Little Richard’s musical career steeped in gospel.

Little Richard — the musician known for singing, shouting and flamboyant showmanship — was more than a little religious at times during his life.

The man born Richard Wayne Penniman in 1932 in Macon, Ga., to a church deacon and a Baptist mother died May 9 at the age of 87. He was known for such 1950s hits as “Tutti Frutti” and “Good Golly, Miss Molly.”

“Little Richard was a pioneer of rock and roll who was steeped in gospel and unashamedly borrowed from it to create his unique style,” wrote Steve Turner in the book “An Illustrated History of Gospel.”

Here are four examples of how religion played a role in Little Richard’s life.

Religious background

He grew up in a religious family and spoke of religious practice throughout his life.

Little Richard was influenced by relatives in the Baptist and Holiness traditions, as well as gospel singers.

“It was through listening to gospel music by the Clara Ward Singers that he discovered group member Marion Willams’s gospel yodel, which Little Richard would later incorporate into his signature song ‘Tutti Frutti,’ ” wrote Bil Carpenter in “Uncloudy Days: The Gospel Music Encyclopedia.”

British GQ magazine noted that Little Richard, who lived for more than two decades at a

Hyatt hotel in Los Angeles, once told the Sunday Times about a typical day in his life: “I wake up and worship. I get on my knees. I pray. I thank God for the activity of my limbs. Then I order room service.”

Theology and gospel music

He studied theology and recorded gospel music. In 1957, two years after “Tutti Frutti” was released, he changed course after plane trouble on a concert tour and entered Oakwood College,

a historically black Seventhday Adventist college in Alabama now known as Oakwood University, according to “Uncloudy Days.” In the 1960s, he recorded several gospel albums on different labels, including “Clap Your Hands” for Spin-O-Rama and “King of the Gospel Singers” for Mercury Records.

“Some of Richard’s gospel music was far more reverential and subdued than one would expect from such an electrifying performer,” Carpenter wrote. “However, he did flex his vocal muscle on the Coral Records LP on songs such as ‘Walk with Me, Lord.’ ”

Secular yet sacred

He tied his secular music to sacredness. “I was playing for the church. My grandfather was a preacher — Rev. Penniman,” Little Richard told a BBC interviewer in 1972 before his performance at London’s Wembley Stadium. “I used to play for him every Sunday morning ’cause he was taking up collections about seven times.”

He added later in the interview: “I consider my music sacred. And I consider that ‘Long Tall Sally’ is sacred.

“I don’t mean that it’s a hymn — like an anthem in church — but it’s nothing bad about it,” said Little Richard of the song. “A song of love and joy in a world of chaos and commotion and strife. We need a little joy. When I sing my songs you can’t sit still. Your big toe shoot up in your boot.”

Man of ministry

He worked as an evangelist at times. He developed the Little Richard Evangelistic Team in the 1950s and told Rolling Stone he ministered across the country.

“I served at the tent meetings, doing all the menial tasks like ushering, tightening the ropes, showing slides and collecting questions from the audience,” he said. “I shared in the ordinance of humility by washing the feet of other members before taking communion. My life changed completely.”

More recently, Little Richard appeared in a 2017 program on the Three Angels Broadcasting Network, declaring at the start, “In times like these, we need a savior.”

New York Times file photo The flamboyant rock ’n’ roller Little Richard grew up in a religious family, and he practiced and shared his faith throughout his life. Even his wilder songs, he said, offered “joy in a world of chaos and commotion and strife.”