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Little Richard: I Am Everything assets

Source: Magnolia Pictures / Magnolia Pictures

The official trailer for the upcoming Little Richard documentary was released on Wednesday.

Produced by Bungalow Media + Entertainment for CNN Films and HBO Max, in association with Rolling Stone Films, director Lisa Cortés’ Sundance opening night documentary LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING tells the story of the Black queer origins of rock n’ roll, exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music to reveal the innovator – the originator – Richard Penniman.

Through a wealth of archive and performance that brings us into Richard’s complicated inner world, the film unspools the icon’s life story with all its switchbacks and contradictions. In interviews with family, musicians, and cutting-edge Black and queer scholars, the film reveals how Richard created an art form for ultimate self-expression, yet what he gave to the world he was never able to give to himself. Throughout his life, Richard careened like a shiny cracked pinball between God, sex and rock n’ roll. The world tried to put him in a box, but Richard was an omni being who contained multitudes – he was unabashedly everything.

Little Richard: I Am Everything assets

Source: Magnolia Pictures / Magnolia Pictures

Directed by Lisa Cortés, LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING is produced by Robert Friedman, Cortés, Liz Yale Marsh and Caryn Capotosto. Dee Rees, Mike Powers, Anita May Rosentstein, Gus Wenner, Jason Fine, Amy Entelis and Courtney Sexton served as executive producers. The documentary features Mick Jagger, Billy Porter, John Waters, Tom Jones and more.

Magnolia Pictures will release LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING for special one-night-only theatrical screenings on April 11, followed by additional theaters and a digital release on April 21. You can check out the trailer below!

Little Richard died in 2020 at the age of 87.

The native of Macon, Georgia, had a legendary career that spanned multiple decades. It began in 1951 when he won a talent contest in Atlanta and as a result, he got a recording contract with MCA. Four years later he recorded “Tutti Frutti,” a song that was controversially sung on live TV by Elvis Presley, who stands accused of “Columbusing” Little Richard.

He later quit rock n’ roll and devoted his life to God and in the process released three gospel albums in the year 1960 alone. Little Richard would later go on and tour the world with iconic bands and performers such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Bo Didley.

While many people credit Little Richard with being the sole founder of rock n’ roll, the New York Times said that is not true. “Other musicians had already been mining a similar vein by the time he recorded his first hit, “Tutti Frutti” — a raucous song about sex, its lyrics cleaned up but its meaning hard to miss — in a New Orleans recording studio in September 1955. Chuck Berry and Fats Domino had reached the pop Top 10, Bo Diddley had topped the rhythm-and-blues charts, and Elvis Presley had been making records for a year,” the Times wrote.

Little Richard was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame as well as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the latter in a class with Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and James Brown in 1986. He’s also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and performed at Bill Clinton’s inauguration. He officially retired from the music industry in 2013, but his contributions to the arts will outlast everybody reading this.

SEE ALSO:

WATCH: Little Richard Suggests He Is No Longer Gay

Chaka Khan Doesn’t Need To Be On Any List To Validate Her Career

Remembering Little Richard’s Legendary Life With Rare Photos Of The Rock ‘N Roll Pioneer
Little Richard Performing
14 photos

‘I Am Everything’: New Little Richard Documentary Trailer Is Released  was originally published on globalgrind.com