LarryWilliams

Lawrence Eugene Williams was born in New Orleans on May 10, 1935, and grew up learning piano in the city before his family relocated to Oakland, California. He returned to New Orleans in 1954 to work as a valet for his cousin Lloyd Price, and through Price he was introduced to Specialty Records producer Robert Blackwell. When Little Richard abruptly abandoned rock and roll for the ministry in 1957, Williams was quickly groomed to fill the void — same raw shouting vocals, same piano-driven intensity.

His first post-Richard single, "Short Fat Fannie," went to number one on the R&B chart and number five pop. "Bony Moronie" followed, reaching number fourteen pop. Both sold over a million copies. The string of songs he wrote and recorded for Specialty in the next two years — "Slow Down," "Dizzy, Miss Lizzy," "Bad Boy," "She Said Yeah" — would prove to have a remarkable second life.

John Lennon was an avowed admirer; the Beatles recorded "Bad Boy," "Slow Down," and "Dizzy, Miss Lizzy"; the Rolling Stones covered "She Said Yeah"; and Lennon recorded "Bony Moronie" multiple times as a solo artist. Few New Orleans musicians have had such an outsized influence on British rock and roll. Williams' life after Specialty was troubled — a narcotics conviction cost him years — but he made a mid-1960s comeback with a funky soul band that included Johnny "Guitar" Watson.

He was found dead on January 7, 1980. His influence, carried in the grooves of those extraordinary Specialty singles, endures in everything that came after them.