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Richard Penniman Research Paper

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Richard Wayne Penniman was born on December 5th, 1932 in Macon Georgia. He was third of twelve children in his family. He was born to Charlie and Leva Mae Penniman into the impoverished area of the city. The Penniman family was very religious, with both Richard's father and grandfather working as preachers in the area. In fact, church is where his singing career began when his parents formed a family singing group called 'The Penniman Singers' that consisted of Richard, his parents, and his siblings. Continuing in his religion, Richard had the opportunity to experience many different types of religion and churches. His favorite was the Pentecostal church because of its fun, dancing, and music. Richard also became a 'faith healer' in the church so that he could place his hands on people, pray for them, and they claimed to feel better afterward.

In 1951, Little Richard signed with RCA Camden records and began to try to find his sound without much success. He was struggling to find a sound that worked for him as an artist, and his label wanted him to sound more like other …show more content…

His popularity as an artist was growing and his fan base was continuously growing and becoming more diversified. Elvis Presley and Pat Boone both covered "Tutti Frutti". Boone's version outdid Little Richard's when it came to record sales. Almost directly after, Boone did a cover of "Long Tall Sally", presumably expecting the same results. This time, however, Little Richard's original recording got better reviews and peaked higher on Billboard's pop charts. The same was true when Presley and Bill Haley each released a version of "Rip It Up" and neither gained the reaction that Little Richard did. Little Richard was not only a role model for the sound of many of the pioneers of rock 'n' roll, he was an advocate for controversial issues of the time

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