TODAY IN ROCK AND ROLL HISTORY - 09/14/1955

Little Richard entered J&M Studios in New Orleans for a two day recording session. Things were not going well and during a break, Richard and his producer, Bumps Blackwell, went to the Dew Drop Inn. With few people there and an old upright piano, Richard started playing like crazy, singing loud, lewd and hamming it up. Blackwell was stunned… why couldn’t he record this? They went back to J&M with only fifteen minutes left in the session and “Tutti Fruiti, good booty” became “Tutti Fruiti, aw-rootie”. The song would be Richard’s break-out hit and managed to make it to #17 early the following year, but a cover by Pat Boone over shadowed Richard’s version and went to #12 on the Billboard Pop chart.