Freddie King was born 80 years ago today. Nicknamed the Texas Cannonball,” King was an influential American blues guitarist and singer. He is often mentioned as one of the Three Kings of electric blues guitar, along with Albert King and B.B. King, as well as the youngest of the three. Freddie King based his guitar style on Texas and Chicago influences and was one of the first bluesmen to have a multi-racial backing band onstage with him at live performances. He is best known for singles such as Have You Ever Loved A Woman (1960) and his Top 40 hit Hide Away (1961). He is also known for albums such as the early, instrumental-packed Lets Hide Away and Dance Away with Freddy King (1961) and the later album Burglar (1974), which displayed Kings mature versatility as both player and singer in a range of blues and funk styles. King had a twenty-year recording career and became established as an influential guitarist with hits for Federal Records in the early 1960s. He inspired American musicians such as Jerry Garcia, Stevie Ray Vaughan and his brother Jimmie Vaughan and others. His influence was also felt in UK, through recordings by blues revivalists such as Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Chicken Shack. Near-constant touring took its toll on King (he was on the road almost 300 days out of the year), and in 1976 he began suffering stomach ulcers. His health quickly deteriorated and he died on December 28 of complications from that and acute pancreatitis at the age of 42. According to those who knew him, Kings untimely death was due to both stress and poor diet (he was in the habit of consuming Bloody Marys in lieu of solid food so as not to waste time when setting up shows). Here, King performs “Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone.”
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 04:30:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015