{"id":631,"date":"2012-06-27T13:42:01","date_gmt":"2012-06-27T12:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/?p=631"},"modified":"2012-06-27T13:42:01","modified_gmt":"2012-06-27T12:42:01","slug":"albert-king-the-weight-of-the-velvet-bulldozers-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/?p=631","title":{"rendered":"Albert King \u2013 The Weight of the Velvet Bulldozer\u2019s Influence"},"content":{"rendered":"

He\u2019s one of the \u201cThree Kings of the Blues Guitar\u201d \u2013 not as well-known as B.B., but slightly more so than Freddie.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>As one of several Mississippi-born musicians who moved north to make a name in the blues scene, Albert King is still one of the most influential of them all.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Up to now, it\u2019s virtually impossible to copy his unorthodox string bending technique or the subsequent tone.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Albert King played a right-handed guitar upside down with his left hand, a style that would eventually be used by Jimi Hendrix.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Here\u2019s a deeper look at the life and times of this \u201cother\u201d King of the Blues.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Albert Nelson was born on April 25, 1923 in Indianola, Mississippi and grew up to be an extremely large man.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Standing at least 6\u20194\u201d and weighing at least 230 pounds, he was nicknamed the \u201cVelvet Bulldozer\u201d not just because of his size, but more because of his early occupation as a construction worker.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Albert would adopt the surname King early on in his career as he would often bill himself as B.B. King\u2019s \u201chalf-brother\u201d, despite the fact they are of no relation to each other.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Coincidentally, Albert King named his signature Flying V \u201cLucy\u201d, a name quite similar to \u201cLucille,\u201d the Gibson guitar favored by B.B. King.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After brief periods living in St. Louis, Missouri and Gary, Indiana, King moved to Chicago in 1953 and began his recording career in earnest.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Eight years later, now based again in St. Louis, he had his first big hit on the R&B charts, \u201cDon\u2019t Throw Your Love on Me So Strong\u201d, a song that peaked at #14.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>This would all serve as a portent of things to come, as King would achieve his greatest success with the pride of Memphis, Tennessee, Stax Records.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As a Stax recording artist, King teamed up with the label\u2019s house band, Booker T. and the MGs, recording the classic album <\/span>Born Under a Bad Sign<\/span><\/em> in 1967.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It is described as the album that had saved the blues, exposing King to a white, rock-oriented audience and spawning many classic singles, including the frequently-covered title track.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>King would also perform at the Fillmore East and West, Bill Graham\u2019s legendary concert halls.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Recordings from those concerts would make up his next great release, <\/span><\/span>Live Wire\/Blues Power<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

King would add more funk and R&B elements to his music in the \u201870s, adding more backing musicians to his entourage and switching to a more commercial sound upon moving to RCA subsidiary Utopia Records.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It wouldn\u2019t be long, however, before King returned to a pure blues-oriented sound with his late \u201870s and \u201880s releases under Tomato Records and Fantasy Records.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Despite briefly considering retirement in the mid-late \u201880s, King continued touring and gigging till the early \u201890s.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It all came to an abrupt end on December 21, 1992, just four days before Christmas and two days after his last performance.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>At the age of 69, Albert King suffered a fatal heart attack at home in Memphis.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Though not a rock performer per se, many feel he deserves a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, together with the rest of the \u201cThree Kings\u201d \u2013 B.B. (inducted in 1987) and Freddie (inducted in 2012).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He\u2019s one of the \u201cThree Kings of the Blues Guitar\u201d \u2013 not as well-known as B.B., but slightly more so than Freddie.\u00a0 As one of several Mississippi-born musicians who moved north to make a name in the blues scene, Albert King is still one of the most influential of them all.\u00a0 Up to now, it\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=631"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":632,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631\/revisions\/632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}