Lloyd Price

Lloyd Price stood among the era’s most forceful rhythm-and-blues vocalists during the 1950s. He launched his recording career with raw New Orleans-inflected sides for Specialty Records that climbed the R&B charts, notably “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” in 1952 and “Tell Me Pretty Baby” in 1953. By the close of the decade he had moved to ABC-Paramount, where richer arrangements and smoother production allowed him to cross successfully onto the pop lists with “Stagger Lee” in 1958 and “Personality” in 1959. Across both phases his confident, swaggering delivery consistently rose above the surrounding musicians.

Born in Kenner, Louisiana, on March 9, 1933, Price first performed at his mother’s Fish ’n’ Fry restaurant, dancing for change whenever patrons played the jukebox. Church singing revealed his vocal ability, and the late-1949 success of Fats Domino’s “The Fat Man” convinced him to pursue a comparable sound. He and his brother Leo Price formed a band that found steady work at a Kenner nightclub. One night producer Dave Bartholomew attended, then persuaded Art Rupe to offer the group a contract with Specialty Records. At the session for the newly written “Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” Price was surprised to find Domino himself on piano. Released in 1952, the single reached number one on the R&B chart and remained there seven weeks. The next four Specialty releases—“Oooh-Oooh-Oooh,” “Restless Heart,” “Ain’t It a Shame,” and “Tell Me Pretty Baby”—all entered the R&B Top Ten. Drafted into the Army in 1954, Price left behind a catalog that Specialty continued to issue without further hits.

After completing his service, he discovered that the label’s attention had shifted to Little Richard and to Larry Williams, who had once driven for him. Price bought back his contract, enlisted promoter Harold Logan, and started KRC Records. His 1956 single “Just Because” broke regionally, prompting ABC-Paramount to license it nationally and later sign him outright. The label’s superior promotion and glossier sound propelled “Stagger Lee” to the top of both the pop and R&B charts in 1958. In 1959 he scored two further successes: “Personality” peaked at number two pop while “I’m Gonna Get Married” reached number three pop; both topped the R&B survey. “I’m Gonna Get Married” proved to be his final pop Top Ten entry, yet he kept placing records on the R&B chart. When his ABC-Paramount deal ended in 1963, he and Logan opened Double L Records. The label’s first hit was Price’s reading of “Misty,” which climbed to number 21 pop and number 11 R&B. Double L also introduced Wilson Pickett’s initial solo single, 1963’s “If You Need Me.”

In the late 1960s Price opened Lloyd Price’s Turntable nightclub in New York City and started a companion label that issued recordings by himself, Howard Tate, and the Coasters. After Logan’s murder in 1969, Price left the music industry. He later assisted longtime associate Don King with the 1974 heavyweight title bout in Zaire between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, remembered as “The Rumble in the Jungle,” and performed on the accompanying concert bill. The pair also formed LPG Records, whose 1976 single “What Did You Do with My Love” became Price’s last R&B chart entry, reaching number 99.

He again stepped away from performing to concentrate on business matters until 1993, when he joined a European and United Kingdom tour with Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Gary “U.S.” Bonds. The enthusiastic response prompted him to resume live work at a measured pace for the remainder of his career. In 2010 he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The following year he published his memoir, The True King of the Fifties: The Lloyd Price Story, and in 2015 he released the essay collection Sumdumhonky. Lloyd Price died on May 3, 2021, at an extended-care facility in New Rochelle, New York; he was 88.