Lloyd Price


Lloyd Price is not only a singer with several top ten rock-and-roll songs to his credit, but also a pianist, songwriter, record producer, club owner and talent agent.

He was born in 1933 in Louisiana, either in New Orleans or Kenner, according to different sources. His first recording, for Specialty Records, was a song that he had written as a teenager as an advertisement for a New Orleans radio station and which went to number one on the R&B charts in 1952: Lawdy Miss Clawdy. It was produced by musician/producer Dave Bartholomew and may have included Fats Domino on piano. Lawdy Miss Clawdy was later covered by Elvis Presley in 1956 and by others in the years that followed. This song and three more top ten R&B tunes helped to establish Lloyd Price as a force in the music business.

Price was in the U. S. Army from 1953 to 1956, and then returned to New Orleans to find the rhythm and blues field exploding into rock-and-roll. He started his own record company, KRC, and recorded a song called Just Because which he leased to ABC-Paramount. It went to number four on the R&B charts and top thirty on the pop charts. He then signed a contract with ABC and started making hits: Stagger Lee, a reworking of an old Southern tune known as Stagolee, was to be his biggest hit ever and went to number one in 1959. He followed it with Where Were You [On Our Wedding Day]?, Personality, I'm Gonna Get Married, and others.

In the early 60's he began recording less, and opened a club in New York called The Turntable. He also produced records with two new labels that he had started, Double L and Turntable. As time went on Price continued in the music business as a producer and has done some work as a booking agent.

Lloyd Price's early work in R&B, his position in the New Orleans music scene and his timing in the mid to late 50's combined to make him one of the strong voices in the early days of rock-and-roll.


Most Recent Update: April 20, 2000

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