Little Richard honed his craft as a teenage drag queen. In everything from his hairstyle to his lyrics, we see the influence of gay contemporaries like Esquerita and Billy Wright.
When a 14-year-old Paul McCartney watched Little Richard in the hit film ‘The Girl Can’t Help It,’ he couldn’t have imagined that the two would one day take the stage together.
Little Richard swung between flamboyant performances and religious fervour - but he always came back to music. With news of his death at 87, musicians paid tribute to his huge rock ‘n’ roll legacy.