Albert King (né Nelson; April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992) was an American guitarist and singer, who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists ever. He is perhaps best known for his popular and influential album Born Under a Bad Sign (1967) and its title track. B. B. King, Freddie King, and he, all unrelated, were known as the "Three Kings of the Blues". The left-handed Albert King was known for his "deep, dramatic sound that was widely imitated by both blues and rock guitarists".
He was once nicknamed the "Velvet Bulldozer" because of his smooth singing and large size; he stood taller than average, with sources reporting 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) or 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m), and weighed 250 lb (110 kg), and also because he drove a bulldozer in one of his day jobs early in his career.
King was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1983. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. In 2023, he was ranked number 22 on Rolling Stone's 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
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Early life
Albert King was born on a cotton plantation in Indianola, Mississippi. During childhood, he sang at a church with a family gospel group, in which his father played the guitar. One of 13 children, he grew up picking cotton on plantations near Forrest City, Arkansas, where the family moved when he was eight years old.
King's identity was a longtime source of confusion. He stated in interviews that he was born in Indianola on April 25, 1923 (or 1924), and was a half-brother of B.B. King (whose hometown was Indianola), but documentation suggests otherwise. He stated that whenever he performed at Club Ebony in Indianola, the event was celebrated as a homecoming, and he cited the fact that B.B.'s father was named Albert King. When he applied for a Social Security card in 1942, though, he gave his birthplace as "Aboden" (most likely Aberdeen, Mississippi) and signed his name as Albert Nelson, listing his father as Will Nelson. Musicians also knew him as Albert Nelson in the 1940s and early 1950s.
He started using the name Albert King in 1953 as an attempt to be associated with B.B. King; he was billed as "B.B. King's brother". He also used the same nickname as B.B. King, "Blues Boy", and he named his guitar "Lucy" (B.B. King's guitar was named "Lucille"). B.B. King later said: "He called his guitar 'Lucy', and for a while he went around saying he was my brother. That bothered me until I got to know him and realized he was right; he wasn't my brother in blood, but he sure was my brother in the blues."
According to King, his father left the family when Albert was five, and when he was eight, he moved with his mother, Mary Blevins, and two sisters to an area near Forrest City, Arkansas. He said his family had also lived in Arcola, Mississippi, for a time. He made his first guitar out of a cigar box, a piece of a bush, and a strand of broom wire. He later bought a real guitar for $1.25. As a left-hander learning guitar on his own, he turned his guitar upside down. He picked cotton, drove a bulldozer, worked in construction, and held other jobs until he was able to support himself as a musician.
Career
King began his professional work as a musician with a group called the Groove Boys in Osceola, Arkansas. During this time, he was exposed to the work of many Delta blues artists, including Elmore James and Robert Nighthawk.
In 1953, he moved north to Gary, Indiana, where he briefly played drums in Jimmy Reed's band and on several of Reed's early recordings. In Gary, he recorded his first single ("Bad Luck Blues" backed with "Be On Your Merry Way"), for Parrot Records. The record sold a few copies, but made no significant impact, and Parrot did not request any follow-up records or sign King to a long-term contract. In 1954, he returned to Osceola and rejoined the Groove Boys for two years.
In 1956, he moved to Brooklyn, Illinois, just across the river from St. Louis, and formed a new band. He became a popular attraction around the St. Louis nightclub scene, alongside Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm and Chuck Berry. He signed to Little Milton's Bobbin label in 1959, releasing a few singles, but none of them charted. He did catch the attention of King Records, however, which released the single "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong" in November 1961. The recording featured musician Ike Turner on piano and became King's first hit; peaking at number 14 on the Billboard rhythm and blues (R&B) chart. The song was included on his first album The Big Blues in 1962. King left Bobbin in late 1962 and recorded one session for King Records. In 1963, he signed with jazz artist Leo Gooden's Coun-Tree label and cut two records for them, but these failed to chart.
With no apparent career prospects other than touring the club circuit in the South and Midwest, King moved to Memphis, where he signed with the Stax Records label. Produced by Al Jackson Jr., King with Booker T. & the MGs recorded dozens of influential sides, such as "Crosscut Saw" and "As the Years Go Passing By". In 1967, Stax released the album Born Under a Bad Sign, a collection of the singles King recorded at Stax. The title track of that album (written by Booker T. Jones and William Bell) became King's best-known song and has been covered by several artists (including Cream, Paul Rodgers, and Jimi Hendrix). The production of the songs was sparse and clean and maintained a traditional blues sound, while also sounding fresh and thoroughly contemporary. The key to King's success at Stax was giving his songs an upbeat, slick R&B feel that made the songs more appealing and radio-friendly than the slow, traditional blues sound.
Death
King died of a heart attack on December 21, 1992, in his Memphis home. His final concert had been in Los Angeles two days earlier. He was given a funeral procession with the Memphis Horns playing "When the Saints Go Marching In" and was buried in Paradise Gardens Cemetery in Edmondson, Arkansas, near his childhood home. King was not married at the time of his death.
Artistry
In the liner notes of I'll Play the Blues for You, Tom Wheeler of Guitar Player wrote: "Albert King is the Muhammad Ali of blues guitar – a heavyweight with finesse, a bruiser with grace. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." King's style is characterized by his use of dynamics. On King's vocals, Wheeler assessed, "Albert's husky voice is a most sensitive blues instrument – sometimes powerful, sometimes gentle, often both. It's an intimate voice, full of experience and humor, and it's just as personal and identifiable as his guitar work." King was a left-handed player, but played right-handed guitars "upside down," which shaped his sound.
King's first instrument was a diddley bow. Next, he built himself a cigar box guitar, and eventually he bought a Guild acoustic guitar. The instrument he is usually associated with is a 1958 Gibson Flying V. In 1974, he began using a Flying V built by Dan Erlewine, and after 1980, he also played one built by Bradley Prokopow. After 1987, Albert played a custom Archtop Flying V, built by Tom Holmes upon commission from Billy Gibbons, it was given to King for his 65th birthday. Around 2017, this guitar was sold by Gruhn Guitars to an unknown collector.
King was left-handed, but usually played right-handed guitars flipped upside-down. He used a dropped open tuning, possibly more than one, as reports vary: (C#-G#-B-E-G#-C#) or open E-minor (C-B-E-G-B-E) or open F (C-F-C-F-A-D). Steve Cropper (who played rhythm guitar on many of King's Stax sessions), told Guitar Player that King tuned his guitar to C-B-E-F#-B-E (low to high). The luthier Dan Erlewine said King tuned to C-F-C-F-A-D with light-gauge strings (0.050", 0.038", 0.028", 0.024" wound, 0.012", 0.009"). The lighter-gauge strings, and lower string tension of the dropped tuning, were factors in King's string-bending technique.
For amplification, King used a solid-state Acoustic amplifier, with a speaker cabinet containing two 15-inch speakers and a horn ("which may or may not have been operative"). From the 1980s onwards, King was also known to use a Roland JC-120. Later in his career, he also used an MXR Phase 90.
Legacy and influence
King influenced numerous guitarists, including Jimi Hendrix, Mick Taylor, Derek Trucks, Duane Allman, Eric Clapton, Warren Haynes, Mike Bloomfield, and Joe Walsh (the James Gang guitarist spoke at King's funeral). He also influenced his contemporaries Albert Collins and Otis Rush. He was often cited by Stevie Ray Vaughan as having been his greatest influence. Eric Clapton has said that his work on the 1967 Cream hit "Strange Brew" and throughout the album Disraeli Gears was inspired by King.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote: "Along with B. B. and Freddie King, Albert King is one of the major influences on blues and rock guitar players, and without him, modern guitar music would not sound as it does -- his style has influenced blues players from Otis Rush and Robert Cray to Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan. [...] King's massive tone and unique way of squeezing bends out of a guitar string enormously impacted followers, especially in rock & roll, where many players who emulate his style may never have heard of Albert King, let alone heard his music. His style is immediately distinguishable from all other blues guitarists, and he holds the status of one of the most important blues guitarists to ever pick up the electric guitar."
Over the course of his career, King was nominated for two Grammy awards. In 1983, he was nominated for Best Traditional Blues album for San Francisco '83 and the next year he was also nominated for I'm In A Phone Booth, Baby.
In 1983, King was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. He received a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame in 1993. In 2011, King was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in his hometown Indianola. He was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2013.
King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. At the induction ceremony, Gary Clark Jr. performed King's "Oh, Pretty Woman" and was then joined by John Mayer and Booker T. Jones to perform King's "Born Under a Bad Sign".
Discography
Studio albums
The Big Blues, also known as Travelin' to California (1963)
Born Under a Bad Sign (1967)
Years Gone By (1969)
Blues for Elvis – King Does the King's Things (1970)
Lovejoy (1971)
I'll Play the Blues for You (1972)
I Wanna Get Funky (1974)
Albert (1976)
Truckload of Lovin' (1976)
King Albert (1977)
The Pinch, also known as The Blues Don't Change (1977)
New Orleans Heat (1978)
San Francisco '83, also known as Crosscut Saw: Albert King in San Francisco (1983)
I'm in a Phone Booth, Baby (1984)
The Lost Session (1971, released 1986)
Red House (1991)
Videography
Maintenance Shop Blues (VHS), PBS (1981)
Godfather of the Blues: His Last European Tour 1992 (DVD), P-Vine Records (2001)
Live in Sweden, Image Entertainment (2004)
In Session... Albert King with Stevie Ray Vaughan, Stax/Concord Music Group (2010)