Little Richard, flamboyant rock ‘n’ roll pioneer, dead at 87

KRISTIN M. HALL AP Entertainment Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Little Richard, one of the chief architects of rock 'n' roll whose piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour irrevocably altered popular music while introducing black R&B to white America, died Saturday after battling bone cancer. He was 87. Pastor Bill Minson, a close friend of Little Richard's, told The Associated Press that Little Richard died Saturday morning. His son, Danny Jones Penniman, also confirmed his father's death, which was first reported by Rolling Stone. Bill Sobel, Little Richard's attorney for more than three decades, told the AP in an email that the musician died of bone cancer at a family home in Tullahoma, Tennessee. "He was not only an iconic and legendary musician, but he was also