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"Tutti Frutti" was Little Richard's first hit record, released in 1955. With its opening cry of "Womp-bomp-a-loom-op-a-womp-bam-boom!"^[1] (supposedly intended to be a verbal parody of a drum intro) and its hard-driving sound and wild lyrics, it became not only a model for many future Little Richard songs, but also one of the models for rock and roll.

Although Little Richard Penniman had recorded for Peacock Records since 1951, his records had been relatively undistinguished and had sold poorly. In February 1955, he sent a demo tape to Specialty Records, which was heard by producer Robert 'Bumps' Blackwell. Blackwell heard some promise in the tapes. He arranged a recording session for Little Richard at Cosimo Matassa's studio in New Orleans in September 1955, with Fats Domino's backing band. The band included Lee Allen and Alvin "Red" Tyler on saxophones, Frank Fields on guitar, and Earl Palmer on drums.^[2]

However, as the session wore on, Little Richard's anarchic performance style was not being fully captured on tape. In frustration during a lunch break, he started pounding a piano and singing a ribald song which he had been performing live for some time^[3]. Although the song was essentially his own, it bears some similarities to an earlier song "Tutti Frutti", recorded by Slim and Slam in 1938.^[2] Little Richard sang : "A wop bop a loo mop, a good goddam! / Tutti frutti, loose booty / If it don’t fit, don’t force it / You can grease it, make it easy."

Blackwell thought that the song should be recorded, but with cleaned-up words. He contracted local songwriter Dorothy LaBostrie to revise the lyrics, and had Little Richard record the song in his characteristic style. LaBostrie herself claimed to have written the complete set of lyrics in fifteen minutes,^[4] but this is contested. As well as Penniman and LaBostrie, a third name — Lubin — is credited as co-writer. Some sources^[2] considered this to be a pseudonym used by Specialty label owner Art Rupe to claim royalties on some of his label's songs, but others^[5] refer to a songwriter of that name.

The song was recorded on September 14, 1955.^[2] Released on Specialty 561, the record entered the Billboard Rhythm and Blues chart at the end of November 1955, and rose to # 2 early in 1956. It also reached # 17 on the Billboard pop chart. In the UK, it only scraped into the top 30 in 1957, as the B-side of "Long Tall Sally". The song, with a 1-4-1-5 12 bar blues chord progression^[6], provided the foundation of Little Richard's career.

The song, as sung by Little Richard, is #43 in Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.^[7]

The song is #1 in Mojo Music Magazine's list of 100 records that changed the world

"Tutti Frutti" provided the title for one of the earliest books about the development of rock and roll and pop music from the 1950s, Nik Cohn's "Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom" (1969).

The song has been covered by many musicians. After Pat Boone's success with "Ain't That a Shame", his next single was "Tutti Frutti", markedly toned down from the already reworked Blackwell version. Boone's version outdid Little Richard's on the US pop charts, reaching #12.

Elvis Presley recorded the song and it was included in his first RCA album Elvis Presley March 23, 1956.

Queen regularly played it during their live shows in 1986. It is also featured during the T. Rex jam session with Elton John during the 1972 rock film Born to Boogie. It is the first song on the MC5 album, Back in the USA. The song was covered by Fair Weather in 1970.

Sting recorded the tune for the original soundtrack of the 1982 film Party Party.

This song is also featured in the 1987 movie The Brave Little Toaster.

WWE's Mean Gene Okerlund covered it, and uses it as his entrance tune.

• Lyrics to "Tutti Frutti"
• Article on Little Richard with video clips