LITTLE RICHARD EVANGELISTIC TEAM
Little Richard (born Richard Wayne Penniman; December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. After a “farewell performance” at the Apollo Theater and a “final” recording session with Specialty later that month, Penniman enrolled at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama, to study theology. In 1958, Penniman formed the Little Richard Evangelistic Team, traveling across the country to preach. A month after his conversion, Penniman met Ernestine Harvin, a secretary from Washington, D.C., and the couple married on July 11, 1959. Penniman ventured into gospel music, first recording for End Records, before signing with Mercury Records in 1961, where he eventually released King of the Gospel Singers, in 1962, produced by Quincy Jones. (More from Wikipedia)
During the middle of a tour in late 1957 with Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran, Little Richard had a series of visions – one of which turned out to be the launching of the first artificial satellite by the Soviet Union, Sputnik 1 – that convinced him to abandon his rock-and-roll life and go into the ministry. He shocked the world by announcing his conversion to Christianity while still a major star. He enrolled in a Bible College and formed the Little Richard Evangelistic Team in 1958.
(June 2013/1)
