From male bisexuality to religion in pop, Little Richard spent the 1950s pioneering ideas that are still too challenging for the mainstream. As a Black multimillionaire rock star, he was the most exciting person on the planet between 1955 and 1957, the years in which his seismic debut album was created. Featuring new interviews with famous fans including Sir Elton John, Dave Grohl, Joan Jett and Nile Rodgers, this is the first in-depth look at Here's Little Richard since Richard Penniman's death in May 2020. The book explores his roots in the queer underground of the American South, a scene so progressive you'd scarcely believe it thrived seven decades ago, and early rebel music such as jump blues, which soon collided with the emerging juggernaut that was rock'n'roll. When that weird alchemy occurred, the self-proclaimed Living Flame was ready to spark the likes of The Beatles, David Bowie and Prince into existence. Those close to the tale pinpoint the ways in which 'Long Tall Sally' and 'Tutti Frutti' remain omnipresent – and why the latter was the 'WAP' of its day. This is the story of how Little Richard changed the world in 28 minutes and 30 seconds. A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom!

When Little Richard burst onto the scene in the early 1950s, he sounded like nothing on earth. Drenched in sweat, screaming, hollering and pumping his piano, he made all who followed soud tame. His stage act was so explosive that for years people assumed the real man could never match the flamboyant public image. Here comes Charles White's sensational book exposing the even more astonishing life and times of Richard Wayne Penniman from Macon, Georgia. Illustrated with pictures from Little Richard's own archive and including a comprehensive discography.

A brilliant new biography of the extraordinary, outrageous performer who helped open the floodgates of Rock 'n' Roll. In June, 2007, Little Richard's 1955 Specialty Records single, "Tutti Frutti," topped Mojo magazine's list of "100 Records That Changed the World." But back in the early 1950s, nobody gave Little Richard a second glance. It was a time in America where the black and white worlds had co-existed separately for nearly two centuries. After "Tutti Frutti," Little Richard began garnering fans from both sides of the civil rights divide. He brought black and white youngsters together on the dance floor and even helped to transform race relations. Little Richard: The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll begins by grounding the reader in the fertile soil from which Little Richard's music sprang. In Macon, Georgia, David Kirby interviews relatives and local characters, who knew Little Richard way back when, citing church and family as his true inspiration. His antics began as early as grade school, performing for his classmates every time the teacher would leave the room, connecting to an age-old American show biz tradition of charade and flummery. On the road, Little Richard faced competition from his peers, honing his stage show and making it, too, an act that could not be counterfeited. Kirby sees Little Richard as a foxy warrior, fighting with skill and cunning to take his place among the greats. In the words of Keith Richards (on hearing "Tutti Frutti" for the first time), "it was as though the world changed suddenly from monochrome to Technicolor." Those sentiments have consistently been echoed by the music-listening world, and the time is ripe for a reassessment of Little Richard's genius and legacy.

A first edition, Insiders' Guide to North Carolina's Piedmont Triad is the essential source for in-depth travel and relocation information to North Carolina's Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and Highpoint region. Written by a local (and true insider), this guide offers a personal and practical perspective of North Carolina's Piedmont Triad and its surrounding environs.

*Nominated for the International Association for the Study of Popular Music Book Prize* Partly because they are the objects of such intense adulation by fans popular musicians remain strangely enigmatic figures, shrouded in mythology. This book looks beyond the myth and examines the diverse roles music makers have had to adopt in order to go about their work: designer, ventriloquist, star, delegate of the people. The musician is a divided subject and jack of all trades. However the story does not end here. Arguing against that strand in cultural studies which deconstructs all claims for authorship by the individual artist, Jason Toynbee suggests that creativity should be reconceived rather than abandoned. He argues that what is needed is a sense of 'the radius of creativity' within which musicians work, an approach that takes into account both the embedded collectivism of popular music practice and the institutional power of the music industries. Drawing on a wide range of theoretical positions, as well as examining musical texts from across the history of twentieth-century pop,this groundbreaking book develops a powerful case for the importance of production in contemporary culture. Students of cultural and media studies, music and the performing arts will find this book an invaluable resource.