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Little Richard, best known as Little Richard, who mixed the black church's sacred yells with the profane blues sounds to make some of the world's first and most influential rock 'n' roll songs, died in Tullahoma, Tenn, Saturday morning. He was 87. His lawyer, Bill Sobel, has said bone cancer was the cause. Little Richard never invented rock 'n' roll. By the time he released his first single, "Tutti Frutti" — a raucous song about sex, his lyrics cleaned up but its sense was hard to miss — other musicians had already found a similar vein in a New Orleans recording studio in September 1955. Chuck Berry and Fats Domino had reached the top 10 of the rock, Bo Diddley had topped the rhythm and blues charts, and for a year Elvis Presley had made hits. But Little Richard, delving deeply into the wellsprings of gospel music and the blues, pounding the piano vigorously and shouting as if for his own life, lifted the energy level to many notches and produced something not quite like any music that had been heard before — something fresh, exciting and more than a little dangerous. As Richie Unterberger the rock historian put it, “He was crucial in upping the voltage from high-powered R&B into the similar, yet different, guise of rock ’n’ roll.”

The label for which he released his greatest hits, Art Rupe of Specialty Music, named Little Richard "dynamic, completely uninhibited, unpredictable, wild." "Tutti Frutti" rocked up the charts and was soon followed by "Long Tall Sally" and other music now known as classics. His live performances were so amazing. "He would just burst out from anywhere onto the stage and you could not hear anything but the audience's roar," record producer and arranger H.B. Barnum, who played a saxophone early on in his career with Richard Penniman, recalled Charles White's authorized biography in "The Life and Times of Little Richard" (1984). "He would be on stage, he would be off stage, he would be jumping and yelling, screaming, whipping the audience on." An Immense Impact Rock 'n' roll was in its early days an unabashed macho music, but Little Richard, who had performed in drag as a teenager, posed a very different image on stage: gaudily dressed, his hair piled up six inches high, his face aglow with cinematic makeup. In later years he was fond of suggesting that if Elvis were the king of rock 'n' roll, he was the queen. He described himself as homosexual, bisexual and "omnisexual" in different ways offstage. His success as an artist was incalculable. It could be seen and heard in James Brown's flamboyant showmanship, who idolized him (and used some of his musicians when Little Richard began a long hiatus from performing in 1957), and in Prince, whose ambisexual image owed him a great debt. Presley has captured songs from him. A octave-leaping exultation, the Beatles adopted his signature sound: "Woooo! "(Paul McCartney said the first song he ever performed in public was" Long Tall Sally, "which he later recorded with the Beatles.) In his yearbook for high school, Bob Dylan wrote that his dream was to" join Little Richard. The impact of Little Richard was very social as well.

Mr. White quoted him as saying, “I’ve always thought that rock ’n’ roll brought the races together.” “Especially being from the South, where you see the barriers, having all these people who we thought hated us showing all this love.” Mr. Barnum told Mr. White that when Little Richard sang, "they still had the audience segregated" at concerts in the South in those days, but that, “most times, before the end of the night, they would all be mixed together.” If uniting black and white audiences was Little Richard's point of pride, it was a source of concern for many, particularly in the South. The North Alabama White Citizens Council released a rock 'n' roll denunciation primarily because it put "people of both races together." And with several radio stations under pressure to keep black music off the air, Pat Boone's clean-up, toned-down version of "Tutti Frutti" was a bigger success than the original Little Richard. (He even had a "Long Tall Sally" hit) Still, it seemed like nothing could hinder Little Richard's rise to the top, until he himself stopped it. He was at the height of his fame when, in late September 1957, he left the United States to begin a tour of Australia. He was tired as he told the story, under constant pressure from the Internal Revenue Service and angry at the low rate of royalties he earned from Specialty. He had signed a deal, without anybody to inform him, which gave him half a cent for every record he sold. "Tutti Frutti" sold half a million copies but only netted $25,000 for him. One night in early October, he had an epiphany in front of 40,000 fans at an outdoor Sydney arena. "Russia sent that very first Sputnik off that night," he told Mr White, referring to the first satellite that had been sent into orbit. "It looked like the huge ball of fire was going straight over the stadium about two or three hundred feet above our heads. It made my mind shake. It just made my head shake. I got up from the piano, saying, "This is it. I am through. He had one last Top 10 hit: "Good Golly Miss Molly," recorded in 1956 but not released until the beginning of 1958. At the time he had left behind a rock 'n' roll.

He was an evangelist on the run. He went into Oakwood College (now Oakwood University) to prepare for the ministry in Huntsville, Ala., a Seventh-day Adventist church. He cut his hair, married and began gospel music recording. He will be torn between pulpit gravity and stage pull for the remainder of his life. “Although I sing rock ’n’ roll, God still loves me,” he said in 2009. “I’m a rock ’n’ roll singer, but I’m still a Christian.” In 1962, he was drawn back to the stage and he performed for wild acclaim in England, Germany and France over the next two years. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones were among his opening acts, and then at the beginning of their careers. He went on to tour the United States relentlessly, with a band that included Jimi Hendrix on guitar at one time. By the late 1960s, sold-out performances in Las Vegas and triumphant appearances at Atlantic City and Toronto rock festivals were sending out a clear message: Little Richard was back to stay. ‘I Lost My Reasoning’ Alcohol and cocaine began to drain his soul by his own account ("I lost my reasoning," he would later say), and in 1977 he turned from rock 'n' roll to God once again. He became a Bible salesman, started making worship songs again and vanished from the spotlight for the second time. He is not staying away forever. His biography was released in 1984 and marked his return to the public eye, and he started performing again. By now he was as much a musician as he was a personality. He played a prominent role as a record producer in the hit movie "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" by Paul Mazursky in 1986. He appeared on television on talk shows, variety, comedy, and awards shows. He worked at celebrity weddings, and performed at funerals for celebrities. In concert he could still uplift the roof. He stole the spotlight at a rock 'n' roll revival concert in London's Wembley Arena, in December 1992. "Today, I am 60," he told the crowd, "and I still look remarkable." He proceeded to look incredible — with the aid of wigs and heavy pancake makeup as he flew intermittently into the 21st century. But in the end, age took its tool. He walked onstage with the assistance of two canes by 2007. In 2012, he suddenly ended a show at Washington's Howard Theater, telling the audience, "I cannot breathe hard." A year later, he told Rolling Stone magazine that he was retiring. "In a sense I am done," he said. "There is nothing I feel like doing right now." Survivors include a friend, Danny Jones Penniman. Full survivor information was not immediately available.

Day two in DC – I woke up and walked across the street to have breakfast. Considering everything was either shut or had closed early since the day before was Sunday (strange enough, most of things are not open on this day of the week). I was meant to meet with Casey Smith after breakfast at the Folger Shakespeare Library. 

I walked into the library and asked to meet with Casey, the man behind the counter opened up a large book and went through it looking to see if the name existed, but it did not. I was not sure as to how I was meant to identify and contact a man I had not seen, without a number to call on (moments like these I am reminded how technology has completely ruined us with utter convenience and laziness!) I walked out and quickly called Abbie, and just as I was leaving her a voice note, a man walked up the stairs of the library and looked straight at me, walked into the library and turned back around and introduced himself to me – it was Casey (what a relief, I thought to myself – I hate being late for meetings).

We went inside and sat in the corridor outside the main library room, as we talked I noticed an exhibit regarding the Library surrounded us. He told me about his association with Apexart and about his fellowship programme that he had just returned from Kampala, Uganda. We both sat and shared our experiences, if was great to hear his stories. He showed me around the library and snuck me into the globe theatre room, that had been recreated from the original and I quickly had a look around. The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill. It is known to have the largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materials from the early modern period. 

As we talked more, we walked we walked over to the Library of Congress, and took the underground tunnel to Jefferson and Madison buildings. The tunnel was such an amazing experience, to know that there were so many buildings on Capitol Hill that were connected this way. We explored the Jefferson building first, saw the main library, and the beautiful dome that cupped the room, with stained-glass windows the fell under the curve. 

Then we went over to Thomas Jefferson’s Library, it was the reconstruction of of his original library. The books had been arranged in an order that Jefferson described as ‘sometimes analytical, sometimes chronological, and sometimes a combination of both.” The books were divided into categories of “Memory”, “Reason”, and “Imagination” - which Jefferson interpreted as”History”, “Philosophy” and “Fine-Arts” - and further divided into forty-four chapters. 

There was another exhibit that we walked through, “Shall Not Be Denied”, women fight for the vote. 

Another exhibit or manuscripts and maps - I have such a weakness for old maps and manuscripts - I couldn't resist and asked Casey to stay see a few more minutes while I had a look. 

Casey, showed me around and we saw other rooms within the building and walked down long halls - it was a space I would love to get lost in and explore more. 

There was also an exhibit on “Art in Action”, Herblock and Fellow Artists Respond to Their Times. The was exhibition inspired by original drawings created for distribution in newspapers. Many of the themes were reflection’s on society’s most urgent concerns, that hope to create dialogue, along with civil rights, gender, and women’s issues, the environment, and many others. 

We were running out of time and there was so much we had rushed through and seen - that it was almost lunch time. We talked more about over lunch at this bar that was close to the museums I was meant to go see after. We shared thoughts and ideas linked to our professions and the fellowship program. I also asked him to recommend the next activity, that was to select and explore any one Smithsonian Museum, which I had about two and a half hours to do before the storytelling night at the Bus Boys and Poets. He suggested I was through the National Gallery of Arts on Constitution Avenue, begin from the East building and take the tunnel to the West and make my way out and to Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the museum of choice. 

Skeptical at first thinking I would not have enough time to check everything off my list, I went ahead and took the risk and managed my time, I am so glad I did so, the National Gallery of Arts, was such a delights with works from the old masters, and ones that were stunning to finally see hanging on the walls in front of me. 

I made my way to Hirshhorn Museum, it was all a little rushed as I was on such a tight schedule but I saw everything, I made sure I missed nothing. The Hirshhorn Museum, a Brutalist building an architectural style that appeals to me greatly - what a treat! The most exciting part about the museum was, Manifesto: Art x Agency is a group exhibition that examines the art historical impact of artist manifestos from the 20th century to present day. I quickly walked over to the sculpture park and made my way to the bus stop.

The Bus Boys and Poets was next on my list, storytelling night, and I had some time to catch happy hour - a few bites of Sushi, in ChinaTown D.C. I was not sure what I would have been expecting at storytelling night, to my surprise, they were stories told by young Israeli’s and Palestinian’s who had experienced the Israeli-Palestinian conflict first-hand. Their mission is to equip a new generation of Palestinian and Israeli leaders with the tools to become more effective agents of change through activism by changing the old story of futility, NSL fellows will hope to create a New Story of a possibility for a better Israel and Palestine. I left the venue with such warmth and inspiration, but my night was not to end here.

The next and last stop, was the late night bookstore, Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe. The bookstore opened in 1976, and was the first bookstore/café in Washington DC at the time. It was also, the only thing open at that time - D.C. sleeps too early, and does not make enough noise as you walk the streets to make your way back to your hotel - anytime post 9:00 pm, is a quite night. Oh D.C. I cannot wait for the morning to make my way back to where I seemed to have left my heart - New York City!