Albert King was born Albert Nelson in 1923 on a cotton plantation in Indianola, Mississippi. He was one of 13 children and spent his youth working on the cotton plantation. Fortunately, he made his own guitar and developed into one of the most famous blues guitarists.
Velvet Bulldozer
At 1.96m and 118 kilos, King earned the nickname The Velvet Bulldozer. He played on a homemade guitar when he was young but began his professional musical career as a drummer in Jimmy Reed's band. Afterwards, he focused on the electric guitar. King was left-handed but played a right-handed guitar upside down. Later in life, a left-handed guitar was made for him with the strings reversed – as he was used to.
Cross-over
King was one of the first blues musicians to cross over into soul, thereby appealing to a broader audience. In 1966, he became a major blues musician when he signed with Stax Records. In his songs "Laundromat Blues" and "Born Under A Bad Sign" the blues is clearly audible, but there is a distinct Memphis soul sound underneath. In 1969, King was the first soul musician to perform with a symphony orchestra. In the 1970s, he mainly toured. In the 1980s, he often performed with B.B. King.
Albert King died of a heart attack in 1992.
Top 2000
In the 23rd edition of the Top 2000, there are no entries for this legend. A pity... However, you can give King a place on our Top 2000 inspiration playlist on Spotify: Top 2000 Inspiration Playlist
Sunday Morning Classic
Former colleague and friend Martijn Conijn was surprised that Albert King had not yet been featured on the Sunday Morning Classic stage. Not entirely unjustified, and so Albert appeared on 28 May 2023 on our much-coveted stage in Groede with his album "Born Under a Bad Sign".
The giant of around two metres and well over a hundred kilos, born in 1923, only released his second album in 1967. Born Under A Bad Sign was his first album released on Stax and largely consists of a compilation of singles previously released. Born Under A Bad Sign is not only the best album King left us, it is also considered one of the most influential blues albums of the 1960s. Some even say the eleven tracks mark a turning point towards modern blues. Although this is a bold claim, King's influence on artists like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan cannot be denied. Like King, Hendrix would later play guitar left-handed without changing the string positions. Listen to Cream's album Disraeli Gears and you'll notice how much Clapton imitates King's guitar playing. Cream would later also cover the title track of Born Under A Bad Sign, like many others.
On this album, King is excellently accompanied by Booker T. & the MG’s, a band undoubtedly known to all of you from the hit Green Onions. It is often claimed that it was precisely the backing band that was responsible for the unique sound and thus saved the album from oblivion. That many bought the album because Booker T. & the MG’s provided the accompaniment and thus discovered King is not excluded. Yet it is mainly the very strong songs of The Velvet Bulldozer that make this record indispensable in everyone's collection. His tender voice combined with the sound he makes Lucy, his Gibson Flying V guitar, scream is unique in the history of the blues.
Although thirteen more albums would follow later, it can be conclusively said that Born Under A Bad Sign is the best King left us. Rightly, the album was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1985.
Source: NPO, Wikipedia and Blues that Matters Photo: Public domain
Below you will find a selection of the albums Albert released during his lifetime. If you are looking for a specific album, please let us know. We are happy to help you search within our network.
