Richard Wayne Penniman was from a poor background, one of twelve children. His father was a church deacon and a brick mason, who sold bootlegged moonshine on the side and owned a nightclub called the Tip In Inn. A mischievous child who played pranks on neighbors, Penniman began singing in church at a young age. Being gay made life difficult with his father and he was kicked out of home at 13.
Nicknamed “The Innovator”, “The Originator”, and “The Architect of Rock and Roll”, Penniman’s most celebrated work dates from the mid-1950s, when his charismatic showmanship and dynamic music, characterized by frenetic piano playing, pounding backbeat and raspy shouted vocals, laid the foundation for rock and roll. His innovative emotive vocalizations and uptempo rhythmic music also played a key role in the formation of other popular music genres, including soul and funk. He influenced numerous singers and musicians across musical genres from rock to hip hop; his music helped shape rhythm and blues for generations to come.
His contemporaries, including Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran, all recorded covers of his works.
Penniman’s first big hit was “Tutti Friuti”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_C9q4tuwXI, a risqué dirty blues recorded in 1955… “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam-boom!” The original lyrics are supposed to have been:
Tutti Frutti, good booty
If it don’t fit, don’t force it
You can grease it, make it easy
He followed that with other hits including Long Tall Sally, Rip it Up and Lucille.
While on a concert tour of Australia, on a flight from Melbourne to Sydney he saw the engines glowing red hot. Thinking they were on fire he prayed and imagined the plane was supported by angels. Before his Sydney show he saw a fireball in the sky. It was actually Sputnik, launched just days before, but it was enough to convince him they were signs from God. In a dramatic scene on a ferry, on October 12, 1957, he announced to his band he would give up show business to become a preacher. To prove he was serious he threw his gold rings into the waters of Newcastle Harbour. Richard later emerged from religious exile, his career and life would never be the same again.
