"A - wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam-boom!" It is with this exalted onomatopoeia, inspired by a rhythm of drums, that Little Richard entered the history of music by the big door, in 1955. The song Tutti Frutti would become his calling card, even if it is the “light” version, interpreted by the smooth white crooner Pat Boone who will initially gain success. Salacious hymn to sodomy, the text rewritten so as not to shock the crowds, the song listed Little Richard among the valiant pioneers of music developed in the southern United States with some other young men named Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Bo Diddley, Gene Vincent or Eddie Cochran: rock'n'roll. On his second single, Long Tall Sally, Little Richard will make sure to sing so fast that no one will be able to imitate him. He will become, in fact, the first African-American in the history of music to seduce the white audience.
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He was born Richard Penniman in Macon, Georgia
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