“Groove Me” by King Floyd

New Orleans soul singer and songwriter King Floyd landed his biggest hit with the shimmering bop “Groove Me” in September 1970. This sweet, heartfelt track resonated with a wide audience, becoming a huge crossover smash. It's masterfully arranged and performed, featuring an irresistible bass line, a funky beat, tight guitar licks, and marvelous horn charts. Floyd packs his fantastic vocal performance with heaps of soul and deep passion. The song's romantic sentiments are strongly conveyed through his expressive voice. 

“Groove Me” was written by Floyd and produced by Wardell Quezergue, a producer, composer, arranger, and bandleader. It was recorded at independent label Malaco Records’ Jackson, Mississippi recording studios during the same session as another Quezergue-produced song, Jean Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff.” Floyd recorded “Groove Me” in just one take. He explained how the song came about to Grammy-winning author and musicologist Rob Bowman in an excerpt from the book The Last Soul Company: The Malaco Records Story. He told Bowman that the song was inspired by a young female college student who worked less than 20 feet away from him when he was employed at a box factory in East Los Angeles sometime in the late 1960s.

She’d just watch me and smile at me all day. When I went to the water fountain, she would make it her purpose to come up to the water fountain. But I was so shy. So, I decided one day that I was gonna write this poem and give it to her, and I wrote ‘Groove Me.’ Believe it or not, after I finished it, she never came back to work. It blew me away. So, I never gave her the poem. Man, I’d sure like to meet her one day just to thank her!

“Groove Me” was originally released as the B-side of Floyd’s song “What Our Love Needs” on Chimneyville Records, a subsidiary of Malaco Records. New Orleans deejay George Vinnette immediately recognized that “Groove Me” possessed a special quality and played it instead. It quickly blew up locally and caught the attention of Atlantic Records who distributed it nationally. The song spent four non-consecutive weeks atop Billboard’s R&B singles chart and peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. And it reached #11 on the charts in Canada. It has sold over a million copies and was certified Gold by the RIAA. The song was included on Floyd’s self-titled second album, released in 1971 on Cotillion Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records. 

The musicians who played on “Groove Me” included Vernie Robbins (bass), James Stroud (drums), Jerry Puckett (guitar), Bob Chessman (trumpet), Wardell Quezergue (organ), and Jimmy Honeycutt (saxophone). 

“Groove Me” has been sampled on 45 songs, including LL Cool J’s “A Little Somethin’,” Kool Moe Dee’s “All Night Long,” Heavy D & the Boyz’s “Silky,” and Bobby Brown’s “Slick Partner.” And it has been featured on the film soundtracks, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (2023), Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead (2015), Something Borrowed (2011), We Are Marshall (2006), Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights - Hollywood to the Heartland (2006), Baadasssss! (2003), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), The Original Kings of Comedy (2000), Manchala (1999), The Sex Monster (1999), Swingers (1996), Beautiful Girls (1996), and The Best of the Blues Brothers (1993). Additionally, it has been played on several television series, including The Man Who Fell to Earth (season 1, episode 5, 2022), American Soul (season 1, episode 6, 2019), Scandal (season 3, episode 16, 2014), and The Simpsons (season 9, episode 12, 1998).

The song has been covered by well-known music artists such as Etta James, Angie Stone, and the Blues Brothers.

In addition to “Groove Me,” Floyd scored two other big R&B hits, “Baby Let Me Kiss You” (#5 on the U.S. R&B charts and #29 on the U.S. pop charts) and “Woman Don’t Go Astray” (#3 on the U.S. R&B charts and #53 on the U.S. pop charts). 

King Floyd was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on February 13, 1945, and passed away on March 6, 2006, at age 61. He is remembered as a premier soul singer and songwriter and one of the many great talents to come out of NOLA. 

King Floyd performing "Groove Me" on a TV show in 1970

"Groove Me" is available at Amazon

P-Funk Co-Founder and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Billy Bass Nelson Dies at 75

William "Billy Bass" Nelson Jr., founding member and original bassist for Parliament-Funkadelic, died on January 31. He was 75. The talented musician was known for his gritty, highly funky bass-playing style. He played bass on Funkadelic's first three albums: Funkadelic (1970), Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow (1970), and Maggot Brain (1971). These seminal LPs helped define Funkadelic’s dynamic acid-funk sound. Nelson also played bass on Parliament’s groundbreaking first album Osium, released in July 1970. And he played guitar on Parliament’s second album Up for the Down Stroke (1974). In addition to his formidable abilities on the bass and guitar, he was a skilled songwriter. He cowrote the classic Funkadelic tracks “Super Stupid,” “Hit It and Quit It,” “I Call My Baby Pussycat,” “Music For My Mother,” and “You And Your Folks, Me And My Folks.” Additionally, Nelson coined the name “Funkadelic,” aptly describing the band’s electrifying sonic stew of psychedelic rock, funk, blues, and soul. 

“Billy Bass Nelson was funk before funk had a name,” wrote Bootsy Collins in a social media post. “Respect forever.” In his 2014 memoir, George Clinton wrote: “Billy set the standard for everything that followed. His Funkadelic work is still among my all-time favourite stuff. He had the Motown flavor with an aggressive rock attitude.” Shortly after Nelson’s death, Clinton wrote, “Rest in eternal peace and Funk” on his Facebook page. “He doesn’t always get mentioned first,” said music historian Marcus Johnson. “But without Billy Bass Nelson, the P-Funk sound doesn’t exist.”

The musician was born on January 28, 1951, in Plainfield, New Jersey. As a teen, he worked sweeping floors and cleaning up at the Silk Palace, a Plainfield barbershop owned and operated by George Clinton. At the time, Clinton was a member of the doo-wop vocal group the Parliaments, which consisted of Clarence “Fuzzy” Haskins, Grady Thomas, Raymond Davis, and Calvin Simon. The group scored a big hit with their 1967 single, “(I Wanna) Testify.” It peaked at #3 on Billboard’s R&B singles chart and #20 on the Billboard Hot 100. This significantly increased the Parliaments’ popularity, resulting in them booking many more gigs. Nelson suggested that the group hire a backing rhythm section so they would no longer have to rely on house bands while touring. Clinton was receptive to this idea and recruited Nelson to be part of the then-unnamed backing band. Nelson initially played guitar for the band. He recommended his good friend Eddie Hazel, who was a gifted young guitarist. Hazel was quickly brought on board, with Nelson switching to bass.

Motown bass legend James Jamerson provided bass-playing tips and encouragement to Nelson, who had never played the bass before joining the Parliaments’ backing band. He took to the bass like a duck to water. He was a natural. The band eventually recruited drummer Ramon "Tiki" Fulwood, rhythm guitarist Lucius “Tawl” Ross, and keyboardist Mike Atkins (later replaced by Bernie Worrell). They backed the Parliaments at all their shows and played on their studio recordings, including the minor hit “Good Old Music." The band members' chemistry steadily grew, and they soon became a tight, badass groove unit. Their sound gradually evolved from soul and doo-wop to powerful guitar-driven acid funk. In 1967, Nelson came up with the band’s name, “Funkadelic,” a merging of “funk” and “psychedelic.” The name stuck as it perfectly described the band’s sound and what they were about. However, it didn’t officially become the band’s name until the following year.

In 1968, the Parliaments and their backing band Funkadelic relocated to Detroit and signed with Westbound Records that same year. Contractural issues with the group’s previous label, Revilot Records, caused Clinton to temporarily lose the rights to the name “The Parliaments.” This necessitated that the entire ensemble–singing group and band–sign to Westbound Records under the name Funkadelic. The band released its self-titled debut album on the label in 1970. Nelson played on this album and Funkadelic’s next two LPs before leaving the band in late 1971 following a financial dispute with Clinton.

In the subsequent years, Nelson recorded or performed with prominent music acts such as the Commodores, Chairmen of the Board, Smokey Robinson, Fishbone, Wilson Pickett, Jermaine Jackson, and Lenny Williams. One of his most notable gigs was playing alongside his former Funkadelic bandmate Eddie Hazel on the Temptations' 1975 R&B chart-topping single, “Shakey Ground,” which Hazel also co-wrote. The two musicians raised the funk level to the stratosphere on this wicked cut. Nelson also played bass on the Temptations’ track “Happy For You,” which also topped Billboard’s R&B singles chart. It was the lead single from the Temps’ 1975 album A Song For You, the same album that features “Shakey Ground.”

Nelson also played on solo albums by various P-Funk members, including Bernie Worrell and Ruth Copeland, among others. He briefly rejoined Funkadelic in the studio to play on “Better By The Pound,” a track from the band’s seventh studio album, Let’s Take It To The Stage, released in 1975. And he played on the Funk Mob’s eighth studio album, Tales of Kidd Funkadelic (1976).

In 1993, Nelson released his first and only solo album, Out of the Dark, under the name O.G. Funk. The collection was co-produced by Nelson and Bill Laswell. Its personnel included P-Funk veterans Bernie Worrell, Jerome "Bigfoot" Brailey, and Gary “Mudbone” Cooper. Nelson rejoined the P-Funk crew permanently in 1994, touring and recording with them. However, they no longer went by Parliament-Funkadelic when Nelson returned to the fold. They had rebranded themselves as George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars in 1981. Legal and financial issues led to the dissolution of Parliament-Funkadelic, hence the new name.

Nelson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside 15 other P-Funk members in 1997. The musician has had a significant impact on funk music and bass playing. He has influenced legions of bassists in the genres of soul, funk, rock, R&B, alternative, and hip-hop. Acclaimed bassists such as Norwood Fisher (Fishbone) and Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers) cite Nelson as a major influence and inspiration, and he’s a venerated figure among P-Funk devotees.