NEW YORK (AP) — 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.

Lloyd 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.

“Lawdy Miss Clawdy of 1952 has a legit claim as the first Rock hit....

He was in his late teens when a local DJ’s favorite catchphrase, “Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” helped inspire him to write his boundary-breaking first hit, which he worked on in his mother’s fried fish restaurant.

Featuring Domino’s trademark piano trills, “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” hit No.

Written by Price, “Stagger Lee” was based on a 19th century fight between two Black men — Lee Shelton, sometimes known as Stag Lee, and Billy Lyons — that ended with Shelton shooting and killing his rival.

down.” The band jumps in and Price shouts out the story of Stagger Lee and Billy fighting over a game of dice, concluding with a bullet from Stagger Lee’s 44 passing through Billy and breaking the bartender’s glass.

“American Bandstand” host Dick Clark worried the song was too violent for his teen-centered show and pressed Price to revise it: For “Bandstand” watchers and some future listeners, Stagger Lee and Billy peacefully resolve their dispute.

“I had to go make up some lyrics about Stagger Lee and Billy being in some kind of squabble about a girl,” Price told Billboard in 2013.

A street in Kenner was renamed Lloyd Price Avenue and for years Kenner has celebrated an annual Lloyd Price Day.