Rock legend Little Richard has died

[Docreed2003]

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/little-richard-dead-48505/

RIP to a truly remarkable talent!

[Mopar151]

1. One of a kind!

[Docreed2003]

5. Most definitely one of a kind!

[Arkansas Granny]

2. RIP

[panader0]

3. Good Golly! RIP Little Richard.

[Dennis Donovan]

4. Cross gently, Richard

Damn, this is a huge loss.

[Docreed2003]

9. One of the last of the early legends!

Certainly a huge loss. He was an artist with immeasurable talent and influence on Rock.

[kskiska]

6. Oh, no. That leaves Jerry Lee Lewis.

I read a while back where Jerry is touring again.

[Mendocino]

22. A few others are left...

Don Everly, Chubby Checker, Dion, Tommy Hunt of The Flamingos...

[kskiska]

41. They came along later.

Funny how Bill Haley (and the Comets) had one of the first rock & roll hits, but he wasn't really a rocker. He just got lucky. Some say that Ike Turner's earlier Rocket 88 (1951) was the first rock & roll hit.

[calguy]

7. He was light years ahead of his time

A true pioneer in the musical field who inspired so many others who followed in his footsteps.

[Siwsan]

8. I think we need a singalong tribute

&feature=youtu.be

[Docreed2003]

12. ...

[Stallion]

40. Apparently Only White People Liked Littl' Richard as No Black People Were at the Concert

hmm

[BlancheSplanchnik]

45. That was how it worked back then.

IF a Black performer could get a gig, the gigs didn’t allow Black folk in the audience.

[Jamastiene]

10. RIP

[BigmanPigman]

11. He influenced so many bands/musicians that became

famous. Who hasn't covered one of his songs and style?

[kpete]

13. sad

[FarPoint]

14. A supreme entertainer!

He always gave 100% and loved doing his music.

Thank You Richard.

[world wide wally]

15. Peace

and thank you

[Wounded Bear]

16. Grew up with his music...

[Docreed2003]

17. Me too

I was drawn to Little Richard and Jerry Lee more so than to any other early rock pioneers when I was younger. LR was such an incredible talent and inspiration to so many individuals and bands that came later.

[LuvNewcastle]

32. I love to watch them tear up a piano.

I play the piano here at home and I can tell you that practice helps, but it won't make up for sheer talent. I've had teachers who could play just about any classical music but they could never play like Jerry Lee or Little Richard. It takes a spark of something special to be able to do what they do. We have plenty of singers and dancers nowadays, but we could use some more real musicians, or at least we should appreciate the ones we have more than we do.

[LovingA2andMI]

18. ....

[DesertRat]

19. RIP Little Richard, a founding father of Rock 'n' roll

[Hotler]

20. ......

[musicman65]

21. Great loss

music will live on forever

[Generic Brad]

23. Always liked him

He brought so much joy to the world.

[JohnnyRingo]

24. RIP

An innovator who will be sadly missed. Like many since the 1952 Moondog Coronation, he helped lay the foundation of R&R.

[denbot]

25. If Elvis was the King, Little Richard was rock and roll's Arch Duke.

I remember hearing a story by Gram Nash, witnessing Little Richard chew out his guitarist for show boating by playing with his teeth. Little Richard’s guitarist at the time - Jimmy Hendrix.

[musicman65]

43. True story

met Him once @ abbey road studios,when the Beatles heard that,,,they flipped out

[japple]

26. What sad news. So happy you busted out of Macon.

[deurbano]

42. Leon Russell and Leonard Cohen both died during the week of the 2016 election,

and for me, the painful loss of two of my favorite artists was inextricably linked with the shit-show election results. Dark times.

I only saw Little Richard perform in-person once, and it was in an unlikely venue-- a taping of an episode of the (revived) Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1988. Really glad I got the chance to see him!

[japple]

49. I grew up in Macon, GA and traveled in & out of town on the Greyhound bus. Sadly, I never got to

see Little Richard perform.

[deurbano]

53. I grew up in Bakersfield, but didn't see Merle Haggard perform until years later in San Francisco.

Lost opportunities! (I did see Leon Russell while still a teenager in Bakersfield, though!) In my youth, I was more of a "hippie from Olema" type, so it took me a while to fully appreciate Merle, but I ultimately became a big fan and was there at the Paramount Theater in Oakland for his last concert.

[japple]

54. Sadly, I never got to see Otis Redding at the City Auditorium in Macon either. He died during my

senior year of HS. I always think of this as the beginning of the period of my awakening: Otis Redding died in Dec. 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. died in April of 1968, and Bobby Kennedy died in June 1968. The funeral for Dr. King was televised. By that time, there were television sets in many classrooms, but the school admins. would not make this a day of mourning. Fortunately, one of the more enlightened teachers turned on a TV set in an empty classroom next to hers and let students come in and watch when they could.
Oh, and then there was the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. What a time.

[deurbano]

55. I brought the "The Very Best of Otis Redding" to the hospital to play in the background

as I gave birth to my son. If it’s possible to have one favorite artist, he’s probably it for me.

I’m a little bit younger than you, and I hadn’t discovered Otis Redding when he died, but I consider that the year of my awakening, too. My family had moved from the Mississippi Delta to Bakersfield when I was two, and I learned (much later) that my dad had been a member of the White Citizens’ Council in MS. My parents hated King, and they became Republicans (to support Goldwater) because they thought Democrats (including JFK, then LBJ) were too supportive of civil rights and the “outside agitators” stirring up the South. We disagreed about racial issues pretty early on, but it was the assassinations of King and RFK (and the aftermath of those murders) that really sent me in the opposite direction. I had secretly been supporting RFK (after hearing him on the radio), and was still up watching the CA election results and his acceptance speech at the Ambassador Hotel when the tragedy unfolded. He died on the day of my junior high graduation, and a teacher – who knew my parents’ politics—for some reason felt compelled to tell me, “You must be happy.” (That was painful.) At any rate, that was the year I really began to think for myself… and predictably became the black sheep of my family.

Yes, what a time!

[japple]

56. You are in great company! Both as a liberal and a black sheep. There are many here on

this forum. Baaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

Thank you for posting your story. It is mindbending that you were so much more highly evolved than the rest of your family, and so sad about RFK dying on your graduation day. I remember those days as being jerked back and forth between reality and surreality. It was a weird time.

ETA: I actually won the album Otis Sings Soul on a local radio contest. The question was "Where was Tom Jones born?"

[Laelth]

27. .

-Laelth

[warmfeet]

28. RIP

[TNNurse]

29. It is impossible to measure his influence on popular music

and all of us.

Just thinking about seeing and hearing him, makes me smile.

[Politicub]

30. Rest in peace

He brought so much joy to so many people. To hear his music was to cause the heart to soar and feet to tap along.

[Butterflylady]

31. He will be missed!

........

[Greybnk48]

33. Two of our dogs are named Lucille and Maybelline

in his honor. Man di I love his music growing up and my kids do too! RIP to the founder of Rock and Roll.

[Glorfindel]

34. Here's a wonderful scene from Down and Out in Beverly Hills

featuring Little Richard. He was a good actor as well as a supreme musician. I loved his music when I was a child. I still do. RIP, Little Richard.

[malthaussen]

35. "There can only be one king."

"While the king is alive, there can only be one king."

Later, though, he conceded that he was really the Queen of Rock and Roll.

-- Mal

[Submariner]

36. Little Richard was one of the many Black artists Pat Boone stole music from

Boone liked Richard’s Tutti Fruiti so he stole it of course.

RIP L.R.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

44. I remember seeing Boone do that on b&w tv; it was gag-worthy!

I drove my country and western siblings nuts by playing Little Richard 45s over and over.

R.I.P.

[gademocrat7]

37. R.I.P.

[cbdo2007]

38. RIP to an amazing singer and performer!

[The Polack MSgt]

39. The Architect of Rock

RIP

[hangaleft]

48. Gotta respectfully disagree with you there

I loved Little Richard and mean no disrespect, Little Richard was a giant talent and one of the pioneers of rock ‘n’ roll. But I have always felt that the true King of rock ‘n’ roll was Chuck Berry (sorry, Elvis). IMO, no one had a greater influence on what came after than Chuck Berry.

[The Polack MSgt]

51. It was his own phrase, he named himself that in the 80s

"Elvis is the King and Jerry Lee is the Killer, why do I get left out?- I was the Architect of Rock and Roll"

[hangaleft]

52. Fair enough

I wasn’t aware of that.

He wasn’t only a great rock ‘n’ roller, he was a showman and a real character. And I mean that in the best and most respectful way.

[Blue_true]

57. I agree with Chuck Berry being the true King of Rock n Roll.

Berry had an inventiveness and energy that no one else displayed. Of course I say this from watching video, they were before my time.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

46. 😢💔

[LudwigPastorius]

47. Testify...

[Hortensis]

50. He was playing in the first cabaret I ever snuck into underage,

16 and ostentatiously displaying a borrowed wedding ring no less. That and other visits set my expectations for life for nightclub entertainment, even though before long I realized how unrealistic that was and eventually how inappropriate a venue that was for him then.

He's departed, but his contributions will continue to rock.

[spanone]

58. He was a treasure. Sadly he passed away here in my home town, Nashville, TN.

He lived downtown at the Hilton Hotel.

[Docreed2003]

59. Ah, spanone, didn't know we shared Nashville roots

Grew up on the north side in Sumner Co and swore I was never coming back after high school...came back after many years and it's like we're unicorns. People who are actually from here are rare, lol.

[spanone]

60. I'm not as rare as you, I call it my hometown because we've lived here 42 years.

But we've raised two Nashville born kids!

Alas, I'm a transplant....first came here in 71, moved here in 78...it's hardly the same town, but I do love it.

We've lived all over Davidson County...been on the west side for 27 years now.