YouTube Gold: Little Richard In The Early Days

HOLLYWOOD - 1956: Musician Little Richard poses for a portrait in circa 1956 in Hollywood, California.Even by today’s standards, a young Little Richard would have stood out.

A native of Macon, Georgia, Richard Penniman was a wild bundle of energy. Using the word flamboyant for a gay performer might seem lazy, but Little Richard was flamboyant. And charismatic. And hugely talented.

He burst on the scene in 1955 with a cleaned-up version of Tutti-Frutti (the original version had some highly shocking lyrics by the standards of that day and so had to be cleaned up).

As you’ll see here, Little Richard was highly charismatic and his band is, too.

Little Richard attended various churches as a child…