Singer-songwriter Lloyd Price, an early rock B次元官网网址檔 roll star and enduring maverick whose hits included such up-tempo favourites as B次元官网网址淟awdy Miss Clawdy,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淧ersonalityB次元官网网址� and the semi-forbidden B次元官网网址淪tagger Lee,B次元官网网址� has died. He was 88.

Price died Monday at a long-term care facility in New Rochelle, New York, of complications from diabetes, his wife, Jacqueline Price, told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Lloyd Price, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, was among the last survivors of a post-World War II scene in New Orleans that anticipated the shifts in popular music and culture leading to the rise of rock in the mid-1950s. Along with Fats Domino and David Bartholomew among others, Price fashioned a deep, exuberant sound around the brass and swing of New Orleans jazz and blues that placed high on R&B charts and eventually crossed over to white audiences.

B次元官网网址淰ery important part of Rock history. He was BEFORE Little Richard!B次元官网网址� rock singer and E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt said Saturday on Twitter. B次元官网网址淟awdy Miss Clawdy of 1952 has a legit claim as the first Rock hitB次元官网网址�. Righteous cat. Enormous talent.B次元官网网址�

PriceB次元官网网址檚 nickname was B次元官网网址淢r. Personality,B次元官网网址� fitting for a performer with a warm smile and a tenor voice to match. But he was far more than an engaging entertainer. He was unusually independent for his time, running his own record label even before such stars as Frank Sinatra did the same, holding on to his publishing rights, and serving as his own agent and manager. He would often speak of the racial injustices he endured, calling his memoir B次元官网网址渟umdumhonkeyB次元官网网址� and writing on his Facebook page during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests that behind his B次元官网网址渁ffable exteriorB次元官网网址� was B次元官网网址渁 man who is seething.B次元官网网址�

Born in Kenner, Louisiana, one of 11 siblings, Price had been singing in church and playing piano since childhood. He was in his late teens when a local DJB次元官网网址檚 favourite catchphrase, B次元官网网址淟awdy Miss Clawdy,B次元官网网址� helped inspire him to write his boundary-breaking first hit, which he worked on in his motherB次元官网网址檚 fried fish restaurant.

Featuring DominoB次元官网网址檚 trademark piano trills, B次元官网网址淟awdy Miss ClawdyB次元官网网址� hit No. 1 on the R&B charts in 1952, sold more than 1 million copies and became a rock standard, covered by Elvis Presley and Little Richard among others. But Price would have mixed feelings about the songB次元官网网址檚 broad appeal, later remembering how local officials in the Jim Crow South resisted letting both blacks and whites attend his shows.

Price was drafted and spent the mid-1950s in military service in Korea. He began a career restart with the 1957 ballad B次元官网网址淛ust Because,B次元官网网址� and hit the top with the brassy, pop-oriented B次元官网网址淪tagger Lee,B次元官网网址� one of the catchiest, most celebratory songs ever recorded about a barroom murder.

Written by Price, B次元官网网址淪tagger LeeB次元官网网址� was based on a 19th century fight between two Black men B次元官网网址� Lee Shelton, sometimes known as Stag Lee, and Billy Lyons B次元官网网址� that ended with Shelton shooting and killing his rival. Their ever-changing legend was appearing in songs by the 1920s, and has inspired artists ranging from Woody Guthrie and Duke Ellington to Bob Dylan and the Clash.

PriceB次元官网网址檚 version opened with a few spoken words that had the understated tension of a crime novel: B次元官网网址淭he night was clear, the moon was yellow, and the leaves came tumbling B次元官网网址� down.B次元官网网址� The band jumps in and Price shouts out the story of Stagger Lee and Billy fighting over a game of dice, concluding with a bullet from Stagger LeeB次元官网网址檚 44 passing through Billy and breaking the bartenderB次元官网网址檚 glass. B次元官网网址淕o Stagger Lee!B次元官网网址� a chorus chants throughout.

The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart early in 1959, but not everyone was entertained. B次元官网网址淎merican BandstandB次元官网网址� host Dick Clark worried the song was too violent for his teen-centred show and pressed Price to revise it: For B次元官网网址淏andstandB次元官网网址� watchers and some future listeners, Stagger Lee and Billy peacefully resolve their dispute.

B次元官网网址淚 had to go make up some lyrics about Stagger Lee and Billy being in some kind of squabble about a girl,B次元官网网址� Price told Billboard in 2013. B次元官网网址淚t didnB次元官网网址檛 make any sense at all. It was ridiculous.B次元官网网址�

Price followed with the top 10 hits B次元官网网址淧ersonalityB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 Going To Get MarriedB次元官网网址� and the top 20 songs B次元官网网址淟ady LuckB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淨uestion.B次元官网网址� He fared no better than many of his contemporaries once the Beatles arrived in the U.S. in 1964, but he found his way into other professions through a wide range of friends and acquittances. He lived for a time in the same Philadelphia apartment complex as Wilt Chamberlain and Joe Frazier and, along with boxing promoter Don King, helped stage the 1973 B次元官网网址淭hrilla in ManilaB次元官网网址� between Frazier and Muhammad Ali and the 1974 B次元官网网址淩umble in the JungleB次元官网网址� championship fight between Ali and George Foreman. He was also a home builder, a booking agent, an excellent bowler and the creator of a line of food products.

His career in music continued, sporadically. He and his business partner Harold Logan started a label in the early 1960s, Double L Records, that gave an early break to Wilson Pickett, and they also ran a New York nightclub. But after Logan was murdered, in 1969, Price became so disheartened he eventually moved to Nigeria and didnB次元官网网址檛 return until the 1980s. He would become a favourite on oldies tours, performing with Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis among others.

He settled in New York with his wife, but was not forgotten back home. A street in Kenner was renamed Lloyd Price Avenue and for years Kenner has celebrated an annual Lloyd Price Day.

Price would credit clean living and steady focus for his endurance.

B次元官网网址淚 never drank, smoked, used drugs or had bad habits,B次元官网网址� he told interviewer Larry Katz in 1998. B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檇 drive a taxi cab to get me the food I need to live. I never was starstruck. I had 23 hit records and I never looked for the next record to hit. I never had that need that they had to be somebody. I just wanted to be.B次元官网网址�

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