LARGER THAN LIFE

He influenced stars from Jimi Hendrix to Elton John, but struggled to reconcile his sexuality with his religion. When news broke that Little Richard had died at age 87, fans and musicians paid tribute to the rock pioneer

HE KICKED off the song with a feral cry, pounding his piano and singing in a high, frenetic voice that seemed to be permanently on the edge of hysteria. It was 1955 and with his first hit, Tutti Frutti, Little Richard made other early rockers such as Bill Haley and Elvis Presley sound decidedly tame.

The American legend’s importance in the history of pop music is impossible to overstate. When he was placed eighth on a list of the greatest performers ever by music magazine Rolling Stone, all of the seven ranked above him had been heavily influenced by him.

To Paul McCartney, he was simply “the king of rock ’n roll”. Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones said appearing on stage with him in 1963 was the greatest moment of his life. Bob Dylan wrote in his school yearbook that his ambition was “to join Little Richard”.

David Bowie went out and bought a saxophone after hearing one of his records. He inspired Elton John to play the piano and Jimi Hendrix, who cut his teeth playing in Richard’s backing band, said he wanted “to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice”. Michael Jackson and Prince were others who testified to his influence.

So when it recently emerged that Little Richard had died of bone cancer at age 87, fans paid tribute to the larger-than-life rock pioneer. The world has never seen anyone quite like him.

His theatrical and impassioned style owed much to gospel and the rabble-rousing of the Southern evangelists he grew up hearing as a boy. Yet he invested the preaching style with an almost demonic edge, singing with a lack of inhibition that took rock ’n roll to places it had never been before.