50) Here's Little Richard

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"I came from a family where my people didn't like rhythm and blues," Little Richard told Rolling Stone in 1970. "Bing Crosby, 'Pennies From Heaven,' Ella Fitzgerald was all I heard. And I knew there was something that could be louder than that, but I didn't know where to find it. And I found it was me." Richard's raucous debut collected singles such as "Good Golly, Miss Molly," in which his boogie-woogie piano and falsetto scream ignited the unfettered possibilities of rock & roll. "Tutti Frutti" still has the most inspired rock lyric on record: "A wop bop alu bop, a wop bam boom!"

Total album sales: Under 500,000

Peak chart position: 13

Next: Simon and Garfunkel

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