Paul McCartney credits much of his love of music to Little Richard. The American singer’s eccentric vocals extended to the U.K., inspiring a young McCartney to become a rock star. Richard knows McCartney learned a lot from him, so he felt snubbed by the former Beatle at a vital career moment.
Paul McCartney didn’t mention Little Richard when he received a Lifetime Achievement Award
Paul McCartney has won many awards, including Grammys, American Music Awards, an Oscar, and an Emmy. He has also been awarded several prestigious honors, such as the Kennedy Center Honors and a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame spot. In 1990, McCartney was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Grammys, a ceremony that Little Richard attended.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Richard recalled feeling snubbed at that moment because he’s never been given one, and here’s McCartney being honored for a career that owed a lot to the “Tutti Frutti” singer.
“They won’t even give me a Lifetime Achievement Award, and look at Paul McCartney,” Richard said. “I was the first famous person he ever met, the first famous person he ever traveled with. They give him a Lifetime Achievement Award, and they won’t give me one. They won’t even mention me!”
Richard was also frustrated that McCartney didn’t mention him, despite Richard being in his eyesight during his speech.
“I just don’t understand some things sometimes,” he stated. “I was sitting there in front of him, and he didn’t say nothing. It makes you feel like crying, you know?”
Little Richard has always felt overlooked by the music industry
Paul McCartney’s snub of Little Richard was just one example of how the music industry often overlooked him. Little Richard was a star in the 1950s and is considered the “Architect of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” His energetic piano playing and signature screaming vocals laid the foundation for rock music and influenced other artists like The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Elton John, and Queen.
While he did have hits like “Tutti Frutti” and “Long Tall Sally”, he felt disregarded in favor of other white rock artists like Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis. In the new documentary Little Richard: King & Queen of Rock n Roll, Richard’s friend Bobby Rush said it “tore Richard” that he was often overlooked by his peers for white artists.
“In the back room, when we was alone, he had tears in his eyes,” Rush said. “You could see the hurt. I understood him so much. Not just as a man, as a blues singer, as a black man. They stole his music. And when they crowned people as the king of rock and roll, and it wasn’t him – that tore Richard.”
Richard believed Elvis wouldn’t have been as successful if he was black
Elvis Presley was a global sensation and became known as the king of rock and roll. However, Presley often popularized songs initially performed by black artists. For example, one of his earliest hits, “Hound Dog”, is a cover of a song by Big Mama Thornton. Richard told Rolling Stone that Elvis might not have been as successful if he had been black.
“I think that Elvis was more acceptable being white back in that period,” Richard said. “I believe that if Elvis had been black, he wouldn’t have been as big as he was. If I was white, do you know how huge I’d be? If I was white, I’d be able to sit on top of the White House! A lot of things they would do for Elvis and Pat Boone, they wouldn’t do for me.”
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