What we know is when we cross the pond – and we speak to artists in the U.K. What do you think the appeal was between early soul artists like Little Richard and European musicians? I think I would have had a much more pointed examination of how white artists who appropriated his style and music went on to have bigger careers than him and did not give props to Richard for all that they were co-opting from him.Įven in your film, Little Richard had to ask for those props later from artists like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Well, I love that Leon portrayed Little Richard in that film. If you were in the director's seat, what would you have changed about the film? Nearly 25 years before I Am Everything there was a television movie about Little Richard's life. There's no one else like him, and that's why one of the things I lean into the film is that ‘is he from another planet?’ He does so with performance and presentation that you can't forget. It's a rebellious act with music that's equally anarchic. It's 1955, and a Black man from Macon, Georgia declares himself as a king, as an innovator. What do you think makes Little Richard a standalone amongst the Black artists of his time? The residue that exists now are artists who are direct descendants of what Little Richard unleashed. It's the combination of all of this that shifted culture. It's not just the music and the great lyrics he wrote, it's not just the hair and the makeup and the fabulous suits or the performance, or bringing his queerness into the mix. it's the talk shows in the ‘80s or he's saying “shut up.” But with his erasure from his important role in rock ‘n’ roll history, I think that we as a culture lost sight of how deep his contributions were. For some people, it's “Rubber Duckie” on Sesame Street. Depending on when you encountered Little Richard, you have different memories of him. Lisa Cortés: I think it was how complex his story is. Was there anything that you discovered about him during the filmmaking process? You had an interest in Little Richard's life prior to making the documentary. The following interview was edited and condensed for clarity. We spoke to Cortés about I Am Everything, Little Richard’s impact on European audiences, the growing prominence of Black queerness in music, and more. Little Richard is more than somebody who says “I am the king ” he is a true architect and contributor to this art form.” Little Richard brings James Brown to record his actual first hit. “Jimi Hendrix is in Little Richard's band. You’re like, ‘Wow,’” Cortés tells Okayplayer. “When you see Little Richard with The Beatles, and you hear about how he influenced them and even introduced him to Billy Preston, who then goes on to be what many people call the fifth Beatle. With interviews from Billy Porter, Nona Hendryx, John Waters, and music scholar Jason King, part of Cortés’ objective for I Am Everything was to explore Richard and his contributions to the lineage of early rock ‘n’ roll. I remember the credits having stills from the show, and judging by the stills I remember, it had Little Richard singing Rubber Duckie, Aaron neville singign I Don't want To Live On The Moo, and the opera version of C is For Cookie.The film also meditates on the ascent of Little Richard from Macon, Georgia, releasing hits like “Tutti Frutti” and “Long Tall Sally,” to the artist having a history of denouncing his queerness in lieu of publicly living in his truth. I know that the credits were also different. I thought it was just made for the special), Kiko and The lavendar Moon, and the celebrity-filled version of Monster In The Mirror (though without the closing scene where grover carried a picture of The Simpsons). The skits i saw were the 1994 version of A new way To walk (and for a few months after this, I didn t realize that this was done on the show. it had the same linking footage from the video, but mostly different skits. When this was broadcast, I found out about it by lookign through a TV listing while it was being broadcast, and only saw the last few minutes of it. I think this was done for a pledge drive. Back in 1994, PBS once broadcast Sesame Street's 25th Birthday: A Musical Celebration, only with it retitled sesame Street Jam: A Musical Celebration, and with most of the sogns replaced with songs featuring celebrities.
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