He'd been called "The White James Brown." While he wasn't all that famous outside Miami, he and his band did have numerous TV appearances in the mid '60s, notably on the American Scene Magazine incarnation of The Jackie Gleason Show. He later became a minister.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/obituaries/article186039993.html
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/obituaries/article186039993.html