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“I am the originator. I am the emancipator. I am the architect of rock ’n’ roll,” booms Little Richard at the beginning of Lisa Cortes’s documentary. Ike Turner, Fats Domino and Chuck Berry would have had reasonable grounds to object to his self-effacing speech at the 1997 American Music Awards.
But, by the end of this enthralling look at the singer’s life and legacy, you may feel like giving the late singer his dues.
Tutti Frutti may not have been the first hit record to feature what became known as “rock and roll beat”. But it was probably performed by the first rock star.
Fearless, charismatic and dangerously erotic, Little Richard laid the groundwork for the flamboyant frontmen of the
20th century.
Mick Jagger admits to stealing his dance moves. McCartney confesses to ripping off his yelps. Elvis apparently called him the “true king of rock and roll”.
“His DNA is everywhere,” says Billy Porter.
As well as making a convincing case for Little Richard’s pioneering songwriting, Cortes’s film also offers a fascinating take on his role as a cultural revolutionary.
For the first hour, the film traces young Richard’s rise in 1950s Georgia and his part as a performer on the Chitlin’ Circuit. Intriguingly, this wasn’t just musically revolutionary but also a hotbed of sexual liberation.
Little Richard performed openly as a gay man, sometimes in drag. Before the lyrics were rewritten on the orders of his record company, Tutti Frutti was a song about anal sex.
But Richard’s status as a gay icon would be tarnished by his frequent retreats into conservative Christianity. In a chat show clip, we see him renounce his homosexuality.
“God didn’t create Adam and Steve,” he tells a clearly saddened David Letterman.
Little Richard just couldn’t keep his inner rock star down, though. A member of his band remembers being scheduled to perform after a barnstorming set from Janis Joplin. Richard knew it was time to bring out the big guns.
“Go back to the hotel and get my mirror suit,” he ordered.
