Albert King Note
by Donna Greene
Title
Albert King Note
Artist
Donna Greene
Medium
Photograph - Digital Photography
Description
Albert King (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992) was an American blues guitarist and singer, and a major influence in the world of blues guitar playing. On December 11, 2012, it was announced that King would be posthumously inducted into the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
One of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with B.B. King and Freddie King), Albert King stood 6 ft 4 in (some reports say 6 ft 7 in) and weighed 250 pounds and was known as "The Velvet Bulldozer". He was born Albert King Nelson, on a cotton plantation in Indianola, Mississippi. During his childhood he would sing at a family gospel group at a church where his father played the guitar. One of 13 children, King grew up picking cotton on plantations near Forrest City, Arkansas, where the family moved when he was eight.
He began his professional work as a musician with a group called In The Groove Boys in Osceola, Arkansas. Moving north to Gary, Indiana and later St. Louis, Missouri, he briefly played drums for Jimmy Reed's band and on several early Reed recordings. Influenced by blues musicians Blind Lemon Jefferson and Lonnie Johnson, the electric guitar became his signature instrument, his preference being the Gibson Flying V which he named "Lucy". King earned his nickname "The Velvet Bulldozer" during this period as he drove one of them and also worked as a mechanic to make a living.
Albert King was born in 1923 in Indianola, Mississippi. He first discovered music by singing in the church choir and listening to his father play guitar. Because he was left handed, Albert would flip guitars upside down so the low E string was on the bottom. This led to his custom-made, left-handed guitar with reversed strings. Albert King recorded his first album in Chicago 1953, but his first hit didn’t come until 1959 with “I’m A Lonely Man” which was co- written with Little Milton. In 1966, Albert King signed with the Stax record label where he recorded many sides such as “Crosscut Saw.”
Uploaded
May 27th, 2013
Statistics
Viewed 1,536 Times - Last Visitor from Bullhead City, AZ on 04/11/2024 at 9:57 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet