{"id":807280,"date":"2020-05-09T15:09:17","date_gmt":"2020-05-09T21:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=996906"},"modified":"2020-05-09T15:09:17","modified_gmt":"2020-05-09T21:09:17","slug":"dion-dimucci-on-his-friend-little-richard-he-had-a-lot-of-sides-to-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/dion-dimucci-on-his-friend-little-richard-he-had-a-lot-of-sides-to-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Dion DiMucci on His Friend Little Richard: \u2018He Had a Lot of Sides to Him\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dion<\/a> DiMucci was a teenager from the Bronx, New York, when he broke through in 1958 with \u201cI Wonder Why<\/a>.\u201d He went on to score dozens of Top 40 hits in the late 1950s and early Sixties, on his own and with his group Dion and the Belmonts, including \u201cTeenager in Love<\/a>,\u201d \u201cRunaround Sue<\/a>,\u201d \u201cThe Wanderer<\/a>,\u201d and \u201cRuby Baby<\/a>.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

For DiMucci, the best part of that success was getting the chance to play on the same stages as his heroes \u2014 especially Little Richard<\/a>, who died today at age 87. \u201cYou never forget the first time you hear \u2018Rip It Up\u2019 or \u2018Long Tall Sally\u2019 \u2013 come on! It\u2019s crazy good,\u201d says DiMucci, who\u2019s still making music<\/a> today (he just announced a new album<\/a>). Here, one of the last living Fifties rock & roll stars, alongside Don Everly and Jerry Lee Lewis, reflects on getting to know his musical hero. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The first time I heard Little Richard, it changed my life. It went through me like a bazooka. I got to play with him a lot at the Brooklyn Fox [in the late 1950s and early Sixties<\/em>], and we got together a lot over the years. He was a funny guy. If you look at his stage or television persona, you would think he was outrageously self-centered, or kind of crazy. But for me, he was a very thoughtful, considerate guy. I would walk in, and he was always very focused on me,<\/em> wanting to know about me: \u201cHow you doing? How\u2019s this? How\u2019s that?\u201d \u2014 nothing about himself. He could be the other guy, too, like most of us. But he had a very thoughtful, kind of serene side to him.<\/p>\n

Before I put out my first record, \u201cI Wonder Why,\u201d those guys [Little Richard and Chuck Berry<\/em>] were on the jukebox. I would wear the records out, literally. I\u2019d put my head up against the jukebox and keep dropping change in. And who would guess that in a very short period of time, I would be on the same stage with them? At the Brooklyn Fox, there\u2019d be Richard, Chuck, Bo Diddley. Bo would be cooking chicken in the dressing room \u2013 he had a rotisserie thing going. Those guys were great.<\/p>\n

My favorite Little Richard story, one that\u2019s stayed with me for so long: I was working at the Brooklyn Fox, and I was walking past Richard\u2019s dressing room, and this woman on the couch right near the door said, \u201cBoy, young fella, are you that boy that sings \u2018Ruby Baby?\u2019\u201d I said, \u201cYes, ma\u2019am.\u201d She said, \u201cYou\u2019ve got soul.\u201d And it was Little Richard\u2019s mother, Leva Mae. I always told him, \u201cRichard, if you told me that, I woulda forgot it. But your mom<\/em> told me that.\u201d That\u2019s like hearing from heaven above!<\/p>\n