Little Richard (born 1932) inspired a generation of rockers with his frenzied rhythms and wildly energetic and outlandish stage persona.

Little Richard is a rock and roll pioneer in every sense of the word. Rock's first certified zany, he brought outlandish clothes and hairstyles to the national stage for the first time, astonishing 1950s audiences with his brazen sexual campiness. Mere stage appeal does not account for Richard's wide cross-racial appeal, however. As Arnold Shaw noted in The Rockin' '50s, the artist "sang with an intensity and frenzy and commitment that marked the outer limits of rock 'n' roll.... He was excitement in motion, a whirling dervish at the keyboard, showmanship royale in eye-dazzling costumes topped by a high, slick pompadour of hair."

From the scat-singing prologue of "Tutti-Frutti" to his favorite expression, "Ooh, my soul!," Richard brought a new level of intensity--an unlikely pastiche of gospel and...