Albert King
B.B. King's brother. That's how Albert King used to introduce himself early in his career.
Albert Nelson, his real name, was born in Indianola, Mississippi on April 25, 1923. Albert and his 12 siblings were abandoned by their father, a Protestant pastor, in 1928.
Years later he moved to a cotton plantation in Arkansas, where he built rustic guitars and began a long and revolutionary journey through the blues.
Incorporate King
Albert bought his first real guitar in 1939, and his first influence was the great T-Bone Walker. He worked all day and tried to frequent roadside clubs and brothels at night, but his young age was an obstacle.
Albert was left-handed and, like other famous guitarists, forgot to reverse the order of the strings when learning to play his guitar, a classic Gibson Flying V which he named Lucy.
His first performances were with the Harmony Kings Gospel Quartet, but he first appeared professionally with Yancey's Band, where he played rhythm guitar. At age 25, in Osceola, he formed his first band, In The Groove Boys, when he adopted the surname King.
Later, in 1951, like most musicians of the time, he went to Chicago to try his luck, and there he began as Jimmy Reed's drummer. His first recording took place in 1953, in which five tracks were recorded, two of which, "Bad Luck Blues" and "Be On Your Merry Way," were included on the first single released by the Parrot label, which was a failure. He then returned to Osceola and his old band. He worked during the day and played at night.
Musical Ascendancy
In the late 1950s, Albert moved to St. Louis and then recorded his first LP, The Big Blues, for the Bobbin label, an album that included the hit Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong, in 1964.
He spent years in obscurity until joining the Stax label in Memphis, where Otis Redding, Rufus Thomas, and Booker T. & M.G.'s had also worked.This gave rise to powerful songs that became hits, such as Landromat Blues, Crosscut Saw, and Oh, Pretty Woman, performances of which featured Booker T, Bar-Kays, and Mar-Kays' bands as backing musicians.
His name was solidified with the classic album Born Under A Bad Sign, followed by Live Wire / Power Blues, a 1968 show at the Fillmore in San Francisco, considered by some critics to be King's masterpiece.
The following year, he flirted with rock, recording King Does The King's Thing, a reworking of nine songs previously released by Elvis Presley.
Also in '69, King returned to the blues, adding touches of funk and soul with Years Go By. The trend of bringing in elements of funk and soul continued in subsequent LPs such as Lovejoy (1971), I'll Play The Blues For You and I Wanna Get Funky, both from 1972, the latter featuring Isaac Hayes.
Legal problems hampered Albert's continued involvement with Stax, and in 1976, he signed with Utopia Records, debuting with Albert, a work full of commercial concessions and excessively elaborate arrangements.
In the following two years, King Albert and New Orleans Heat, produced by Allan Toussaint and influenced by disco music, were released.
Throughout the 1970s, he maintained magnificent live performances at the most important festivals in the world, such as Montreux in Switzerland, where he recorded the live album in 1989.
At the same time, he faced problems with record labels, which tried to impose a commercial style, leading him to produce smaller albums.
In 1983, he returned with San Francisco 83 and I'm In A Phone Booth, Baby from 1984, a song written by Robert Cray.
She retired in the second half of the 1980s, remaining in Brooklyn, Illinois, and only performing sporadically or in collaborations, such as the one she did in 1990 with Albert Collins on Garry Moore's album Still Got The Blues, in which she performed Pretty Woman.
In 1991, he recorded "Red House" with Joe Walsh, Bruce Gary, and Jim Dickson, a tribute to Jimi Hendrix.
Albert King and his guitar Lucy were silenced by a heart attack on December 21, 1992, in Memphis, preventing him from finishing a project he was preparing: accumulating material with experimental elements.
King's powerful baritone voice and guitar phrasing have been an influence for generations, ranging from Hendrix and Taj Mahal to Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Johnny Winter, and Al Krooper.
ALBERT KING - FUTPEDIAMUSIC SELECTION
Albert King
Futpediamusic Selection
12 Songs To Download
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