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-Pioneering rock 'n' roll singer Little Richard has died at the age of 87, the musician's family has confirmed.
Little Richard's hits included Good Golly Miss Molly, which made the UK charts in 1958. The Beatles, Elton John and Elvis all cited him an influence.
The singer, born in Georgia as Richard Wayne Penniman, was among the first group inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
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If there had been no Little Richard, a key part of DNA would have been missing from acts like The Beatles, Bob Dylan, David Bowie and Jimi Hendrix - all of whom idolised him.
With the likes of Chuck Berry and Elvis, he was one of the handful of US acts who concocted the primordial soup of blues, R&B and gospel that led to the evolution of rock 'n' roll in the 60s.
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His father was a preacher who also ran a nightclub, and his mother was a devout Baptist.
"I was born in the slums. My daddy sold whiskey, bootleg whiskey," he told Rolling Stone in 1970.
The singer left home in his teens after disagreements with his father - who initially didn't support his music.
"My daddy wanted seven boys, and I had spoiled it, because I was gay," the showman later said.
Though openly homosexual for many years, Richard also had relationships with women. He married Ernestine Harvin, a fellow Evangelical, and later adopted a son.
His commitment to depravity extended to drugs, boozing and sex parties - to which he would take his Bible.
Richard's complex attitude to his sexuality meant he was never embraced as a gay icon. Later in life he became a born-again Christian and renounced homosexuality, framing it as a temporary choice he had made.
The Rolling Stones, who opened shows for him, spoke reverently of his on-stage prowess. "Little Richard drove the whole house into a complete frenzy," Mick Jagger once said. "There is no single phrase to describe his hold on the audience."
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"I've always thought that rock 'n' roll brought the races together," [Richard] once told an interviewer. "Although I was black, the fans didn't care. I used to feel good about that."
Great interview with him on You Tube: Little Richard, "Real man won't wear no dress. God does not accept that."
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