Little Richard, the self-proclaimed architect of rock 'n' roll whose piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour irrevocably altered popular music while introducing black R&B to white America, has died Saturday. He was 87.
Pastor Bill Minson, a close friend of Little Richard's, told The Associated Press that Little Richard died Saturday morning.
Minson said he also spoke to Little Richard's son and brother.
Minson added that the family is not releasing the cause of death.
Born Richard Penniman, Little Richard was one of rock 'n' roll's founding fathers who helped shatter the color line on the music charts, joining Chuck Berry and Fats Domino in bringing what was once called race music into the mainstream.
Richard's hyperkinetic piano playing, coupled with his howling vocals and hairdo, made him an implausible sensation a gay, black man celebrated across America during the buttoned-down Eisenhower era.
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He sold more than 30 million records worldwide, and his influence on other musicians was equally staggering, from the Beatles and Otis Redding to Creedence Clearwater Revival and David Bowie.
In his personal life, he wavered between raunch and religion, alternately embracing the Good Book and outrageous behaviour.
Little Richard? That's rock 'n' roll, Neil Young, who heard Richard's riffs on the radio in Canada, told biographer Jimmy McDonough.
Little Richard was great on every record.
It was 1956 when his classic Tutti Frutti landed like a hand grenade in the Top 40, exploding from radios and off turntables across the country. It was highlighted by Richard's memorable call of wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom. A string of hits followed, providing the foundation of rock music: Lucille,