Little Richard, flamboyant rock ‘n’ roll pioneer, dead at 87
Pastor Bill Minson, a close friend of Little Richard's, told The Associated Press that Little Richard died Saturday morning. “Little Richard? That’s rock ‘n’ roll,” Neil Young, who heard Richard’s riffs on the radio in Canada, told biographer Jimmy McDonough. “I am the architect of rock ‘n’ roll!” Little Richard crowed at the 1988 Grammy Awards as the crowd rose in a standing ovation. In late 1955, Little Richard recorded the bawdy “Tutti Frutti,” with lyrics that were sanitized by a New Orleans songwriter.