Singer and early rock influence dies at 88

Singer- songwriter Lloyd Price, an early rock ‘ n roll star and enduring maverick whose hits included such up- tempo favorites as “Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” “Personality” and the semi- forbidden “Stagger Lee,” has died. He was 88.

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

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.