LITTLE RICHARD (1932-2020)
He was complicated, but this outrageous black gay man invented rock’n’roll. Obituary by Marc Andrews.
Marc Andrews
GRANGER HISTORICAL PICTURE ARCHIVE / ALAMY STOCK
Although Little Richard faded from the showbiz firmament in his later years, the music star, who died on May 9, was never far from the headlines, controversy or his beloved piano.
The Guardian called him “an ultra-sexual force of anti-nature.” CNN went with “the flamboyant architect of rock’n’roll,” while Rolling Stone acknowledged him as a “rock and R&B pioneer”.
He was born Richard Wayne Penniman in 1932 in Georgia, USA. As a child, he was kicked out of home by his father for dressing up in his mother’s lipstick and dresses to entertain his sisters. “My daddy wanted seven boys, and I had spoiled it because I was gay,” Little Richard later recalled.