[2] He was born to a working-class Jewish family on September 5, 1917,[3][4] in the Pittsburgh suburb of Greensburg, Pennsylvania and grew up in nearby McKeesport.
[9] The label soon thrived with Roy Milton, Percy Mayfield, and Jimmy Liggins, along with a very successful gospel catalog.
His taste for gospel carried over into secular music and influenced his choice of artists to record, such as Guitar Slim, Don and Dewey, Lloyd Price, Larry Williams, and Little Richard.
[11] In 1952, Rupe first traveled to New Orleans because of his attraction to the gospel sound of Fats Domino who played piano in the band of Dave Bartholomew, a former trumpeter with Duke Ellington.
So Little Richard both played and sang the only song to emerge from that first session, done in just three takes, "Tutti Frutti", one of the most significant rock and roll records ever made.
[11] In addition, Specialty issued some of the wildest R&B records, such as "Cherokee Dance", by Froggy Landers;[13] "(Everytime I Hear) That Mellow Saxophone", by Roy Montrell;[14] "Drunk" by Jimmy Liggins;[15] and the rock & roll "Moose on the Loose", by Roddy Jackson.
[16] The contracts that Specialty Records gave the artists to sign left Rupe and others at the label with full ownership and publishing rights of the music.
Little Richard signed a contract with Specialty in 1955, and reportedly gave the label full ownership of all the music he recorded with them in return for 50% of the royalties earned.
[1] Success in this area allowed him to establish the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation, a philanthropy based in Santa Barbara.
Rupe's fastidious work ethic and uncanny musical intuition shaped the evolution of rock.