and sweet looking. And he sings. I can see him pulling off the hair/make-up and conveying the homo-eroticism of Little Richard when he started out.

R116, Robert Townsend's version of the Little Richard biopic I linked in R105 was rather honest.

Jaden Smith

R137 = Jada

Did he ever have the pleasure of a nice cock up his ass?

r1, Pls respect a pioneer.

"I'm not conceited, I'm convinced."

I seriously did think he had died already a couple of years ago. I wonder who it was instead, Fats Domino?

I guess God needed another angel to spy on her fellow angels as they urinate.

[quote] I was just listening to Little a Richard

Are you Italian?

R93 why be hatful and insulting. I understand he grew up with oppression, and so did I. Did he have to side with those who hated him and spew vile hateful comments and be as bad as his oppressors? He made that choice as an ultimate selfish coward. I'm my book, out with the trash.

Yeah, it was Fats Domino, Chuck Berry and BB King R142. All three were in their eighties/ nineties.

[quote]OP, Little Richard is DEAD. He didn't "pass away." This is not a religious site.

Black people "pass," not "pass away." And they don't have funerals -- they have "homegoings."

R85 Carol Channing was being interviewed and asked about her gay fans, and Liza was asked about her gay husband and gay father (which probably wasn't fair, so maybe she get's a pass) - in both instances they commented mostly the same saying "you know what the bible has to say about those people" type of thing....while not particularly hateful, pretty shocking. Both "people" associated with them claimed they were confused and thought they were being interviewed for a conservative publication. Again, I never know what context judgement and hate are OK in, but people play that card all the time. I mean you either believe something or you don't - but just say what you mean and mean what you say and don't apologize for it.

[quote] so maybe she get's a pass

Oh, dear!

I always loved this cheesy little rendition.

[Quote] to spy on her fellow angels as they urinate.

Make it defecate and you got a deal.

[quote] He died of bone cancer with his brother [bold]and son[/bold] at bedside

Say what now?

Do you have a link for the Liza interview? The Channing thing was covered, but I've never seen a Liza one.

Do they mean "son" in the George Rose meaning of the word?

I love his cameo appearance in Why do Fools Fall in Love, when he takes the stand. His fierce, diva personna as well as his sound has influenced everyone from the Prince to Beyonce from the Beatles to Freddie Mercury. True icon.

2020 is horrible. I first saw him at Sesame Street and loved it. He was a true original and genius

So true, r155. Little Richard was the original. SO many people who came after him owe him a debt. He basically started it all.

Exactly @R87 At least Michael Jackson gave him his publishing back. That was decent of him

I had no idea Tutti Frutti was originally about teh butt secks.

He lived a sad life. Was first out, then got brainwashed by religion shot and went back into the closet denouncing his gayness as a “sin.” Serious self-hate issues.

i thought he died last year or so.

Elsa Lanchester had nothing on Rich.

R162 this is the riveting content you shared:

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R127, it was a 10 minute bit on one of her Bravo Specials.

I'll play him in the biopic

Elijah Kelley (Seaweed in the "Hairspray" movie) would be a good choice. I always thought he'd make a good Sammy Davis, Jr., too.

I still love his music and have it on many playlists.

I think of him when I'm Slippin'and Slidin.'

Did he have AIDS? Yes, was it announced? No.

Another AIDS cover up.

GET ON UP is an excellent and creative biopic about James Brown. Everyone should see it.

I'm plugging it here because Little Richard appears several times as an early influence and friend of James Brown's. He queens out.

Watch it, learn it, love it!

Is Nick Cannon too old to play Little Richard? Or does he have any talent?

Nick Cannon does not have any talent, r171.

The Queen of Rock n' Roll, r3, are you kidding?

Coughs -Tina Turner

^ @R174 @R173

I had no idea he was still alive.

Really, r53?

We can't talk about how Little Richard allowed society to brainwash him and crush his soul?

We can't talk about how Christianity lies and black culture gay bashes? Really?

I'll talk about it all damn day.

r177 I doubt Little Richard was brainwashed. He did whatever the fuck he wanted his whole life, and he lived an incredibly complicated and colorful one. I dont think anyone could really judge him as he lived a life like no other, and he knew it.

I don't even buy that society crushed his soul. If he was feeling up orderlies with impunity, well... he was just same as any religious bullshitter who loudly trumpets one message while getting it in with any man who's up for it.

[Quote] I dont think anyone could really judge him as he lived a life like no other, and he knew it.

He didn't, though. He wasn't the only black queen in show business. at that time.

Prince was a fundie Jehovah's Witness nutjob addicted to opiods and preaching against gays and "sin" in his latter years.

Fuck that aspect of him — he was full of shit and more than a little nuts.

And yet CNN still has Trump as their main story on their home page. Can’t even focus on something else for just an hour or so. They haven’t even posted a picture of Little Richard.

I’m a huge fan, but as R180 points out, didn’t he completely rip off Esquerita?

R181 Same with Vanity. And yet they both died young, miserable and alone. So much for religion huh?

Little Richard drag.

Why does Kennedy get a laugh on "a little more Tutti/Tooti?" He just repeats one of Ru's options and adds nothing witty in his answer.

What was his excuse AFTER the 1930s, r93?

Why is Tyler Perry still a thing, even though he's two generations younger than Little Richard?

Little Richard in his last days.

R188

Well what do you know about that?

I always assumed his wheelchair would’ve had much more bling.

Kinda like Pimp My Ride-type bling.

[quote] Little Richard in his last days.

Little Richard in his first days.

Does he seem like a religious nut in the Dick Cavett clip above? That was from the 1970s... He found another thing to peddle after his chart career went kaput.

The house he was born in in Macon, Ga. was moved and and turned into a community center.

Closeted or conformist gay men are not "trash," r145.

Why don't you save your vitriol for the Roy Cohns, Ken Mehlmans and Aaron Schocks of the world.

[Quote] Closeted or conformist gay men are not "trash," [R145].

So they're free to spout anti-gay rhetoric and no one dare comment on it?

And somehow drug addict Jerry Lee Lewis still lives!

Little Richard's final message at some sort of religious do.

I wonder if John Stamos has any stories...

r172, Nick Cannon is very talented. You should check out DrumLine. I always wondered why he didn't have more of a hollywood career as a leading man. He's very charismatic, handsome, but has this dorky charm that I think flyover audiences would have loved. he's done very well producing his comedy show and hosting duties. And his ex wife is Mariah Carey, so his kids are set for life.

It just goes to show you timing is everything. Nick cannon is not as young as people think. He probably was losing roles to Will Smith, Leonardo DiCaprio, etc.

Nick Cannon has a juvenile quality. It doesn't surprise me he was no one's idea of a leading man. Will Smith smoothly crossed over from his Fresh Prince persona to leading man.

Sorry, Bodega-cat.

I love me some Tina Turner, but she can't write her own hits.

All religiously devout are brainwashed, r178.

Allah ain't akbar.

Tina Turner has writing credits (e.g. Nutbush City Limits).

I hope no one ever called him "Little Dick."

But that still means he placated society and condoned its horse manure, r179. That deserves less respect than people who tell society to cut the crap.

Little Richard was Slippin' and a-Slidin' 10 years before Esquerita, r183.

r204

Of course. I don't care if Little Richard was the original "I don't like mens no more" but I wish he'd kept that shit to himself.

[Quote] While in Macon, he met Esquerita, whose flamboyant onstage persona and dynamic piano playing would deeply influence Penniman's approach to performance.

[Quote] While in Macon, he met Esquerita, whose flamboyant onstage persona and dynamic piano playing would deeply influence Penniman's approach to performance.

And nobody knows or cares about that song, r202. It wasn't a hit.

My favorite version of "Dancing In the Street" is by Little Richard.

This is a lot of fun:

This is why I love Datalounge. I always learn something new. I never heard of Esquerita before. Thanks for introducing him in this thread.

[Quote] And nobody knows or cares about that song, [R202]. It wasn't a hit.

It was most certainly a hit.

Who is he again?

The one you tried to be but couldn't.

Harpo! Who dis?

Richard Wayne Penniman was a true icon

R198, Nick Cannon has a reputation as being very corny and uncool in the urban community. He tries hard to be respected among urban folks, but he is not very respected among them. He also has been embarrassed in battles with rappers who dragged him.

Yeah he was a hypocrite ok but man, everybody pales in comparison when it comes to rock and roll. He was the real thing.

The celebs are dropping like flies of late.

Who's next?

LR admitted to being gay in interviews with Letterman and Tom Snyder where he mentioned his son.

I kind of love the idea of Lil Nas X playing him in a biopic...

I didn’t know a lot about Little Richard before reading this thread. But the most shocking thing I’ve learned today is that Jerry Lee Lewis is still alive.

Me too R221.

Wait....he had a son?

R217 Eminem’s comeback track to him was epic.

“You gonna ruin my career, you better get one.”

The section of this on Little Richard starts at 7:49. He was an important part of the cultural history of the country, the music, and the times were different; all the blather about he should have done this, he shouldn't have done that, is espoused by people who weren't around when LR was becoming famous, and have little idea what it would have been like to be in his shoes at that time. This little segment tries to put him in context. He never got what he was due, in my opinion.

The LR segment of this doky continues here. His drummer on LR's piano playing on "Lucille": "It sounded like an earthquake!!"

Thanks for those, r226/227. I'd love to see a long documentary about his life and career. Had no idea he started as a crossdresser. Can't imagine how he was able to be so open at that time.

RIP

“I am the innovator. I am the originator. I am the emancipator. I am the architect of rock 'n' roll!”

As a musician I admire little Richard so much. His voice was so raw, so powerful and he had total control of it.

A true legend is gone.

Piece of mental shit.

He was the GOAT.

Rolling Stone article, John Waters talks about Little Richard.

R234 great article

Thank you R51 I have to take time out from LR to say, cos I just gotta, that Divine's walk is divine in the clip you posted. That squat was um the icing on the cake.

I wonder if young Josh won the Mercedes.

Josh has BDF. I wonder if Little Richard got to pet his python

[Quote] The celebs are dropping like flies of late.

[Quote] Who's next?

Betty.

[Quote] Is “struggling” the right word? Or was it more about which side had more money?

This thought occured to me as well, John Waters.

Any Andre Harrell stories?

There's been threads on LSA, but I haven't read them. Probably under "Uptown records."

He seems to be going through the motions here, just throwing out his catchphrases without much verve.

I binged some episodes of Joan Rivers daytime show recently. Little Richard was on there (circa 1990) and he said he was going to get married because he wanted a son, a mini me. I wonder if he adopted or if he actually made him the old fashioned way? I’m leaning towards adopt because he specified son and he ended up with one son and nature isn’t that perfect usuallly. The son would also be very young if he was born after that interview unless he had a secret son he never talked about?

I loved his appearance and performance in the Bette Midler movie “Down and Out in Beverly Hills”

Maybe he meant a son in the Raymond St Jacques meaning of the word?

Regarding the son, he had one long before 1990 according to Wikipedia:

[quote] Penniman met his only wife, Ernestine Harvin, at an evangelical rally in October 1957. They began dating that year and wed on July 12, 1959, in California. According to Harvin, she and Penniman initially enjoyed a happy marriage with "normal" sexual relations. When the marriage ended in divorce in 1964, Harvin said it was due to her husband's celebrity status, which had made life difficult for her. Penniman said the marriage fell apart due to his being a neglectful husband and his sexuality. Both Robinson and Harvin denied Penniman's statements about being gay. Penniman believed they did not know it because he was "such a pumper in those days". During the marriage, Penniman and Harvin adopted a one-year-old boy, Danny Jones, from a late church associate. Penniman and his son remained close, with Jones often acting as one of his bodyguards. Ernestine later married McDonald Campbell in Santa Barbara, California, on March 23, 1975.

I don't believe he was ever inside of his wife.

You keep a knockin’ but you can’t come in.

Paul McCartney sent out a really touching series of tweets.

Most people who live what most would consider sinful lives only to turn to religion later do it because they decide that just in case God is real they'd better start trying to get right with him or face the possibility of ending up in Hell when they die. These are usually people who had religion drummed into them during their formative years but left it once they got out on their own. Those old teachings from childhood come back to haunt them later in life and the fear of the unknown takes over.

This is what organized religion relies on to stay relevant. Put the fear of God in them when they're young, and no matter what, many will come back when they're old. Organized religion operates by intimidation primarily.

I hope he's arrived at the pearly gates and St Peter has calmly informed him that he was perfect in God's image already but with all the hypocritical stuff he's done since, while consorting with the worst perverters of God's will, he will now be eating Mother Teresa's fetid snatch in a lake of fiery Satanic shit.

Seek help, r252.

Great post R251

Betty Wright died this morning, she was 66 😢

Shit. 66 is too young, R255.

just in case God is real they'd better start trying to get right with him...

True dat. That's why I'm a pantheist. I'm not taking any chances. For all we know Muhammed or a multiarmed creature might be waiting at the Pearly Gates. Or the 72 virgins will all be ravenous bossy undouched bottoms. So what God you got? I believe in him or her or it.

Did Richard have a type?

R258, this was way back in the '80s but he tried to get my friend into his limo and he was tall, masculine and blonde.

Passed away what?

Little Richard was never masculine or blond.

[Quote] he was tall, masculine and blonde

A tall version of Sisqo?

Little Richard was friends with Buddy Holly and they performed in some of the same shows. During a break, Buddy invited Richard to his parents' home in Lubbock, Texas which was very conservative, racist and against Rock & Roll back then (and maybe still?). When they arrived at Buddy's front door, Buddy's Daddy saw Richard and refused to let a black man in his house. Buddy screamed at his Dad "if you dont let me and my friend in this house, I'm leaving and I'm never coming back." Not wanting to lose his son, Buddy's Dad opened the door and invited them in.

[Quote] Music promoter Alan Walden recalls a typically memorable sighting of Little Richard in downtown Macon: “He was in flaming glory, dressed in a tight, red suit with red shoes and a matching red parasol. Both Phil (Walden) and I were star-struck and shy at the same time. One of our friends called out ‘Tutti Frutti,” and Richard, in true style, without missing a beat, called back ‘good booty,’ then shook his butt in a couple of fancy steps before strolling down Cherry Street, twirling that red umbrella. Did this ever make our day!”

Bump

There's an interesting timeline at the link, which namechecks some of the gay men who helped Penniman on his way.

[Quote] 1950: Age 17, he joins his first R&B band, Buster Brown's Orchestra, and is given the stage name "Little Richard". During that year, he constantly performs in minstrel shows and joins several vaudeville acts such as Sugarfoot Sam from Alabam, the Tidy Jolly Steppers, the King Brothers Circus and Broadway Follies. Later settling in Atlanta, Richard begins frequenting R&B clubs including the Harlem Theater and the Royal Peacock, where he idolizes top R&B acts Roy Brown and Billy Wright. Penniman takes after Brown and Wright, and especially the openly gay Wright's flamboyant style of wearing long pompadours, pencil mustaches and makeup ("Pancake 31") and decides to become an R&B singer.

[Quote] 1954: After a dispute over royalties, Penniman is beaten up by Robey; as a result Richard decides not to return to a recording studio for the time being. Deterred from the music business, Penniman returns to Macon and finds work as a dishwasher for Greyhound Lines. That same year, 21-year-old Richard learns to play boogie-woogie from a 18-year-old gay pianist named Eskew Reeder, who later adapts the more flamboyant stage name Esquerita. Reeder, who was a professional performer himself, is more flamboyant than even Billy Wright and his wild man onstage persona influences Richard. After disbanding the Tempo Toppers, Penniman forms a harder-driving R&B band that he calls "The Upsetters", named so because he wanted them to "upset the world!" During that year, Richard and the Upsetters open for singer Little Johnny Taylor (not the legendary soul singer from over a decade later but the one who performed the song "Part Time Love").

Onw of my childhood memories is seeing Little Richard on Peewee's Playhouse. If sexuality is nurtured I blame that for turning me gay at least a little bit.

One of my favorite Little Richard songs was from his early evangelical output. Instead of the god that the song is about, reinterpreting it as a love song just makes it devastating. RIP

One of the best Little Richard interviews. Just being himself.

Vietnamese version of Little Richard 🤣🤣🤢🤮

In addition to his homosexual activity, he became involved in voyeurism in his 20s, paying men to let him watch them have sex with women, sometimes forcibly. "My whole gay activities were really into masturbation," he said. "I'd always be mad after I finished. Be mad at myself, don't want to talk about it, don't wanna answer no questions." His voyeuristic escapades eventually led to him being jailed for sexual misconduct after being found with a couple in a car in a Macon gas station.

In later years he would stop his concerts and people would go through the audience passing out little religious tracts, stuff like "Repent to Save Your Soul from Eternal Damnation." Once everyone had their little slip of paper it was back to rock and roll. Very odd.

He was gorgeous when he was young I love a flamboyant dresser

If you read his biography, you might understand his conflict — besides the church influence, the racism and the anti-gay stuff when he was growing up, he was beaten unmercifully by his father and begged God to change him so the beatings would stop.

And there's not one of us on the board who would have had the balls in the mid-1950s (!) to look, act, and dress like he did — much less make a mainstream career out of it.

Love you, Little Richard.

Didn't Quentin Crisp dress and act like that?

Aye - this man truly was the originator - see below post

....

R275 Because growing up, the son of lawyer in Sussex, England, Anglican and effete, was just as challenging to an off-norm boy as growing up in rural Georgia with a bible-fearing working class black father...

This was the comment to which I replied:

[Quote] And there's not one of us on the board who would have had the balls in the mid-1950s (!) to look, act, and dress like he did

Why change the goal posts?

Hello, bitches!! Did you go to jail & have your entire career ruined?

Slightly off topic, but I noticed when reading Paul Mccartney's Twitter feed in r249 that John Lennon and George Harrison have twitter accounts as well. WTF? Are they posting from hell, or what?

[Quote] Are they posting from

Strawberry Fields, of course.

I think you have the Vietnamese version of Debbie Gibson or Whitney Houston, r269.

Nothing about that clip rocked.

You guys get that Little Richard played ROCK music, right?

He wasn't a drag queen, he wasn't mellow; he wasn't "Easy Listening." He tore shit up..

Did he ever tear up manholes or was he all bottom?

He just liked to watch.

Rest in peace and thank you for the music and being yourself.

Exactly R93.

This is a copy of the biography, "The Life and Times of Little Richard" it is here on archive dot org as are lots of other books. Makes for great quarantine reading. You just register for free and then read the scanned books.

Kicked out if the house for being different and went on to rule the rock and roll world. He was so open saying he was gay on all the talk shows. Everyone kept out of the way of his sweep. A true queen.

This is a rather sad, "ex-gay" interview.

Explanation of why Little Richard promoted being "a sissy on stage." Wouldn't offend Southern White sensibilities as gay musicians weren't a threat to White women.

Link to "Rock 'n Roll" series on the history of rock. See the very end of the segment and the beginning of the next one.

Earlier in the segment footage of Little Richard wearing a 2 piece pink outfit and full makeup, being praised by a fellow musician as the "prettiest" in rock 'n roll.

R290 that was from 1982 and the plague or what was then called GRIDS/"bisexual and gay men's cancer" was just starting to be known about, and he grew up black femme and gay in the south long before the end of Jim Crow laws and civil rights.

The worst kind of homophobe, a homosexual. hateful pile of shit, coward, sniveling, groveling idiot. out with the fucking trash. his legacy should be the the ash heap of history along with the other anachronistic useless stupid empty headed selfish small minded jackasses. artist my ass. he was a copycat. never did anything original other than copy from the gays and them condemn them for it. i loathe this poor excuse for a human.

Leon and Robert Townsend talk about working with Little Richard on his biopic movie.

Leon, who played Little Richard in the movie 20 years ago, said the topic of his homosexuality wasn't present in the movie as much as he thought it should be, but this was the year 2000. Little Richard was very emotional about scenes, especially the ones involving his father.

Id love to hear what Jennifer Lewis' experience was like working with him, she was cast as his mother.

Sad.

I thought Leon did a good job in the TV movie, even though they had to sanitize it

Sanitize?

God cured him of his homosexuality

R293: you haven't a clue what it was like back then so kindly shut the fuck up.....

Damn, in his prime he was a sexy mofo. Very handsome. He owned the stage.

At the 7:30 mark: "I was gay". There, he said it.

He had strong roots in the Church

Archive

Why the makeup

Granddaddy

This thread is back... is he still dead?