R.I.P.

‘Groove Me’ Singer King Floyd III Dies
NEW ORLEANS – King Floyd III, the soul singer and songwriter best known for his 1970 hit “Groove Me,” died March 6 of complications from a stroke and diabetes, his record label said. He was 61.
As a young man, Floyd sometimes sang with the house band at the Sho-Bar on Bourbon Street. After serving in the Army, he tried to launch a career as an entertainer. On the West Coast, Floyd met Harold Battiste, a fellow New Orleans expatriate who was an established producer and band leader.
Battiste produced Floyd’s debut album, “A Man in Love,” which featured songs written with Mac “Dr. John” Rebennack. The album did not fare well, and in 1969 Floyd returned to New Orleans and took a job with the post office to support his family.
A year later, Wardell Quezergue, an arranger of R&B scores, brought Floyd to the Jackson, Miss., office of Malaco Records where he recorded a song he had written, “Groove Me,” during the same session that Jean Knight recorded her classic “Mr. Big Stuff.”
Atlantic Records picked up the song and promoted it nationally. It reached No. 1 on the R&B chart and No. 6 on the pop chart.