Family. He was comfortable and i think there is still, though, this lingering desire to really be recognized correctly in the pantheon of who created rock and roll. This film certainly does that. Lisa, thank you so, much it is fascinating. Thank you. And here now, the new cnn film Little Richard i am everything. Ow man Little Richard, its now 16 years since you had your first hits. Oh, yes. Do you realize that well, you must realize that at your performances now there are people who werent even alive when you first began . Yes, but i have woke them up now. Everybody that wasnt alive when i started and was gone, i have brought the spirit and put it on them. Were you always so shy . No, im not. A lot of people say im shy, but i let it all hang out, every bit. The love, the gentleness, the tenderness, the kindness. You aint supposed to hide them. You got it, god gave it, show it to the world. Announcer ladies and gentlemen, if you will, a man whos become a legend in his own time, Little Richard [ cheers and applause ] good golly, miss molly sure like to ball that music, that beat, his voice. The oooh my god, who is that . Who is that . Cant hear your mama call good golly, miss molly id never seen any of it before. Good golly, miss molly jagger just, like, taking your clothes off. If theres a piano, get on it. He was everything. He spit on every rule there was in music. King he created the template for the rocknroll icon. Porter sorry, yall. It wasnt elvis. Jones he was like a meteor arriving. Woman a comet. Man a quasar. King his dna is everywhere. Its like, how do you refer to the air . How do you refer to the sky . Little richard im the emancipator. Im the architect. Im the one that started it all. Let it all hang out with the beautiful Little Richard from down in macon, georgia. I want you all to know that i am the bronze liberace. Shut up. Man typically we speak of legacy in the laudatory. The legacy of Little Richard is complex. Please, please. Id rather do it myself. Watching his interviews over the decades, you can see the various different versions. Im not conceited. [ audience shouts indistinctly ] im convinced. You could see him crafting his legacy, presenting his story over and over again in different ways. I was gay all my life. I was one of the first gay people to come out. But god let me know that he made adam to be with eve, not steve. Man what was his life that he experienced such delight. Hes coming man . And such terror at the same time . Little richard you know, i will get up off an orgy and go pick up my bible. Newman its almost like having a split personality. King hes too much. Hes too much for everyone. Glenn people want it to be a thing. Richard really didnt have a thing. As the progeny, we must understand what kind of spirit he was and how this thing tore him asunder sometimes. Whoo king he opened up a way. The opening that says something like, we can get to this place, but i may not get there with you. [ Bell Clanging ] Little Richard im from a Little Country town. [ Train Whistle Blows ] macon, georgia. Everybody was wondering what was i, who was i, and where was i going . But i knew all the time. I wanted to be a star. [ Singing Indistinctly ] when i was a little boy, there wasnt any rock n roll. Save my soul you know, everybody, you know, that was that old thing. And i thought that was the best thing i ever heard in my life. My mother would be in the backyard washing our clothes on what you call a rub board. There was a lot of blues. Walking down the streets, you would see black singers playing the guitar. See my woman, tell her hurry home aint had no lovin since she been gone got to step it up and go yeah, yeah Little Richard my mother had 12 children. We had to sleep on pallets on the floor. And my mother had to cook beans every day. We couldnt get enough. You know, cause its 12 kids. You know, a big old pot of rice and collard greens. My mother was so she was so sweet to me. My granddaddy had a old piano, but i couldnt play. I just hit every key, and everybodyd be about to say, oh he was always banging on the piano every time you see him. We would always sneak down there and be looking in the kitchen window. Little richard everybody wanted to help me to play, but i just didnt know how to memorize those keys. I used to hang out with his brothers, the younger ones, and sisters. His daddy, charles bud penniman, was very strict on him, very strict. He was a minister who owned a small nightclub and had a bootleg house at the same time. Yeah Jackson Macon is known for its churches. Its the conservative religious town. Sundays, his mother would get him up and hed attend the Baptist Church with her at new hope. Collier if you sat in the Baptist Church, you dont move at all. Jackson and then it would be time for him to go to the a. M. E. Church with this father. Collier you sit in the holy roller, you dont sit down at yall. Lord, lord, lord, lord Little Richard all the children would go to this church. Oh, please oh Little Richard i would get there and i would sing. But they wouldnt let me sing that much cause i wouldnt stop. And then people started hearing little turns and things in my voice and started requesting me. People used to come to me when i was a little boy for me to pray for them, and my mother used to say that youre crazy. Robinson i will say this A Hundred Thousand times, the south is the home of all things queer, of the different, of the nonnormative, of the other side, of the gothic, of the grotesque. Note that queerness is not just about sexuality, but about a presence in a space that is different from what we require or expect, different from the norm. Little richard and, you know, back in that day, you have sunday clothes. So i would take my mothers sunday pins, her little brooches and things, and put them on my monday jacket and my tuesday shirt. I wore my mothers curtains, the sheets, put on some makeup on my face. My daddyd like to kill me. They called him a sissy, a punk, a faggot. Jackson when he came to town and whites were exposed to him, it was kind of a shock. I am tired Little Richard my dad didnt like my actions and my ways. I was born deformed from a child. One of my legs was long and one of thems small. And this is my long arm and this is my short arm. From i he it was just. I never could do nothing good. He told me to get out of the house, that he didnt he didnt want me there no more, that he hatee me. He says that, i wanted seven boys, and you are messing it up. Because i was gay, he put me out. Porter i can only imagine. Ive lived through my versions of that. Its debilitating. Its soul crushing. And it can be deadly. [ Engine Starts ] collier ann and her husband actually took richard in, let him stay upstairs. A white club in my hometown called anns tic toc. Jackson you know, what we would think of as a gay club. It was kind of like a speakeasy. You had to know where to go and how to get in. I used to play there, and i was singing blues and i was singing gospel. All in my room music everywhere my Favorite Singer was sister Rosetta Tharpe. This black woman could play. The mother of rock n roll. There is no other mother. Sister Rosetta Tharpe shifted a lot of what we thought was possible for black sound outside of the church. Everywhere that i go everywhere that i be robinson the purpose is to drum on the piano or on the guitar until you get to the mountaintop, until you reach the ecstatic space. When the spirit comes. Sing in the morning, sing in the evening sing in the middle of the day robinson . That is the rockin and the rollin. Jesus is. [ cheers and applause ] Little Richard one night, sister Rosetta Tharpe came through. Stewart the macon City Auditorium is a venue that many people played in the height of their careers. Richard worked there as a teenager. Little richard and i went backstage. And i was singing a sister Rosetta Tharpe song called Strange Things Happening Every Day. And sister tharpe said, i have a little boy, and he said he could beat me singing. And she brought me out there. My mother said, go on, boy. Jesus is the Holy Life Turning Darkness into light there are Strange Things Happening Every Day na, na, na, na, mm, mm and every day Little Richard thats the first time i ever was on stage. And i was up there just screaming and singing. Every day there are strange things, and theyre happening every day Little Richard that was the greatest thing ever happened to me. And so i had to get out of macon. Plus, i was ready to shine. I went with dr. Hudsons medicine show. He was selling snake oil. I would play the piano and sing. Caldonia, caldonia what makes your big head so hard . Little richard i sung louis jordans caldonia every night cause i didnt know no other song. And i went from there to belle glade, florida, with b. Brown and his orchestra. We changed my name to Little Richard. And then i went with Sugar Foot Sam from alabam. Hadley there is this Touring Circuit in place. We call it very often the chitlin circuit, where you have various queer black women traveling with goldplated teeth, singing dirty blues or gutbucket blues. I got Nipples On My Titties Big as the end of my thumb i got something between my legsll make a dead man. Her stuff can make a listener blush today. So we should not be surprised that Little Richard as princess lavonne is possible and happens at that point in time. King i mean, this is something that is a fact, but its often not remembered. At that time, there would be drag acts. And Little Richard not only sang and performed in these shows, he also performed in drag. Little richard Sugar Foot Sam from alabam, they had me dressed all kind of ways. He had a Stage Persona called princess lavonne. Is it lavonne or is it i dont know. Ive never heard it said out loud. Princess lavonne. King and so he would put on makeup, wear a dress, and he would perform as a woman. Homosexuality is illegal. Crossdressing is illegal. It was seen as acceptable only because of the context. Hadley you know, this is happening late at night. People are drinking, and it allows for the lines of reality to become soft and for people to imagine and to conjure. Nyongo so this traveling world was crucial, particularly for any gendernonconforming Queer Performer who maybe didnt really feel welcome in their home or home community. Little richard i was working in atlanta, georgia, at the royal peacock, and i met a singer named billy wright. He wore green suits and green and gold shoes. Id never seen a man dressed like that. Yes, i remember all the things that we used to do Little Richard i idolized him. It wasnt his voice that got me. I liked the way he looked. Billy wright. He had the high pompadour. The pancake makeup. Anthony the mascara and the Little Pencil mustache. He was also openly gay. Little richard i had already started wearing the hair, but when i saw him, i started sweeping it back on the side. Anthony and then billy helped richard get his first record deal. Little richard they recorded me in the lobby of the radio station. Wasnt no studio. Taxi, taxi, take me anywhere it was popular in macon and in atlanta. Taxi, taxi. King richard becomes more famous in macon, and his father starts playing these songs around the clock at the club. Richard said for the first time in his life, his father was proud of him. 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One night, i would sit there all night and watch people get off the bus, you know . You know, you understand. And he got off. I said, oh, boy. He said, i play piano. I said, i sing. So we got together. King he had a flamboyant, wildchild style. He would stand up while playing piano. Hadley esquerita, who is also queer, taught him how to play piano. Hes a hard guy to get along with, but he taught me how to play. Thank you, esquerita, wherever you are. Robinson i think when people talk about billy wright or esqueritas influence, theyre like, oh, well, Little Richard just stole his whole swag. I think thats not exactly whats happening. It is another case of witness. They are kind of like the mirrors that come into your life to show you who you really are. Sounds so sad. Isnt that sad . Whoowhee, it make you cry. That was my daddys favorite song. It was called chain of love. King richard told his father he could help take care of the family financially, but he didnt have a way to get around. So he told me he was gonna help me get a car. But he died that friday night. When i came from the club, he was dead. Richards best friend shot him. In order to help support his family, hes a dishwasher at a Greyhound Bus station. I was making 15 a week, and couldnt eat in the restaurant where i was fixing the stuff. They wouldnt let you eat . No, you couldnt eat there. You couldnt go to the bathroom either. I loved my mother so much, and i was determined to be something, to make something out of myself to help her. Hadley hes still working the Touring Circuits. And hes part of groups that are touring all over the south. Connor i was playing up in nashville, tennessee. Hey, hey, hey hey, hey price i was in augusta, georgia, and richard came over with all this makeup and this loud suit. Id never seen anybody like richard. He had run into lloyd price, a big hit record with lawdy miss clawdy. Feels so good today price i had this white and red cadillac. He said, i want a car just like that. I want to get out of georgia. You got to help me. And he says, make a demo and send it to art rupe at Specialty Records. Of course, the rest of it is history. [ applause ] Little Richard ah, ladies and gentlemen, good evening. Baby dont you wish your man had long hair like mine . Yeah vera art rupe and his a r man, bumps blackwell, listened to Little Richards demo. Didnt think much of him. But richard was constantly pestering the secretaries, and the persistence paid off. Rupe said, okay. Meet him down in new orleans. Hes playing down there. Do a session at cosimos with him. Palmer the back of a Furniture Store on Rampart Street thats where we were recording. Tyler very small place. It looked like a hotdog stand. Man when you first saw and heard Little Richard, what your impressions of him were . Wow. Wow. I was beautiful. And they wasnt used to being around no young, goodlooking guy like me. Im not conceited, either. Little richard came in flitty, running, and he was very well, he was very beautiful. Little richard when i went in, they wanted me to sound like ray charles and b. B. King. Im all alone alone in this world im all alone