Then, as if to prove it was no fluke, a few years later the city produced the Allman Brothers Band, which emerged out of Macon with a fusion of blues and rock and jazz and country that became known as Southern rock. And Otis Redding embodied the very essence of soul music. James Brown soon followed Richard and created what became known as funk. If Little Richard didn’t invent rock ’n’ roll, he certainly joined Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley in setting the parameters. Every single star who rose out of Macon was a visionary, someone who changed the basic equation and redefined the way people looked at popular music. There were cities that produced more successful musicians in raw numbers but, aside from Memphis and Detroit, it would be difficult to find one city that has produced more groundbreaking musical figures in the 20th century. It’s impossible to explain how little Macon, Georgia, became an epicenter of influence on modern pop music. Why Macon? Maybe it was something in the water When Little Richard was 14, he persuaded Sister Rosetta Stone to let him open her concert at Macon’s City Auditorium. What follows is an excerpt from that book which traces Little Richard’s formative years in Macon, and how a trip to the Royal Peacock club on Auburn Avenue changed his life. And they regaled me with stories about both of them.
Martins Press, 2001), most of the people in Macon who had known Otis had also known Little Richard. When I researched my book on Redding ( Otis! The Otis Redding Story, St. And in 1989 he returned to induct Otis Redding, another Macon native who had grown up idolizing Little Richard. He was one of the original inductees into the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame, along with Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles and other pioneers. Mick Jagger, Elton John, Prince and many others carried a part of Little Richard in their look and attitude. And without a doubt, he set the prototype for what a “rock star” would become - he was flamboyant, loud and impossible to ignore. Whether Little Richard invented rock ’n’ roll is open to debate, but he was certainly one of the head chefs. I thought about that moment Saturday morning when I heard news that Little Richard Penniman had died at the age of 87. It would become the last great Little Richard song. And I heard that classic Little Richard boogie boogie piano on a song called, “Great Gosh A’Mighty” that he had recorded for the soundtrack of the film Down and Out in Beverly Hills. He held the phone out again so I could listen in. A couple of minutes later, the press rep mouthed to me, “He’s playing me his new record.” I sat there for a couple of minutes, and he never said a word beyond “right” and “wow” or “yes, sir.” He held the phone out so I could hear Little Richard, whose voice was racing with excitement. “I’m talking to Little Richard,” he silently mouthed to me, a look of joyful astonishment on his face. When I was sent back to see the press rep, he was still on the phone. Penniman’ seemed way too formal.” She laughed and said her compromise was “Mr. He said the mayor called him a few months ago, and he was returning the call.”
Who popularized the words rock and roll how to#
“Uh, I don’t know how to say this, but Little Richard is on the phone,” she said. She punched a couple of buttons, then reached the person I was waiting to see. “Let me put you through to his assistant.” Richard,” she said, her words stumbling out. The phone rang and I noticed that the receptionist seemed. In 1986, I was sitting in the mayor’s office in Macon, waiting to see the mayor’s press representative.
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