Return to secular music[edit]
I heard so much about the audience reaction, I thought there must be some exaggeration. But it was all true. He drove the whole house into a complete frenzy ... I couldn't believe the power of Little Richard onstage. He was amazing.
Mick Jagger[71]
In 1962, concert promoter Don Arden persuaded Little Richard to tour Europe after telling him his records were still selling well there. Arden booked him as the headline artist, with Sam Cooke second on the bill.[72] Little Richard performed gospel material at the first show and received a tepid response (Cooke did not open that show, as he was delayed in arriving). After Cooke opened the second show, with vigorous applause from the crowd, Little Richard and his organist Billy Preston warmed up in darkness before launching into "Long Tall Sally", resulting in hysterical responses. Little Richard's shows received similar responses wherever he performed, including a show at Mansfield's Granada Theatre, which closed early after fans rushed the stage.[73] Wanting to capitalize on these headline-grabbing performances, Brian Epstein, the manager of the Beatles, asked Little Richard and Arden to allow his newly recorded band to open for Little Richard on some tour dates, to which they agreed. The first show for which the Beatles opened was at New Brighton's Tower Ballroom that October.[74] The following month, they opened for Little Richard at the Star Club in Hamburg.[75] During this time, Little Richard advised the group on how to perform his songs and taught Paul McCartney his distinctive vocalizations.[75] Back in the U.S., Little Richard recorded six rock and roll songs with the Upsetters for Little Star Records, under the name "World Famous Upsetters", allowing him to keep his options open in the ministry.
Little Richard returned to the UK the following fall, with the Rolling Stones as openers.[76] At the end of that tour, he starred in his own special, The Little Richard Spectacular, for Granada Television. The special became a ratings success and was rebroadcast twice, after over 60,000 fan letters had been received. Footage of the special was shown around the world, highlighting the frenzy associated with rock and roll.[77] In 1964, Little Richard returned briefly to Specialty and recorded five songs, including the charted single, "Bama Lama Bama Loo", which reached the top 20 in the UK but only number 82 in the US.[78] Later that year, he signed with Vee-Jay Records and issued the album Little Richard Is Back. The album failed to catch on domestically, despite a televised performance of the single "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" on Shindig! that drew wild responses from audience members. By September 1964, Jimi Hendrix, known to Richard as Maurice James, had joined the Upsetters band, as a full member.[79][80] In December, Jimi and some '50s band members joined Richard in New York for a session of remakes. The most successful collaboration between Little Richard and Hendrix came in the following year, also in New York, when Hendrix, Billy Preston, and Little Richard recorded the soul ballad "I Don't Know What You've Got (But It's Got Me)", which became a number 12 R&B hit.[81][nb 1] Little Richard and Hendrix clashed over tardiness, wardrobe and Hendrix's stage antics, and as a result, in July 1965, Little Richard's brother Robert fired Hendrix.[83] That same year, Little Richard attempted to set up his own record label but only cut two unreleased tracks. Instead he signed with Modern Records, which resulted in a very agreeable string of rock and soul singles but yielded just one chart-maker, "Do You Feel It?". He left that label in early 1966 for Okeh Records. Okeh paired Little Richard musically with his friend from the mid-1950s, Larry Williams, who produced two albums for him in 1966 and 1967; the first being a studio album, The Explosive Little Richard, which generated the modest hit singles "Poor Dog" and "Commandments of Love", and the second, Little Richard's Greatest Hits: Recorded Live!, which returned him to the pop album charts for the first time in ten years and also hit number 28 on the Hot R&B LPs chart.[84][85][86] Williams also acted as the music director for Little Richard's live performances at the Okeh Club in Los Angeles amid the Okeh period, during which time the demand for Little Richard's appearances increased greatly.[87] Leaving Okeh in late 1967, Little Richard briefly recorded with Brunswick but left shortly after his final session.