Happy 50th: Eddie Floyd, KNOCK ON WOOD

50 years ago today, Eddie Floyd released his debut full-length album, the title track of which remains one of the all-time great R&B singles of the 1960s.

Recorded at Stax Studios during the back half of 1966, KNOCK ON WOOD was produced by Steve Cropper and Isaac Hayes, a couple of guys with some serious history in the R&B business. Then again, by the time his album was released, Floyd was not without his own street cred: he’d been a founding member of the Detroit-based group The Falcons, whose later lineup featured Wilson Pickett, and as a songwriter for Stax, he penned such notable numbers as “Comfort Me,” made into a hit by Carla Thomas, and Pickett’s singles “Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won’t Do)” and “634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.).”

The title track of KNOCK ON WOOD was originally penned with an eye toward giving it to Otis Redding to record, but Jerry Wexler swayed Stax president Jim Stewart to issue Floyd’s own version, and the result was a huge hit, hitting #1 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart. In addition, “Raise Your Hand” was a minor hit on the Hot 100, but it was a top-20 R&B hit.

If you haven’t followed Floyd’s career over the years, it may surprise you to learn that not only is he still with us, but he’s continued to release music regularly in recent years, with his latest effort being 2013’s DOWN BY THE SEA. And, yes, in case you’re wondering, he’s still got the goods.