Little Richard was underrated, as celebrated as he was. He was a pioneer in every sense of the word and so much of rock n roll and subsequent genres were modeled after him. He faced a lot of race issues in the white studio dominated space, let’s put it that way.
@Cachoo, I heard a lot of queer theories and even a small shout out to his Jewish friend named Bob in the lyrics of Tutti Fruitti (the latter from my history of New Orleans music professor), but I never double checked those sources.
I found this John Waters retrospective interview from the late 1980s with Little Richard and man it was a doozy to read, but it’s a bit nsfw. If you ever wanted to know factoids like he had a threesome with Buddy Holly with his favorite stripper, it’s your kind of interview:
In 1987, the iconic filmmaker John Waters was sent by Playboy magazine to interview his all-time hero – Little Richard. It was a surreal, almost religious experience for John who had been a lifelong fan of the godfather of rock'n'roll. So why did it almost end in a fistfight?
www.theguardian.com
He has amazing things to say about Bob Dylan and Bobby Darin.
www.rollingstone.com
... {Insert clever but respectful play on Tooty Fruity here}
m.youtube.com
