Rock 'n' roll offered me a platform to speak what I felt. It also offered me a platform to support my mama and my brothers and sisters - twelve children.

I thank God for Elvis Presley. I thank the Lord for sending Elvis to open the door so I could walk down the road.

And I don't get down on nobody else for doing whatever else they do. To each his own.

Now they have banging guitar and no bass and call it rock, but that's not what I call rock.

I was directed and commanded by another power. The power of darkness. The power that you've heard so much about. The power that a lot of people don't believe exists. The power of the Devil. Satan.

I'm a conductor of revivals. The only minister in the whole package. Little Richard, the evangelist.

I would wear flamboyant clothes and long hair, and most singers at the time didn't.