Little Richard — who was born as Richard Wayne Penniman on December 5, 1932 — passed away on May 9, 2020. He is one of the giants of rock and roll, leaving us many great memories and performances. Among those is a wonderful UK television special from 1964 called appropriately It’s Little Richard.
By 1964, some time had passed since 1955 when Little Richard had a huge hit with “Tutti Frutti.” Like early rocker Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard pondered the relation between the new music and God. And, by the start of the 1960s, he had started focusing on gospel music.
But he could not stay away from the music he loved, and he soon returned to making secular music too. And in 1964, Grenada Television in the U.K. broadcast a Little Richard special, The Little Richard Spectacular, sometimes called It’s Little Richard. Little Richard had been out of the spotlight and the British Invasion was emerging, but his talent could not be denied.
Four years before Elvis’s famous comeback TV special, It’s Little Richard, which featured The Shirelles as guests, was so popular and generated so much fan mail that the TV station rebroadcast the show twice. Check out the special, directed by Philip Casson, below.
Songs on the special included “I’ve Got the Joy Joy Joy Joy” (with the Shirelles), “Rip It Up,” “Lucille,” “Long Tall Sally,” “Send Me Some Lovin'” “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “Hound Dog,” “Good Golly Miss Molly,” “Tutti Frutti,” “Jenny Jenny.” The Shirelles performed “Everybody Loves A Lover” and “Will You Love Me Tomorrow.”
What is your favorite Little Richard song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
OMG Little Rchard is on FIRE in this performance! His timing is propulsive (the backup band had a hard time keepin’ up), his moves are fabulous (love how he dances with his face!), his musicianship is impeccable. And what a drop-dead gorgeous, sexy man he was, too. He really got my pelvis bouncin’.in my chair. Such a delight, too, to hear him when his trademark “whooo” was so fresh and varied and lively, not the auditory cliché it became decades later.
Gotta say, though, I cringed every time the goddamn camera man focused on the Shirelles” bobbin’ bottoms: it just seemed disrespectful.
When I watched Bruno Mars’s tribute to Little Richard at the Grammys, I thought it was decent, but now I think Bruno should’ve practiced by singing along to this special about 100 times. He just didn’t come close to the capturing the rockin’ out ENERGY of this man.
I feel blessed to have been on the planet during his lifetime.