Lloyd Price, early rock legend behind 'Stagger Lee,' dead at 88

Lloyd Price, best known as the early rock 'n roll icon behind hits like “Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” “Personality” and the semi-forbidden “Stagger Lee,” is dead at age 88.

Price was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. He is 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 and 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. "Very important part of Rock history. He was BEFORE Little Richard!" rock singer and E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt said Saturday on Twitter. "Lawdy Miss Clawdy of 1952 has a legit claim as the first Rock hit.... Righteous cat. Enormous talent."