If LITTLE RICHARD's career had started with "a womp" and ended with "bam boom"—that is, if it had been 2 seconds long—it still would have been one of the watershed careers in 20th century music. The ecstatic shout of a gay black man in the 1950s South realizing, embracing and releasing the entirety of himself in 10 shouted nonsense syllables that gave everyone who heard it, gay, straight, black, white, southern, northern, boy, girl, whatever, wherever, permission to jump up, shout it out loud and follow their own womp-bomp-a-loo-bop arrow. No one invented rock and roll, it happened on a long continuum, but that was one of the moments that sort of did. And Richard Penniman may well have invented the rock star. Brash, cocky, wild, loud, omnisexual, sacred, profane, dangerous, mysterious, unpredictable, beautifully coiffed, effortlessly dressed. No Little Richard, No Jimi, No Beatles No Bowie, No Bolan. NO GLAM, No Freddie, No Prince, No Elton, No Preston No Sly, No Stevie. Richard, who recorded an extraordinary string of hits in an extraordinarily short time and then spent his remaining decades joining the church, quitting the church, embracing his sexuality, fighting his sexuality and recording tons of music that deserved a better reception than it got, would be the first to tell you he was underappreciated. Then he would add, with a laugh the size of the moon, "SHUT UP!" This unscripted routine at the 1988 Grammy Awards in which he complains "y'all ain't never gave me no Grammy" and proceeds to name himself Best New Artist three times over a hilariously interminable 60 seconds before finally giving the award to JODY WATLEY, is one a thousand definitive Little Richard TV moments. But he'd also be the first to shower praise on everyone who followed him. The BEATLES and ROLLING STONES opened for him. JIMI HENDRIX played in his band. He helped JAMES BROWN get his first record deal. He was BOB DYLAN's "shining star" who "moved me to do everything I would do." Do all these people owe him something?, talk show host DICK CAVETT once asked him. "I don't want anything from them," Richard said. "All I want them to do is to spread what they got from me. God gave it to me, and they got it from me, so just carry the good word." And they did. And none of them ever topped "TUTTI FRUTTI." RIP... Jesus, this weekend, this year. You'll find several stories below about the pioneering record executive ANDRE HARRELL, who had a lot to do with shaping the sound, and the global reach, of modern R&B and hip-hop (I mean, maybe stop everything and read that 1993 VANITY FAIR profile right now), and the soul singer BETTY WRIGHT (stop everything again and listen to this), who "quietly conjured a second act as a confidante, muse, and teacher to some of the world’s best-known hip-hop artists"... RIP also ETSUO NAGURA and LUKE GLEESON.