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Albert King (1923-1992)Albert Nelson, born in Indianola, Mississippi, growing up in Arkansas, was by the age 16 playing guitar and listening to blues from various artists like Howlin' Wolf (listen) and Elmore James (listen) through radio station KFFA in nearby Helena. He formed his first band in Osceola called "In The Groove Boys" and were considered as yokels. In the 1950s he moved form Mississippi to Chicago and played drums for Jimmy Reed (listen) for a while, cutting a solitary record only to continue to St. Louis where he cut the R&B hit in 1961 for King "Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong" and became a local favourite.
He then scuffled around one-arm joints for a while until Stax, a Memphis record company decided to take a chance with him. Stax produced hits for Otis Redding (listen), Sam & Dave (listen) and Rufus Thomas (listen), and backed by Booker T. & The M.G.'s rhythm section, they simplified Albert's blues, and consequently he had his first hit single for Stax in 1966 "Laundromat Blues". This new simplified stile still left enough room for King's signature guitar playing style, which was rather unique since he played left-handed on a right handed guitar without reversing the order of the strings and consequently bended the strings in a distinctive signature fashion.
King worked with Booker T. & The M.G.s (listen) and the Memphis Horns (listen), the Memphis label's house band over the next couple of years, and produced tough blues and funky instrumentals like "Oh Pretty Woman", "Crosscut Saw" (listen) and "Cold Feet", and the stunning "Born Under A Bad Sign" (listen). And together with King's album "Live Wire/Blues Power" (listen) 1968, he had a wide influence on musicians as Jimi Hendrix (listen), Eric Clapton (listen), and Ribbie Robertson (listen), and later Gary Moore (listen) and Stevie Ray Vaughan (listen) and he reconnected with the black audience as well as reached the young white audience. Consequently at the grand opening of San Francisco's Fillmore West, he shared a bill with Jimi Hendrix (listen) and John Mayall (listen).
In the seventies Albert King recorded albums like "Albert" (listen), "Truckload Of Lovin'" (listen) and "The Pinch", among others. These recordings put him into the soft soul music genre or funk like so may others. He kept playing that low down dirty blues live through the whole time and remained a great concert performer. A decade later, King went back to the low down dirty blues on the album "San Francisco '83" (listen) and sounded like he used to do on records. When King was in his mid-sixties he began to drop hints about retirement, not unreasonably, given that he had health problems and he died from a heart attack as 69. Importent Recordings:•I'll
Play The Blues For You Here is a taste of Albert King:
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