Sevendust frontman Lajon Witherspoon recently guested on Australia's Everblack podcast, and during the chat he revealed that he once spoke with music icon Little Richard over the phone purely by chance.

Witherspoon: "I always say that true legends never die, and his energy will always be around us. But I did talk to him, and it was great. You just know when you talk to a superstar, and the energy. It was something that I'll never forget my entire life. He was a changer of everything; with his lifestyle, the timing in the industry, in the world, that he was going through and the things that he had to deal with, being who he was. Everything was incredible. He surpassed it and didn't regress and let anyone regress him into anything that held him back from achieving the goals that he had to do."

Little Richard, a founding father of rock and roll whose fervent shrieks, flamboyant garb, and joyful, gender-bending persona embodied the spirit and sound of that new art form, died Saturday, May 9. He was 87. The musician’s son, Danny Penniman, confirmed the pioneer’s death to Rolling Stone, but said the cause of death was unknown. 

Speaking with Metal Hammer, Sevendust frontman Lajon Witherspoon revealed the 10 albums that chanfed his life. Following is an excerpt from the list.

Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced

Witherspoon: "I wish I could have been a part of, the whole psychedelic era. I was too young to see it but Hendrix sums that entire period up for me. You could say that he doesn’t have the best voice, but his playing and the vocals together just made me want to explore the art of playing and singing, and he really made me want to be in a band. And people need to recognise the rhythm section, one of my all-time favourites, that groove, right in the pocket. You just had to move, the beat was incredible."

Prince – Purple Rain

Witherspoon: "And then you have this guy comes along, who is like Jimi, but with his own little weird superstar ways of awesomeness as well. From the first album I was hooked, but then when Purple Rain comes along and he’s a movie star as well, it blew my mind! And that’s really him as well, that’s no character, I so wanted to be him. If I didn’t already want to be Jimi, I damn sure wanted to be Prince, I just couldn’t get away with those suits! Everything that he touched was inspired, the bad side was great, the nasty side, 'When Doves Cry', 'Raspberry Beret'… damn! It was all so good!"

Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath

Witherspoon: "To me this is something I remember hearing as a kid and being freaked out. I never just used to listen to soul in my house, it was country, R&B, rock’n’roll, it was everything, all kinds of music. When I would go to my grandparents house, they would be rocking out and that’s where Sabbath came in. The tones, the guitar, the voice, it all grabbed me when I was a kid. We  got the chance to do the Ozzfest and to go out on an Australian tour with Ozzy and that was an amazing experience – to be out on the road with the singer from Black Sabbath. Who would have imagined me sitting on a plane and going to all these different shows with Ozzy?! What an experience, man."

Check out the complete rundown here.