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.

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.