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Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and more have all paid tribute to rock’n’roll pioneer Little Richard, who died this week aged 87.
The star, real name Richard Wayne Penniman, known as a founding father of rock n’ roll died yesterday (May 9), with his lawyer Bill Sobel confirming the cause of death as bone cancer.
Paul McCartney has now added his name to the huge list of artists and musicians paying their respects to Richard.
“‘From ‘Tutti Frutti’ to ‘Long Tall Sally’ to ‘Good Golly, Miss Molly’ to ‘Lucille’, Little Richard came screaming into my life when I was a teenager,” the Beatle wrote on Instagram.
“I owe a lot of what I do to Little Richard and his style; and he knew it. He would say, “I taught Paul everything he knows,'” he added. “I had to admit he was right.
“In the early days of The Beatles we played with Richard in Hamburg and got to know him. He would let us hang out in his dressing room and we were witness to his pre-show rituals, with his head under a towel over a bowl of steaming hot water he would suddenly lift his head up to the mirror and say, “I can’t help it cos I’m so beautiful”. And he was.
“A great man with a lovely sense of humour and someone who will be missed by the rock and roll community and many more. I thank him for all he taught me and the kindness he showed by letting me be his friend. Goodbye Richard and a-wop-bop-a-loo-bop.'”
Mick Jagger also wrote a lenghty and heartfelt post on Instagram, saying:. “I’m so saddened to hear about the passing of Little Richard, he was the biggest inspiration of my early teens and his music still has the same raw electric energy when you play it now as it did when it first shot through the music scene in the mid ’50s.”
Another heartfelt tribute came from Bob Dylan, who said: “I just heard the news about Little Richard and I’m so grieved.
I just heard the news about Little Richard and I’m so grieved. He was my shining star and guiding light back when I was only a little boy. His was the original spirit that moved me to do everything I would do.
— Bob Dylan (@bobdylan) May 9, 2020
“He was my shining star and guiding light back when I was only a little boy,” Dylan added. “His was the original spirit that moved me to do everything I would do.
“I played some shows with him in Europe in the early nineties and got to hang out in his dressing room a lot. He was always generous, kind and humble. And still dynamite as a performer and a musician and you could still learn plenty from him. In his presence he was always the same Little Richard that I first heard and was awed by growing up and I always was the same little boy. Of course he’ll live forever. But it’s like a part of your life is gone.”
An NME obituary of Little Richard described the late star as “the King and Queen of rock’n’roll who gave us everything”.
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