Little Richard

Little Richard was one of rock ’n’ roll’s first stars, building some of the genre’s first great singles from a foundation of jump blues and boogie-woogie. Hits came easily throughout the ’50s“Good Golly, Miss Molly,” “The Girl Can’t Help It,” “Tutti Frutti”until Richard pioneered yet another convention of rock ’n’ roll: quitting the genre in favor of Christianity at the height of his fame in the late ’50s. For decades, Richard alternated between appeasing his inner showman and his inner evangelist, believing it impossible to be both. By the ’80s, he completely recommitted himself to being the flamboyant, kitschy figure and television personality he remains today at age 76.