Lloyd Price passes away at 88

Singer-songwriter Lloyd Price, whose hits included like 'Lawdy Miss Clawdy', 'Personality' and 'Stagger Lee', breathed his last at 88.

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

Lloyd Price, who 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, Price fashioned a deep and 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.

Price's nickname was 'Mr Personality' as it was 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 as he ran his record label even before 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 'sumdumhonkey' and writing on his 'Facebook' page during the 2020 'Black Lives Matter' protests that behind his 'affable exterior' was 'a man who is seething'.

Featuring Domino's trademark piano trills, 'Lawdy Miss Clawdy' hit as number one on the R&B charts in 1952, sold more than one million copies and became a rock standard, covered by Elvis Presley and Little Richard.