VIA PRESS RELEASE | “Without his music, I wouldn’t be here because he’s the guy that turned me on to the whole Stax sound and the R&B sound … He’s written so many great songs!” —Bruce Springsteen
Known for the soul classics “Knock on Wood,” “634-5789,” “Raise Your Hand,” “Big Bird,” and “I’ve Never Found a Girl (To Love Me Like You Do),” among others, Eddie Floyd has been a soul legend for more than 60 years. His professional singing career began in Detroit in the 1950s, when he co-founded the Falcons, considered by many the first soul group. A solo artist and songwriter for Memphis’s famed Stax Records from 1966 until 1975, Floyd has subsequently been the singer for the Blues Brothers Band and for Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, while continuing to perform and record solo.
In Knock! Knock! Knock! On Wood, Floyd recounts how a three-year stint in an Alabama reform school shaped his young life; recalls the early years of R&B in Detroit alongside future Motown and Stax legends; discusses the songwriting sessions with Steve Cropper and Booker T. Jones that produced his biggest hits; addresses his complicated lifelong relationship with the often-unpredictable Wilson Pickett; shares his memories of friend Otis Redding; reveals his unlikely involvement in the rise of Southern rock darlings Lynyrd Skynyrd; and offers an insider perspective on the tragic downfall of Stax Records.
With input from Bruce Springsteen, Bill Wyman, Paul Young, William Bell, Steve Cropper, and others, Knock! Knock! Knock! On Wood captures Eddie’s tireless work ethic and warm personality for an engrossing first-hand account of one of the last true soul survivors.
About the Authors | Eddie Floyd is a soul singer and songwriter with nearly 20 charting singles as an artist. His songs have been covered by such diverse performers as Ella Fitzgerald, Bruce Springsteen, Otis Redding, Mavis Staples, David Bowie, Janis Joplin, Eric Clapton, The Jam, Bon Jovi, and hundreds more. An inductee of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, Eddie Floyd lives in Montgomery, Ala.
Tony Fletcher is the author of In the Midnight Hour: The Life & Soul of Wilson Pickett and All Hopped Up and Ready to Go: Music From the Streets of New York, 1927-77. Among his other books are biographies on R.E.M., Keith Moon, and The Smiths. This is his first co-write. Raised in London, U.K., he has resided for the last three decades in New York state.
The 302-page, 6″ x 9″ hardback and ebook, containing 30 historical photographs, will be published by BMG Books on August 11, 2020.
