Description

LITTLE RICHARD grew up in an area of Macon, Georgia where music was omnipresent. Street sellers and evangelists would sing, selling everything from vegetables to religion. Richard, one of 12 children, sang with the family choir and Tiny Tots Quartet where his hyperactive personality singled him out, that and his unusually loud, high-pitched voice. He left home to work as a dancer and singer, attracting customers to the travelling medicine show of Doctor Nubilio, who wore a turban, a brightly coloured cape and carried a black stick. By the age of 15 Richard was a feature with Sugarfoot Sam from Alabam Minstrel Show and then Mr. Hudson’s Medicine Show, The Tidy Jolly Steppers and Broadway Follies, where he earned a reputation as a drag performer. At 18 he won a Talent Contest which gave him a recording contract with RCA Victor, releasing four singles that went nowhere. The month he quit RCA, his father, a minister, was killed after a confrontation outside his club. Broke, Richard took a job as dishwasher for Greyhound Lines, but soon got back into music recording for Peacock Records. After a bust-up with label boss Don Robey, Richard got the call from Art Rupe of Specialty Records, went to New Orleans to record with producer Bumps Blackmeade, cut Tutti Frutti which was released in October 1955. Rock and Roll was born.