King Floyd – Old School Funk

By 1970 the fledgling Malaco Records had its back to the wall financially. The partners had built a recording studio and had released a variety of singles, but they had not yet achieved any real commercial success. That was until New Orleans–based producer Wardell Quezergue brought soul singer King Floyd into the studio on May 17, 1970.

King Floyd was born in New Orleans on February 13, 1945, and was raised in nearby Kenner, Louisiana. Early childhood friends Earl King and Willie Tee were exploring music at the time, but it was singer Joseph Augustus a.k.a. Mr. Google Eyes who helped Floyd land his first paying gig at the Sho-Bar on Bourbon Street in 1961. After a stint in the army, Floyd landed in New York and worked as a vocalist and a songwriter. He next moved to Los Angeles and befriended fellow New Orleanian Harold Battiste. Floyd recorded his first single for the Original Sound label in 1965. His first LP, King Floyd: A Man in Need, was released on the Mercury Records subsidiary Pulsar in 1967.