Born December 5, 1932, in Macon, Georgia, the third of twelve children, Richard grew up dirt-poor in the segregated South. His father Charles “Bud” Penniman was a church deacon by Sunday and a bootlegger by night; his mother Leva Mae was devout. One leg shorter than the other, nicknamed “Lil’ Richard” and mercilessly bullied, he found refuge in the Pentecostal church, banging on pots and pans and singing so loud the preacher once told him to shut up during service.

At 14 he was already hustling: selling Coca-Cola at the Macon City Auditorium, performing drag as “Princess LaVonne” in medicine shows, and soaking up gospel giants like Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Mahalia Jackson. By 1951 he’d won a talent contest in Atlanta and cut his first sides for RCA Victor – polite jump-blues that went nowhere. The world wasn’t ready.

Everything detonated when Richard walked into Cosimo Matassa’s J&M Studio in New Orleans on September 14, 1955. The session was flat until, during a break, he jumped on the piano and tore into a filthy, obscene version of “Tutti Frutti.” Producer Bumps Blackwell freaked out, called lyricist Dorothy LaBostrie, and fifteen minutes later the cleaned-up but still nuclear “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom!” was born.

What followed was the greatest two-year run in rock history:

• “Tutti Frutti” (1955) – instant No. 2 R&B hit, covered by Elvis and Pat Boone the same year.
• “Long Tall Sally” (1956) – so fast Pat Boone couldn’t keep up.
• “Rip It Up,” “Lucille,” “Jenny Jenny,” “Keep A-Knockin’,” “Good Golly Miss Molly” – every single a detonation of falsetto screams, pounding piano, and Lee Allen’s sax from hell.
• Here’s Little Richard (1957) – the first true rock ‘n’ roll album, now in the Library of Congress.

Richard’s band, The Upsetters, featured monsters like drummer Charles Connor and guitarist Jimi Hendrix (briefly, in 1964–65). Onstage he wore pancake makeup, pencil moustache, six-inch pompadour, and sequined suits, climbing on the piano, throwing clothes into the crowd, and leaving teenage girls (and boys) in hysterics. He was the first true rock ‘n’ roll wild man.

In October 1957, at the peak of fame, Richard saw a fireball in the sky (actually Sputnik) and took it as a sign. He threw a $10,000 ring into Sydney Harbour, enrolled in Bible college, and quit rock ‘n’ roll to become a minister. The next decade was chaos: gospel albums, preaching, then sudden returns to sequins and sin.

He came out as gay in the 1950s, then renounced it, then embraced it again. He married Ernestine Harvin (1962–64), adopted a son Danny, and later lived openly with partners while still preaching. “I am the originator, the emancipator, the architect, and also omnisexual,” he declared in 1995. The contradictions were the point.

The 1960s and 70s saw glorious returns: the 1964 tour with The Beatles (who opened for him and worshipped him), Jimi Hendrix as his guitarist, explosive European packages with the Rolling Stones. In 1969 he played the Atlantic City Pop Festival and Toronto Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival, proving the voice was still supersonic.

The 1980s brought the final coronation: induction into the very first class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1986), a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1993), and the unforgettable scene in 1988 when he presented at the Grammys and shouted, “I have never received nothing! Y’all ain’t never gave me no Grammy, and I been singing for years! I am the architect of rock ‘n’ roll!”

He was right.

On May 9, 2020, at age 87, Little Richard died at his Tennessee home from bone cancer. His last public words were classic: “I’m not dead yet!”

Without Little Richard there is no:

• James Brown (who stole his entire stage act)
• Otis Redding
• Prince (who worshipped him)
• Paul McCartney (learned to scream “Woooo!” from “Long Tall Sally”)
• Jimi Hendrix (learned showmanship in the Upsetters)
• David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Freddie Mercury, Elton John – every flamboyant frontman owes him royalties

The Beatles, the Stones, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and every garage band that ever plugged in owe their existence to the Georgia Peach who screamed the blues into the atomic age.

He wasn’t just influential. He was the big bang.

Happy 93rd, King and Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Shut up – the architect is still speaking.

And we’re still listening.

• Very happy to be asking you these questions, Dale. First of all, having grown up in the 70s, and having led a life full of musical milestones, how do you like to introduce yourself to others? And what would you say are the musical milestones you are most proud of?

First off, I would like to thank you for listening to our song. It really means a lot. It has taken a long time to reach this point. My life has been consumed by music from the time I was born. My parents were the main influence in sharing their musical tastes at an early age. Their diverse vinyl record collection kept me busy in the early 70’s with the likes of the Beatles, Johnny Cash, CCR, Neil Diamond, The Bee Gees, Abba to Gordon Lightfoot. The list went on. They would buy me albums like the Doobie Brothers, Eagles, Led Zeppelin, Cheap trick to Paul McCartney. I played Band on the Run to death! However, as I entered my teens and started exploring my own interests, and started fooling around on the guitar, I ventured off into the rock world with the likes of Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Pink Floyd, AC/DC, ZZ Top, and Yes. These bands all helped shape me musically. However, by the time I hit high school in the early 80’s, and then throughout the rest of the 80’s, my tastes started to veer towards a more alternative vein with experimental David Bowie, REM, U2, and more of the outliers like New Order, Depeche Mode, The Cure, The The, Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus to name a few. However, things changed when I completed a music recording course at UVIC in 1988, and this would be my musical milestone so to speak. I knew at that time that I would eventually do some writing and recording and producing of my own music. However, the technology at the time was expensive, bulky, and painstakingly time consuming using old reel to reel tapes. In 1991, I ventured into a career in Real Estate which is what I still do today, and music has always been a hobby along the way. It would take another 20 years before the at home technology began to emerge, and I started to realize this dream of creating my own music.

• Has it taken too long for you to get your home studio together and start recording? After listening to the song and watching the fantastically shot video I flew to Spotify to listen to more songs from you only to find none. Are you planning to release consistently from now on? Or is this a side project for you?

Yes, the journey to this day and the release of She’s Sowing Time has been a long time coming. My home studio was completed about 10 years ago. Prior to this, I jammed with several musicians over the years which helped me better my skills as a player. Fast forward to about 2013, and once I had amassed all the gear that I needed to record myself at home, I started writing songs and here we are today with the first official released song. It took the importance of this song to propel me to explore releasing it as a single, and the first step was to hire a professional videographer and Ted Kuzemski was my first choice. He shot the video and once it was completed, this gave me the confidence in taking the next steps to independently release the song. Also, technology has advanced along the way to allow it to happen now in 2023. That is why it is my only song that can be found on the streaming services. I do plan on releasing future songs as time allows, but this is still purely a side project and hobby.

• Am I correct in hearing a strong Bowie influence on the drums of ‘She’s Sowing Time’? That punchy groove and the particular timbre to the drums. Who would you name as your biggest influences when it comes to writing songs?

I have a lot of musical influences, but David Bowie is definitely high on the list. I do love a blend of electric and real organic drum sounds, combined with guitar, driving bass and lush old school synth sounds, and this song has a blend of all my musical tastes up to today. Moby is another influence for his layered piano and synth arrangements. There are too many others to name but if I was to name drop a few, I would include Tears for Fears, Echo and the Bunnymen, Depeche Mode, New Order, REM, Talking Heads, Velvet Underground, Iggy Pop, Peter Murphy, Beck, plus all the classic rock and pop bands I loved to listen to in the 70’s. This list could go on for hours.

Review – She’s Sowing Time by Dale Sheppard

• Talking about writing songs. What was the process behind writing ‘She’s Sowing Time’? The lush chorus and the skeletal verses. The pads and the effect on your voice. Where would you say these decisions come from? Are they just pretty and fitting to the theme? Or would you say they carry an integral part to the meaning behind the song and the words?

I usually start writing my songs by picking a drum track and tempo, and then recording a rough rhythm guitar track highlighting the verse and chorus. Then I add bass guitar and basic synth tracks to create the atmosphere. I try to layer several synth parts over each other to fill out the sound. Once completed, Kim provides the lyrics and I then set out to record my vocals to her words. The theme of this song was heavily influenced by Kim’s battle with cancer which influenced my vocal presentation and the special affects added to my vocal tracks. Kim has a wonderful voice, so I knew that our blend of vocals, once recorded, would create a full sounding chorus. Most of the decisions regarding the mixing stage come from trial and error and are constantly changing until each track complements the others. I try to keep the vocals up front and center. This song theme has urgency and struggle and a lot of emotions. Trying to create this atmosphere did take a lot of time finding the right balance for each track and for the final mixing of the song.

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• Taking the words from Kim after her battle with cancer must have been challenging. To write a piece of music that is worthy of such inspired words can’t have been easy. How did you approach this, and how did you decide that the music you came up with was worthy of such words that must have been quite personal to your family?

Yes, Kim went through an extremely tough time during her cancer fight in 2021, and she has now been cancer free for a year and a half, so we are all very relieved and grateful for this. Kim usually writes the words for my songs but after reading the lyrics to She’s Sowing Time, and adapting then to my musical composition, we knew we had something special. However, I really wanted to ramp up the production and instrumentation for this song, so I reached out to some friends of mine to add some additional tracks. The main keyboard melody was provided by Russ Ovans and the smoking lead guitar solo was provided by James Love. The final touch was adding real drums to the song, provided by Nicola D’Adamo, and his track was added to complement my existing electronic drum track to ramp up the urgency of the song while providing an organic human feel. I feel we accomplished what we set out to achieve.

• And finally, as a new fan of Dale Shepperd, what can we expect from you next? Radio shows planned ahead? More songs? An album by any chance? What do you have in store for us next?

I usually try to complete one song a year, so I hope to have another release to share in 2024. Regarding an album, I do have about 10 songs completed but the others are rougher demos, so they have not been officially released. If I get some time to complete those songs, and write a few more, I might have an album in me yet.

• Thank you so much Dale for taking the time to answer these questions. It has been my pleasure to ask them, and I truly hope that they are as engaging to consider and answer as listening to your latest single has been inspiring to me.

The reason we say the band has made a full-blown reimagined, and not a simple cover is because of how they re-arranged a lot of elements in the track. For instance, the track begins with some clean guitars playing the chord progression along with high-pitched vocals that are soft and passionate- a huge contradiction from the original track. The verses work so well with the refrain right after them in this new slow-paced version.

The pace keeps building up and the song builds tension and anticipation to the main attraction: The heavy bridge/outro section. Up to the third-minute mark, you can compare this track to a combination of styles between British pop and modern rock but the vocals felt Robert Plant inspired cause there was a lot of head voice with little to no distortion…another new element for me, as I was used to this song with Bon Scott‘s characteristic screeches. 

As for the bridge section itself, it was so well-timed and it felt so impactful and successfully touched on the rock ‘n’ roll vibes in the lyrics thanks to the distorted guitars, pummeling drums, and the powerful bassline. At the end of the day, this rendition of the song showed some differences that were so necessary for that section to be as effective as it is now, and I will always remember it as its own thing due to the number of details and the great work that Third Lung have put into making this track their own and not just copying the original. Go check these guys out cause they are worth (multiple) listens and I’m sure you’ll find this song pretty soon in all the best AC DC cover playlists.

It seems like Steven Simoncic on vocals, Jay Deyonke on guitars and bass, and Mike Hecht on drums were able to modernize the rock’n’roll roots and delivering it in a unique path. ‘313’ was released last year through their debut self-titled album which you can easily feel the energy and all your loved legends styles as well. Since the band started their roots by covering the icons that were easily inspirations for their original work. I can feel the energy of AC/DC, Van Halen, and KISS, along with the creativity of the Beatles, Led Zepplin, and Pink Floyd too.

Usually, when I listen to new music I check negative and positive points, with their record I couldn’t find any negative points indeed, I loved Steve’s vocals, and the leadline and insane soloing by Jay, and the impressive drumming of Mike. Well done, boys! Definitely, I am waiting for your next release. Check their album below guys and let me know what do you think.

 

Well, don’t get me wrong by mentioning a revival for the Aussie music scene, of course, it’s one of the influential music scenes worldwide, but when we talk about this incredible land what comes to our minds is the legendary AC/DC. I believe that Strange Unit is going in the right direction as soon we will be one of the most influential groups in rock music. ‘Turbulence’ is like you are listening to several eras in one song, so don’t get surprised when you find The Stooges, Pixies, Nine InchNails, among others.

Usually, I am not a guy who gets impressed by the effects with music, but the blend here is impressive either on vocals or the instruments as well. Mark your calendars on July the 16th, meanwhile check out some rokcin’ tunes on their Spotify below!

1. We have Pink’s ‘Trouble’, great for weight lifting. Makes you keep pumping that iron, and so is Rage Against The Machine ‘s ‘Testify’. 

2. On the treadmill and running and feeling like you are out of breath and at your limit? Dimmu Borgir’s ‘Burn in Hell’ will pump you back to speed and give you an extra few minutes.

3. Sit back and start spinning your legs on the bicycle while listing to AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black’ and Deff Leppard’s ‘Rock of Ages’ show your legs a limit they have never seen before.

4. Well, of course there are those of you out there that want to do yoga and think that there is no song that suits it. Well, you are wrong, Scorpions’ ‘Still Loving You’ does wonders with the breathing and the stretching.

5. Let’s get our blood pumping and our rage started with a little kickboxing while either Foo Fighters ‘Pretender’ or In this moment’s ‘Whore’ playing in the background:

6. Some cardio workout to start your day, AC/DC ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’

7. This one is for the ladies. Did you know that belly dancing is a form of exercise? Myrath’s ‘Merciless Times’ works best.

8. And of course the best workout song of all time that can work with any type of exercise, Survivor’s ‘Eye of the tiger’

Now there is no excuse, go get you exercises started in rocking way!

Written by: Nj bakr and Aya Eweis

Then suddenly a song comes up, you hear the song, your nerves start to shake and BOOM!! You are unstoppable! Well here then, I brought you the best pumping songs to put on your iPod/mp3 player in these situations;

10- ‘Black Dog’ by Led Zeppelin
Even through the whole song you can feel the adrenalin jitters moving up and down your body.

9-‘Stone Cold Crazy’ by Metallica
Personally this was my sit down and study song, I never actually passed the subjects but it did make me sit down at my desk and get in the mood to study, even if I just held the pencils and started drumming.

8- ‘Given Up’ by Linkin Park
Oddly enough this song used to help you do anything but give up.

7- ‘Sway’ by Coal Chamber
Best song to listen to when you want to do something that you are absolutely positive will get you in trouble.

6- ‘Riot’ by Three Days Grace
I think of this song whenever I have to stand up for myself to a bully who looks much larger than me, this song makes all the logical reasoning go away.

5- ‘The Pretender’ by Foo Fighters
This song just speaks for itself; there are no words to describe how this song pumps you up!

4- ‘Last Resort’ by Papa Roach
Though the lyrics might give you the impression of giving up, this song does well when you have had enough of something and need to punch a hole in the wall.

3- ‘Highway To Hell’ by AC/DC
Yup, I’m in my car, with my friends and I’m going to have a wild night, NO CAN STOP ME!!!

2-‘Eye Of The Tiger’ by Survivor
This song has been used and worn out, but still the best work out song out there.

1- ‘We will Rock You’ by Queen
#1 pumping song of all times, if this song doesn’t get your blood rushing and start banging the table I don’t know what will.

I hope you enjoyed this list and had a little blood rush, if you think I missed anything please feel free to suggest the song(s) in the comments bellow.

Regardless, we will have another list for that; but for now, let’s discover more about people who really helped in modern music development, and worked with international artists and bands that we know and adore their hits. However, 50% of their success returns to their producers. Let’s know those music market masters…

Jimmy Page

Many people know him as the lead guitarist of the legendary classic rock band Led Zeppelin. Actually, the reason that Page created the band was his love to record production as well as putting new recording techniques, which became his legacy that was followed by music makers afterwards. Page spent hours and hours in the studio just trying to record techniques as well as observing the different points and changing microphones access, amplifier and trying new sounds and sometimes creating sound effects! Jimmy Page mainly produced for Led Zeppelin, The Firm and Screaming Lord Sutch bands. In addition, several side projects, one of them was Puff Daddy’s hit ‘Come With Me’.

Rick Rubin 

One of the wide known names in Europe and States. This artists didn’t work on a specific genre; he just knew how to get the right tunes for an artist and deliver it to the audience. I guess there’s few of the music industry that Rubin didn’t work with. Yes, any international artist/band you know you will find his name behind them. Some of these are: Johnny Cash, Metallica, Slayer, Black Sabbath, Slayer, RHCP, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Limp Bizkit, SOAD, The Cult, Neil Diamond, Mick Jagger, ZZ Top, Audioslave, Rage Against The Machine Danzig, Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow. Away from rock music, he worked with Adele, Justin Timberlake, Shakira, Public Enemy, Eminem, Lady Gaga and many more…

Bob Rock

Bob is considered to be the man behind the success of Metallica. Yes, Bob was actually the main reason of letting some of Metallica’s riffs reach the fans in a proper sound and song structure. And that was so obvious in ‘A Year and Half in the Life of Metallica’; the documentary film that was made for the recording production for Metallica: ‘Black Album’ shows him giving instructions to the band and sometimes guiding, even arguing with them to work hard and get it right. In addition, he worked with Aerosmith, Motley Crue, The Cult, David Lee Roth, Bon Jovi, Cher, Skid Row, Bryan Adams, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Michael Buble, and The Offspring. Besides, he is a well-known audio engineer, so he worked with Survivor, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and many else.

Quincy Jones 

Quincy Jones is considered as the most famous music producer on Earth! Jones started as a producer in the early 50s and was a well-known for his work with the King of Pop Michael Jackson, as well as, Little Richard, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Frank Sinatra, Samuel George – a.k.a Sammy Davis, Jr. – Aretha Franklin, Eddie Van Halen, Will Smith, 2Pac, Ray Charles and hundreds! Besides, he was the producer, composer and conductor of many international hits such as ‘We Are the World’ and ‘Bokra’ – Tomorrow (A Better You, Better Me with many Arab artists such as; Shakira, Tamer Hosny, Souad Massi, Marawan Khoury, Latifa, Diana Karazon, and the American hip hop artist Akon. The song was written by Magda Al-Roumi.

Paul O’Neill

For you, who don’t know Paul, he is one of the responsible of creating the genre of progressive metal. O’Neill started as an engineer and worked with many international acts, such as; Aerosmith, Joan Jett, Def Leppard and others. In the 80s, he became the number one promoter for shows in Japan and promoting every tour of Madonna and Sting. The real change happened was with Savatage, which was when he changed the whole concept of the band from just a heavy metal band to become the first influential progressive metal band as well as his other orchestral works with same band members and other musicians in the ranked #1rock orchestra, Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Tony Platt 

Tony is one of the greatest English sound engineers and record producers. His resume could talk better than we do. Some of his notable works were with; Bob Marley, Buddy Guy, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Gary Moore, Johnny Cash, Samson, Manowar, Celtic Frost, Ronnie James Dio and Anathema.

Dieter Dierks

Most known as the owner of one the best international studios, Dierks Studios (audio and video studios), and the producer for the legendary band Scorpions. Many international artists worked and record there, such as; Michael Jackson, Accpet, Tina Turner, and many others.

R. Kelly 

This could be a name that many readers weren’t expecting in such a list, but this awesome composer, song-writer, arranger, mixer and record producer should be mentioned also. Kelly worked with numerous artists as a producer since the early 90s till now, and he was even the main reason behind many international artists production besides the younger ones. He produced for Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Toni Braxton, Aaliyah, Billy Ocean, Celine Dion, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Whitney Huston and many else.

Mike Clink

Well, he is a man with not much of a resume but no one can deny he was one of the developers of the hard rock/heavy metal movement. He started as an audio engineer – like many other producers – in the 80s and then found his interest in record production. Clink produced for Gun N’ Roses, Triumph, Motley Crue, Megadeth, UFO, Jefferson Starship, Heart and many others.

Roy Thomas Baker

Baker isn’t only a music producer but he is also a songwriter, arranger and the governor of The Recording Academy – the U.S. organization of musicians, producers and audio engineers. His notable productions were for many legendary bands, such as: Queen, Yes, Jet, Nazareth, Free, Journey, Chris de Burgh, Ozzy Osbourne, Guns N’ Roses as well as motion pictures soundtracks for Heavy Metal in 1982 and American Anthem in 1986.

Your heart will break while watching the two brothers (Sam and Dean, stars of the show) blasting Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead Or Alive” as they ride towards Dean’s death who is wanted by the demons to be dragged straight into hell. And if you are going to interrupt a fight between Lucifer and an Arch Angel, what better way to do it than to blast Def Leppard’s “Rock Of Ages” while driving up in the middle and giving them a badass look!

How about a scene of nearly escaping the FBI and going to prison; isn’t Styx’s “Renegade” the best background music fo it? Makes you feel like you want to commit a crime yourself just so that while you are in the getaway car, you can blast the song on the radio. My all-time favorite is when they introduced death playing Jen Titus’s “Oh Death”, that one just gave me shivers up and down my spine! And of course there’s always the kick back songs that ease you right up such as Foghat’s “Slow Ride”.

Supernatural has a great talent of bringing together the greatest and best songs from classic rock to bluesy gospel music and merging them together with the perfectly-fit scenes, and here’s a proof how about Dean (hotty star number one) rocking out Survivor’s “Eye Of The Tiger” ENJOY!