Albert King

He was one of the ‘Four Kings of the Blues’, none of whom were actually related and a huge influence on guitar players, after he came to prominence recording for Stax Records in the sixties. Amongst those he influenced, were Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton and later, Gary Moore, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robert Cray. Albert King is left-handed and plays his guitar ‘upside down’ without restringing it so that the bass strings are at the bottom, which accounts for his unique tone.

“Albert was one of the artists I used many times for various reasons. He wasn’t just a good guitar player; he had a wonderful stage presence, he was very congenial and warm, he was relaxed on stage, and he related to the public.“ Bill Graham

Despite being one of the ‘Kings of the Blues’ and having been born in Indianola, B.B. King’s hometown, his real name was Albert Nelson, the son of an itinerant preacher. Born in 1923, he taught himself to play on a homemade guitar. In 1953, he recorded a single for the Parrott label, it failed to create much of an impression and it was not until 1959, when he signed to the Bobbin label and cut a number of sides for them (and later the King label), that he was making a full time living from music.

In 1966, King signed to Stax Records in Memphis and began recording with Booker T and The MG‘s as his backing band. They had five R&B hits together, including ‘Born Under A Bad Sign’, which would be later covered by Cream and was also the name of his debut album released in 1967. His follow-up a year later was ‘Years Gone By’, which includes an influential cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘Killing Floor’ and a stunning version of Elmore James’s ‘The Sky Is Crying’. In the same year, he played the opening night of the legendary San Francisco rock venue The Fillmore for promoter Bill Graham.

King left Stax in 1974, having recorded a string of fine albums including 1972’s I’ll Play The Blues For You, as well as having had his biggest hit, ‘That’s What The Blues Is All About’, taken from the album I Wanna Get Funky. He had the last of his 19 hits on the R&B chart in 1979, having toured throughout the decade and on into the 1980s. He died from a heart attack just before he left for a European tour in 1992.

King’s massive tone and totally unique way of squeezing bends out of a guitar string, has had a major impact. Many young white guitarists – especially rock & rollers, have been influenced by King’s playing and many players who emulate his style may never have even heard of Albert King, let alone heard his music. His style is immediately distinguishable from all other blues guitarists and he’s one of the most important blues guitarists to ever pick up the electric guitar.

Born in Indianola, MS, but raised in Forrest City, AR, Albert King (born Albert Nelson) taught himself how to play the guitar when he was a child, building his own instrument out of a cigar box. At first, he played with gospel groups – most notably the Harmony Kings, but after hearing Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lonnie Johnson and several other blues musicians, he solely played the blues. In 1950, he met MC Reeder, who owned the T-99 nightclub in Osceola, AR and King moved there shortly afterwards, joining the T-99’s house band, the In the Groove Boys. The band played several local Arkansas gigs besides the T-99, including several shows for a local radio station.

After enjoying success in the Arkansas area, King moved to Gary, IN, in 1953, where he joined a band that also featured Jimmy Reed and John Brim. Both Reed and Brim were guitarists, which forced King to play drums in the group. At this time, he adopted the name Albert King, which he assumed after B.B. King’s “Three O’Clock Blues” became a huge hit. Albert met Willie Dixon shortly after moving to Gary, and the bassist/songwriter helped the guitarist set up an audition at Parrot Records. King passed the audition and cut his first session late in 1953. Five songs were recorded during the session and only one single, “Be on Your Merry Way” / “Bad Luck Blues,” was released; the other tracks appeared on various compilations over the next four decades. Although it sold respectably, the single didn’t gather enough attention to earn him another session with Parrot. In early 1954, King returned to Osceola and re-joined the In the Groove Boys, staying in Arkansas for the next two years.

In 1956, Albert moved to St. Louis, where he initially sat in with local bands. By the fall of 1956, King was headlining several clubs in the area. King continued to play the St. Louis circuit, honing his style. During these years, he began playing his signature Gibson Flying V, which he named Lucy. By 1958, Albert was quite popular in St. Louis, which led to a contract with the fledgeling Bobbin Records in the summer of 1959. On his first Bobbin recordings, King recorded with a pianist and a small horn section, which made the music sound closer to Jump Blues than Delta or Chicago Blues. Nevertheless, his guitar was taking a centre stage and it was clear that he had developed a unique, forceful sound. King’s records for Bobbin sold well in the St. Louis area, enough so that King Records leased the “Don’t Throw Your Love on Me So Strong” single from the smaller label. When the single was released nationally late in 1961, it became a hit, reaching number 14 on the R&B charts. King Records continued to lease more material from Bobbin, including a full album, Big Blues, which was released in 1963, but nothing else approached the initial success of “Don’t Throw Your Love on Me So Strong.” Bobbin also leased material to Chess, which appeared in the late ’60s.

Albert King left Bobbin in late 1962 and recorded one session for King Records in the spring of 1963, which was much more pop-oriented than his previous work; the singles issued from the session failed to sell. Within a year, he cut four songs for the local St. Louis independent label Coun-Tree, which was run by a jazz singer named Leo Gooden. Though these singles didn’t appear in many cities – St. Louis, Chicago, and Kansas City were the only three to register sales, they foreshadowed his coming work with Stax Records. Furthermore, they were very popular within St. Louis, so much so that Gooden resented King’s success and pushed him off the label.

Following his stint at Coun-Tree, Albert King signed with Stax Records in 1966. Albert’s records for Stax would bring him stardom, both within blues and rock circles. All of his ’60s Stax sides were recorded with the label’s house band, Booker T. & the MG’s, which gave his blues a sleek, soulful sound. That soul underpinning gave King crossover appeal, as evidenced by his R&B chart hits – “Laundromat Blues” (1966) and “Cross Cut Saw” (1967) both went Top 40, while “Born Under a Bad Sign” (1967) charted in the Top 50. Furthermore, King’s style was appropriated by several rock & roll players, most notably Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, who copied Albert’s “Personal Manager” guitar solo on the Cream song, “Strange Brew.” Albert King’s first album for Stax, 1967’s Born Under a Bad Sign, was a collection of his singles for the label and became one of the most popular and influential blues albums of the late ’60s. Beginning in 1968, Albert King was playing not only to blues audiences but also to crowds of young rock & rollers. He frequently played at the Fillmore West in San Francisco and he even recorded an album, Live Wire/Blues Power, at the hall in the summer of 1968.

Early in 1969, King recorded Years Gone By, his first true studio album. Later that year, he recorded a tribute album to Elvis Presley (Blues for Elvis: Albert King Does the King’s Things) and a jam session with Steve Cropper and Pops Staples (Jammed Together), in addition to performing a concert with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. For the next few years, Albert toured America and Europe, returning to the studio in 1971, to record the Lovejoy album. In 1972, he recorded I‘ll Play the Blues for You, which featured accompaniment from the Bar-Kays, the Memphis Horns, and the Movement. The album was rooted in the blues but featured distinctively modern soul and funk overtones.

By the mid-’70s, Stax was suffering major financial problems, so King left the label for Utopia, a small subsidiary of RCA Records. Albert released two albums on Utopia, which featured some concessions to the constraints of commercial soul productions. Although he had a few hits at Utopia, his time there was essentially a transitional period, where he discovered that it was better to follow a straight blues direction and abandon contemporary soul crossovers. King’s subtle shift in style was evident on his first albums for Tomato Records, the label he signed within 1978. Albert stayed at Tomato for several years, switching to Fantasy in 1983, releasing two albums for the label.

In the mid-’80s, Albert King announced his retirement, but it was short-lived – Albert continued to regularly play concerts and festivals throughout America and Europe for the rest of the decade. King continued to perform until his sudden death in 1992, when he suffered a fatal heart attack on December 21. The loss to the blues was a major one, although many guitarists have tried, no one can replace King’s distinctive, trailblazing style. Albert King is a tough act to follow.

Format: UK English