5 December 1932 – 9 May 2020The P-Funk star recalls the rock’n’roll trailblazer – and the friend who inspired him to always stay true to himselfPaulette Wilson remembered by Patrick VernonRead the Observer’s obituaries of 2020 in fullOh man, Little Richard for me growing up was everything. I first saw him on The Ed Sullivan Show, wearing this cape made out of small mirrors and a pompadour haircut. I was like, woah! He was a powerhouse of a musician, his vocals were so over the top and he was a heck of an entertainer – he put those three things together and just let it all out. Talk about self-expression. And to be black and [openly] gay at that time, something that was beyond taboo. I mean, if he’d come along today, he’d have so much to fight against. But even then, he didn’t let nothing back. He just spilled his guts!
The idea of being gay was never, ever discussed in the black world at that time. It had to happen on such a low-key level – believe me, the idea of being found out was really scary. But Little Richard didn’t care and what I picked up from him early on, a black, gay man, was the freedom he took for himself. No one gave him that right. He just took it. He did just what he needed to do to be who he wanted to be.