Rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Little Richard dies at age 87

Little Richard, the self-proclaimed “architect of rock ‘n’ roll” who made his ground-breaking sound with a boiling blend of boogie-woogie, rhythm and blues and gospel, died on Saturday at the age of 87.

Richard, a Grammy Award winner and an inductee to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame whose electrifying 1950s hits such as “Tutti Frutti” and “Long Tall Sally” and flamboyant stage presence influenced legions of performers, succumbed to cancer.

“Little Richard died in Tullahoma, Tennessee of bone cancer. He was loved by his family and loved by millions,” his family told in a statement through their lawyer, Bill Sobel.

Richard’s bass guitarist, Charles Glenn, told celebrity website TMZ the musician had been sick for two months and that he died surrounded by his brother, sister and son.

At his peak in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, Richard shouted, moaned, screamed and trilled hits like “Good Golly, Miss Molly” and “Lucille,” all the while pounding the piano like a mad man and punctuating lyrics with an occasional shrill “whoooo!”

Time magazine stated he played “songs that sounded like nonsense but whose beat seemed to hint of supernatural pleasures centred somewhere between the gut and the gutter.”

The music drew in both young black and white fans at a time when parts of the United States still were strictly segregated. Many white artists, such as Pat Boone, had their own hit versions of Richard’s songs, albeit considerably toned down and “safer” for the pop audience.

“I’ve always thought that rock ‘n’ roll brought the races together,” Richard once said during an interviewer. “Although I was black, the fans didn’t care. I used to feel good about that.”

Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, James Brown, Otis Redding, David Bowie and Rod Stewart all cited Little Richard as an influence. Jimi Hendrix, who played in Richard’s band in the mid-1960s, said he wanted to use his guitar the way Richard used his voice.