I’m Little Richard’s little music prodigy
I READ Tom Leonard’s superb article on the life of Little Richard (Mail) with great interest, as it took me back to 1958 when I first appeared on stage as a ten-year-old rock ’n’ roll singer. I was the surprise guest artist at the popular Teen Dances at the Royal Pier Ballroom in Southampton. My opening song was Little Richard’s Tutti Frutti. In those more innocent times, neither I nor most older people had any idea that the song title was a slang term for a homosexual and its bawdy lyrics had been cleaned up for Little Richard’s 1955 recording. Even the term rock ’n’ roll is an euphemism for sexual intercourse. My career as a boy singer at local dance halls was short-lived. I was under the legal age for public shows by minors and after the school authorities had been made aware of my performances, I was forced to retire. However, keeping a low profile, I carried on singing in pubs and clubs. At 15, I became a lead vocalist with a pop group and performed throughout the Sixties until 1973. I left the music scene to start my professional comedy/vocal career, which continued unbroken for 62 years until March when all entertainment venues and cruise ships had to close due to coronavirus. I aim to get back on stage as soon as the restrictions are eased, when I am sure people will be more than keen to be entertained again. My opening song lyric? ‘A-wop-bop-aloo-bop-a-wop-bam-boom!’
DAVID st JOHN, Cannock, staffs.
I WAS bass player for Jet Harris’s Jetblacks in 1962 touring with Little Richard, the greatest rock ’n’ roll artist, performing Good Golly Miss Molly, the best ever rock ’n’ roll record. Little Richard’s first tour of England was slap bang in the middle of the Cuban missile crisis. The Beatles joined the show in Liverpool to promote the release of Love Me Do. When I asked Little Richard if he knew Presley, he said: ‘I’ve met Elvis. He’s real pretty!’
TERRY WEBSTER, Wakefield, W. Yorks.