Little Richard
The Architect of Rock-and-Roll Thunder
I turned gospel into lightning and let the devil have the blues.
Born in Macon, Georgia, with a voice like a Pentecostal hurricane, I fused church hymns with jukebox sin. You know 'Lucille,' 'Good Golly Miss Molly,' and the real 'Wop-bop-a-loo-bop' cry. I baptized Elvis, taught James Brown how to work a crowd, and left it all for the Bible more times than I can count. My keys shook the foundations of every stage from the Apollo to the Liverpool docks. When John Lennon said I taught him to yowl, I knew the devil had good taste.
What I'm Into: My sequined capes, sweat-drenched gospel, converting Elvis, the silence after the last note, piano benches that survive my tantrums
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