King Floyd
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
King Floyd III or King Floyd (born February 13, 1945 - died March 6, 2006) was a New Orleans soul singer and songwriter best known for his top ten hit from 1970 "Groove Me".
Contents |
[edit] Early career
Floyd was born in New Orleans in 1945. His musical career started as a singer at the Sho-Bar in Bourbon Street. Following a stint in the US Army, Floyd went to California where he joined up with producer Harold Baptiste. His debut album "A Man In Love" featuring songs co-written with Dr. John failed to make an impact on the charts. Floyd returned to New Orleans in 1969 and worked for the Post Office.
[edit] Recording Success
In 1970, Wardell Quezergue, an arranger of r&b scores persuaded Floyd to record "Groove Me" with Malaco Records in Jackson, Mississippi. Jean Knight recorded her song "Mr Big Stuff" in the same sessions.
At first "Groove Me" was a b-side to another Floyd song "What Our Love Needs". New Orleans DJ started playing "Groove Me" and the song became a local hit Atlantic Records picked up national distribution of "Groove Me" which topped the r&b charts and reached #6 on the pop charts. [1]. The song went gold by the end of the year and Floyd quit his job at the post office to perform a US tour. His follow-up single "Got to Have your Love" went top 10 in 1971.
However, differences with Quezerque soon emerged and his follow-up album Think About It failed to make much impact. However, Atlantic released a song from his 1971 King Floyd album "Woman Don't Go Away" in 1973. His 1975 album Well Done was released through TK Records with Atlantic distributing. "I Feel Like Dynamite" from the album became a minor hit.
[edit] Subsequent Career
None of his subsequent songs achieved the same success as disco dominated the charts for the remainder of the 1970's. However, Floyd had credits for "Boombastic" recorded in 1995 by Shaggy which became a big hit. [2] Floyd reunited with Malaco Records in 2000 for the Old Skool Funk album but it failed to make an impact.
He died on March 6, 2006 from complications of a stroke and diabetes.
