Little Richard: Torn Between God and The Devil’s Music

In 1955, Little Richard, along with his naughty “Tutti Frutti” and flamboyant look took the world by storm. He was glamorous before the glitters entered the world in the 70s, the “King and Queen” of rock n roll before Elvis, and a symbol of queerness before David Bowie. Richard was the ultimate inspiration for rock icons like The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Elton John the world would later know, but he was also a man who walked down the stage at the height of his music career and traded fame for faith. 

The Night He Gave Up Rock N Roll

It was during a two-week tour in 1957 when Little Richard saw the very first Russian Sputnik go up in the air in flame. In an auditorium filled with 40,000 people, the moment brought him to the realization of the evil he had done. “It really shook my mind, I got up from the piano and said, ‘This is it. I am through. I am leaving show business to go back to God,” he said in The Life and Times of Little Richard, the Quasar of Rock, the 1984 authorized biography written by Charles White and Robert A. Blackwell.

Born in a deeply religious family and raised as one of the twelve children of preacher uncles, Little Richard dreamed of becoming one when he grew up. He learned Gospel singing from the nearby church, but his father had always disapproved of him doing music. At the age of 13, his father discovered that he was gay and kicked him out of the house. Richard left home and stayed with a white family in Macon while working at a concession stand at the Macon City Auditorium. It was during that time the rhythm and sound of R&B, blues, and country came into his life.

A Wop Bob Alu Bob A Wop Bam Boom

Little Richard came up with the famous “a wop bob alu bob a wop bam boom” while washing dishes at the Greyhound bus station. He sent a rough tape of “Tutti Frutti” to Specialty Records, which became an instant hit when released. “Tutti Frutti” shook the world with pumping piano, a twist of Gospel, and a sexual undertone. Following the success, Little Richard produced hits like “Long Tall Sally,” “Rip It Up,” “Lucille” and “Good Golly Miss Molly.” Soon, he began touring and living life as a rock star life until the night in 1957.

But to Little Richard, there was always a choice to be made between God and rock.  “You can’t serve two masters,” he told his son, Danny Jones, who said in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2020.

The Devil Screams Through Rock N Roll

Little Richard believed the devil was the true master behind rock ‘n roll. “I had forgotten all about God. Going from town to town, country to country, not knowing that I was directed and commanded by another power. The power of darkness. The power that you’ve heard so much about. The power that a lot of people don’t believe exists. The power of the Devil,” he wrote in the 1984 biography. 

“I was making $10,000 for one hour. Just jumping up in the air with all of the makeup and the eyelashes on. With all of the mirrored suits and the sequins and the stones, going all over the place.”

Realizing that he was spreading evil in the world, Little Richard returned home to his initial pursuit of preaching He attended the Alabama Bible school Oakwood College and was ordained as a minister. But his fame and style never quite left him. Even though Little Richard had cut his hair and put on a black suit, students were interested in him. The older members of the school had problems with him riding a flashy Cadillac.

His gift for music was never meant for himself but the stage. He would often break into singing while preaching, and his speech was said to move souls. Things then took a turn for the worse when they discovered his homosexuality. “At the time, I thought they were being hypocritical. But really, to be truthful, they weren’t. I was. I was supposed to have been living a different life, and I wasn’t,” he said in his biography.

Faith, Querness, and A Rocker’s Lifestyle

Ever since his father first kicked him out of the house for being gay, queerness became part of the battle. Richard had denounced homosexuality as “contagious” and “not something you’re born with” in the biography only years later to say that he had been “gay all my life” and that “God had let him know that ‘He made Adam be with Eve, not Steve.’” Later in life, he described himself as “omnisexual” but then in 2017, spoke against queer lifestyles. “God, Jesus, He made men. Men, he made women. Women, you know? And you’ve got to live the way God wants you to live. So much unnatural affection. So much of people just doing everything and don’t think about God.”

“Can’t Serve Two Masters”

Little Richard returned to music in 59 after serving God for two years. He assembled a gospel set called God Is Real, but his gospel music career never quite took off the way his rock n roll did. In 1964, Little Richard went back to the rock business, doing what he once deemed evil, but the strange new world was no longer the one he remembered.

The man who pioneered the rhythm of rock had been out of the game for so long that fans had forgotten about him, but a new generation of rockers like the Beatles and Bob Dylan, who had listened to his music growing up, welcomed him back. Little Richard was able to make a respectful living doing rock n roll, though he never again produced another hit like “Tutti Frutti” and “Long Tall Sally.” Throughout the ‘70s, he struggled with addictions and drug use, which led him back to faith.

Even at an old age, Little Richard was scared that he might go to hell for playing rock n roll. He did believe that it was God, not the devil, who gave him the gift of music. In a way, faith led him to rock n roll, and rock n roll always led him back to faith with his queerness at the center of his struggle.