Little Richard, who died in 2020 at 87, called himself "The Quasar of Rock." What's a quasar? Well, it's kind of like a star, but different. It burns brighter, is filled with spectacular amounts of cosmic energy, and is still pretty much a mystery.Musical and divine inspiration came from church, where he developed that "thing" - a way of taking a song, and playing it like God was in the audience. It's what you hear on "Tutti Frutti," "Long Tall Sally," and "Lucille." It's what made David Bowie and Paul McCartney and so many others hear what was possible in this new thing called Rock and Roll.
In 1957, Richard put it all on hold to study theology at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama, returning to music because that was the best way to teach love to all people, and to show that separatism was not the only option.
Born in 1932, Little Richard was one of our last remaining rock legends. See how well you know this enigmatic innovator in the Little Richard edition of Fact or Fiction.
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