The Passing of a Rock and Roll Trailblazer

The Passing of a Rock and Roll Trailblazer 

Richard Wayne Penniman, better known as Little Richard, passed away on May 9, 2020. He was a pioneer in the field of music by combining a number of music styles into a new sound that eventually became known as Rock and Roll. Around the mid to late 1950s he had a string of hits that included “Tutti Frutti”, “Good Golly, Miss Molly” and “Long Tall Sally”. Little Richard was a major influence on a number of artists such as James Brown, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, and Prince.  In 1986 he was among the inaugural class of inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.