Home / Full timeline / Little Richard’s Tutti Frutti is released, and it starts a string of hit records from the artist.
Little Richard’s Tutti Frutti is released, and it starts a string of hit records from the artist.
1955 (Dec)
Little Richard's Tutti Frutti was released just before Christmas, and it reached number twenty-one on the charts by the end of the month. The pianist's frenetic style ignited the airwaves, and one hit followed another. Long Tall Sally, Slippin' and Slidin', Lucille, and Good Golly Miss Molly were all chart-toppers. Rolling Stone's Gerri Hirshey commented that "Little Richard bent gender, upset segregationist fault lines, and founded a tradition of rock dadaists devoted to the art of self-creation." Born in December of 1932 in Macon, Georgia, Little Richard Penniman cultivated a cross-racial following with his piano and pompadour. Little Richard was booted from his devout Seventh Day Adventist home at the age of thirteen because of his homosexuality. He then left his eleven siblings behind and moved into a white family's home, whose Macon nightclub served as a venue for the performer. The gospel and piano training he had received in the church had given Little Richard an edge, and by 1951 he cut his first recordings, including Every Hour, Why Did You Leave Me, and Get Rich Quick. At one point in his career, however, Little Richard foreswore rock and roll and devoted himself to Bible study at a Seventh Day Adventist seminary. He received a bachelor's degree from Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama, and was ordained a minister. But by the mid-1960s he was touring again, this time in England with a little-known band called The Beatles. Continuing to perform old, and with less success, new songs, Little Richard continued with his campy brand of rock and roll for another twelve years. A regular panel member on the TV game show Hollywood Squares, Richard has also appeared on the Tonight Show and the Grammy Awards. He was also cast in a major role in the movie Down and Out in Beverly Hills.
References:
- • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.