In 1968, Rolling Stone reporter Jon Landau asked Albert King who his guitar influences were.
King replied: “Nobody. Everything I do is wrong“.
Indeed, King’s ‘upside down’ style of play was so unorthodox, so revolutionary, that it created a sound that went on to inspire generations of guitarists, many of whom didn’t even know his name.
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Born in 1923, Albert Nelson – best known by his professional name, Albert King – started life as part of a family of 15 on a cotton plantation in Mississippi.
He took to music early; his father was a guitarist for the local church, and it wasn’t long before King was following in his footsteps. His first instrument, however, was the diddley bow, a beginner’s instrument for children in the African American communities of the southern United States.
When King was five, his father left the family, and a few years later his mother took King and his siblings to Arkansas.
It was here that King made his first guitar out of a cigar box, a piece of a bush, and a strand of broom wire. Though he was never formally educated, he studied his instrument obsessively, with the intention to become a musician etched firmly in his mind.
Eventually, he bought his first guitar – a Guild acoustic – for $1.25. King was left-handed; the guitar, designed for right-handed players. This would have been a problem for some, but not for King. He simply turned the guitar upside down.
Initially, King played in gospel groups. Most notable amongst them was The Harmony Kings, who released several successful records. To support his passion, he worked various odd jobs, such as construction work and cotton picking.
As his standing in the music community increased, King found himself exposed to blues legends like Blind Lemon Jefferson and Lonnie Johnson, and was soon focusing entirely on the genre. At the age of 27, he met the owner of local nightclub T-99, and joined its house band, Groove Boys.
After several successful years, King moved to Indiana a star. He received the offer to join a band with Jimmy Reed and John Brim, but because both were guitarists, he was forced to learn drums.
Around this time, King assumed his professional name, in response to B.B. King’s sudden rise to fame. Strangely, as if to draw attention, he started telling interviewers that he was B.B. King’s brother, and that they had grown up in the same town, both of which were entirely untrue.
He soon earned another nickname: The Velvet Bulldozer. It was a reference to both his size – King was six-foot-four and 150kg – and smooth singing style.
Shortly after arriving in Indiana, King met Willie Dixon, a songwriter who helped him line up an audition at Parrot Records. He was signed, and in late-1953, he cut his first session as a leading artist. Five songs were recorded, but only one single – Be on Your Merry Way / Bad Luck Blues – was released at the time. It didn’t sell well, so King returned home to rejoin the Groove Boys.
He remained in Arkansas for two years, before setting his sights on a new location – St Louis. He arrived in 1956, and sat in with locals bands. Before long, he was headlining clubs in the area. He purchased a new guitar, his signature Gibson Flying V. He named it Lucy, in reference to B.B. King’s Lucille.
King still played upside down, resulting in a sound unlike anything heard before. Unlike traditional guitarists, who pushed up on the strings, King distinguished a definitive style by pulling them down with his thumb.
Still, though his sound was gaining interest, King was still struggling to find his audience. In 1959 he had his first minor hit I’m a Lonely Man, but it wasn’t until 1961’s Don’t Throw Your Love on Me So Strong that King discovered true success. It reached #14 on the Billboard R&B chart, and lead to the release of his first album, The Big Blues, the following year.
He traveled the country with his band in his own car, a Cadillac. The schedule was tight, the drives uncomfortable, but for King, all that mattered was the performance.
In 1966 he moved to Memphis to sign with Stax record label. There, he spent the next year producing influential hits such as As the Years Go Passing By, and his most popular song, Born Under a Bad Sign, which has been covered by everyone from Cream, to Jimi Hendrix, and even Homer Simpson.
He opened for Hendrix, who considered King a hero, in 1967. King recalls, “I taught (Hendrix) a lesson about the blues. I could have easily played his songs, but he couldn’t play mine.”
Though he was proud of his ability, King remained grounded. Saxophonist Bill Graham said, “Albert was one of the artists I used many times for various reasons. He wasn’t just a good guitar player; he had a wonderful stage presence, he was very congenial and warm, he was relaxed on stage, and he related to the public. Also he never became a shuck-and-jiver. One of the things that happened in the ’60s – it’s not a very nice thing to say, but it happens to be true – was that blues musicians began to realise that white America would accept anything they did on stage. And so many of them became jive. But Albert remained a guy who just went on stage and said ‘Let’s play.'”
King followed Bad Sign with Live Wires/Blues Power in 1968, and Years Gone By in 1969. He performed live with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and toured across Europe.
On his return, King struggled to find relevancy in the changing trends of the 70s. He experimented with funk, then released two pop albums after moving to Utopia when Stax filed for bankruptcy in 1975.
After some unhappy years, he transitioned to Tomato Records in 1978, working with producer Allen Toussaint. Toussaint had been responsible for a range of hits over the last decade, but had little experience with the blues. Together, they released New Orleans Heat to little fanfare.
King took a four-year break from recording as of 1979, a period which saw him return to his blues roots for a live album, and what would turn out to be his final studio album in 1984’s I’m a Phone Booth, Baby.
Though his career had waned, his signature sound had permeated the style of many of the leading artists of the 70s and 80s, both in and out of blues. Mick Taylor, Joe Walsh, and Eric Clapton all recognise King’s influence on their work. Beyond them were many others who found success through King’s style, without even knowing there’d ever listened to one of his songs.
In the 80s, King considered retirement, but like so many great artists, he never went through with it. He appeared on regular tours and at music festivals, and tried to release another album, Red House, though bad production quality meant it was a failure.
Two days after a concert in Los Angeles, Albert King died from a heart attack at his Memphis home.
At his funeral, he was eulogised by B.B. King, who stated: “Albert wasn’t my brother in blood, but he was my brother in blues”.
In 2013, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Today, King is remembered as one of the ‘Three Kings of the Blues Guitar’, alongside B.B. King and Freddie King. It is a great justice for a man who worked so hard, and for so long on his art.