It is incredibly hard, though not impossible, to overstateLittle Richard’s influence on rock & roll.
Particularly because it has been understated or ignored or forgotten for so long.
He is the Originator, the Innovator, the Architect, the King of Rock & Roll.
Little Richard performing at Los Angeles' Wrigley Field on Sept. 2, 1956.courtesy Magnolia Pictures
(See an exclusive clip from the film above.)
He found a home above Ann’s Tic Toc, an integrated gay bar In Georgia.
(Just let that sink in for a minute.)
Little Richard before he performs at Los Angeles' Wrigley Field on Sept. 2, 1956.courtesy Magnolia Pictures
whose owners took him in.
There, he developed his drag persona, Princess LaVonne.
Again, in the South.
Little Richard performing at Los Angeles' Wrigley Field on Sept. 2, 1956.courtesy Magnolia Pictures
It’s a part of America, like it or not."
Now Little Richard didn’t just pluck rock & roll out of thin air.
Richard synthesized parts of these performers into his own act, creating something distinct of his own.
Little Richard on ‘The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour’ on Oct. 1, 1971.
It’s this distinction that drives a lot of Little Richard’s story.
But the other major driving force is his sexuality.
Girls, presumably white girls included, would throw their panties onto the stage where he performed.
He ended his recording contract early, thus relinquishing any and all future royalties to his music.
Little Richarddied on May 20, 2020.
At age 87, he was one of the last living elder statesmen of rock & roll.
He left behind a complicated legacy, one that Cortes unpacks inLittle Richard: I Am Everything.
LISA CORTES:Summertime.
And I wanted to see a documentary.
Where did you start with your research?
He wrote it with a gentleman named Charles White.
If you haven’t read it, treat yourself.
It’s quite spirited, and candid, and saucy, and spunky.
What was it about the culture that made that so?
I’m equally befuddled.
In this case, Tavia Nyong’o is like, that does not make sense.
This is counterintuitive to the learned history that we know.
But he still has this back and forth with his sexuality.
Can you speak a bit about that struggle and how you managed to frame it?
Well, first of all, I framed it through Richard’s words.
You didn’t do that.
I was one of the first gay people."
Were you able to track down any of his male lovers?
I searched high and low.
I asked [close friends] Sir Lady Java and Lee Angel.
And as close as they were to him to the end, it’s that old school.
And I wonder if there is anyone who was consistently there.
He’s old school.
There’s certain things that they just did not talk about.
And it goes beyond Richard.
Let’s talk a bit about rock& roll in general in the ’50s.
Right, right, everything’s on 13.
Yeah, but rock & roll really broke through.
What do you think rock & roll did as a cultural force?
I like to say that Little Richard unleashed rock & roll and he freed the teenager.
See an exclusive clip from the documentary above.
Want more movie news?
