My City November 2022

MYMUSIC

Richard Wayne Penniman, is none other than the late, great Little Richard. Song lived in her family but it also lived in her heart as a child. “I remember when I first fell in love with music,” she says. “I’m not sure how old I was when I heard ‘Gotta Find Me an Angel’ by Aretha Franklin. It was so beautiful. I asked my mother what it was and from then on, all I wanted to do was listen to that song.” It’s the song that got it all started but one she has never performed. “Maybe someday,” she says with a sigh. Pennyman-Hemphill never had any “formal” vocal training but growing up with her family, she got every thing she needed. “We had big, family dinner rehearsals at the house for The Mighty Bank Sisters,” she remem bers. “The whole family was involved.”While attending Beecher High School, she was always in a new musical group, singing different songs with different partners such as Ronnie Moss, who now tours with The Spinners. “One of the teachers there, Mr. Moss, put together the Beecher

Black Arts Festival every year and I would always perform with my classmates,” she explains. “Someday, I would like to get the festival started again.” After graduating in 1974, Pennyman-Hemphill took a job with General Motors working at Fisher Body.That was where she met songwrit er, manager and future husband, Lenny Hemphill. “He was working there for about six months before I started,” she says. “He was a songwriter and we bonded around the music. When Lenny finally told me how he felt about me, I told him I wasn’t sure I was ready. He told me that he could wait for me – that’s love.”The two have been together ever since. As for inspiration, Pennyman-Hemphill names Are tha Franklin as one of her greatest influences, as well as Chaka Khan, Tina Turner, Billie Holiday, Etta James and many others. On stage, she sings selections from R&B, theater, gospel and of course, jazz. “There was a time when I only sang gospel songs,” she laughs, “but soon enough,

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