| Freddie King | |
|---|---|
 Freddie King
Photo:Chuck Pulin/Star File |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Frederick Christian King |
| Also known as | Freddy King, The Texas Cannonball |
| Born | September 3, 1934 Gilmer, Texas, United States |
| Died | December 28, 1976 (aged 42) |
| Genres | Blues-rock, funk |
| Occupations | Musician |
| Instruments | Guitar, Vocals |
| Years active | 1950-1976 |
| Labels | El-bee, King, Federal, Atlantic,Shelter, RSO |
| Associated acts | Bill Wills, Sonny Thompson, Leon Russell, Eric Clapton, Bobby Tench, PP Arnold, Jamie Oldaker, Carl Radle, Tom Dowd, Mike Vernon, King Curtis, Steve Ferrone, Jimmie Vaughan, Peter Green, Bill Freeman, Denny Campbell, Robert Lockwood Jr., Jamie Oldaker, Carl Radle |
| Website | The official Freddie King site |
| Notable instruments | |
| Gibson Les Paul guitar, Gibson ES-335 guitar | |
Frederick Christian King (September 3, 1934 - December 28, 1976) also known as Freddie King, "The Texas Cannonball" and Freddy King, was an influential Afro-American blues guitarist and singer. King's mother and uncle began teaching Freddie to play guitar at the age of six. He moved with his family from Texas to the South Side of Chicago in 1950. In 1952 he married Jessie Burnett.
He perfected his own guitar style based on Texas and Chicago influences and was one of the first bluesmen to have a multi-racial backing band on stage with him at live performances. He is best known for his recordings such as "Have You Ever Loved A Woman" (1960) and his Top 40 hit "Hide Away" (1961), which he first recorded with Will Aiken. He is also known for albums such as, Let's Hide Away and Dance Away with Freddy King (1961) and Burglar (1974).[1]
When aged sixteen he visited local clubs where he heard blues music, performed by Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, T-Bone Walker, Elmore James, and Sonny Boy Williamson. King played with Muddy Waters's sidemen who included, Eddie Taylor, Jimmy Rogers, Robert Lockwood, Jr. and Little Walter.
King had a twenty year recording career and became established as an influential guitarist. In his early years as a young musician, King played with Muddy Waters's sidemen who included, Eddie Taylor, Jimmy Rogers, Robert Lockwood, Jr. and Little Walter. He inspired American musicians including Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmie Vaughan,[2] Bill Freeman and Denny Campbell, and mid 1960s UK blues revivalists such as Eric Clapton,[3] Chicken Shack and Peter Green.[4] King died from heart failure on December 28, 1976, aged forty two.[5]
A testament to King's presence on the circuit of touring rock bands was Grand Funk Railroad's mention of King in their song "We're an American Band", written by Don Brewer and based on incidents which occurred whilst touring with King. [6]
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In 1952 and aged eighteen King worked in a steel mill, occasionally working as a sideman on recording sessions. During this period he played with bands such as The Sonny Cooper Band and Early Payton's Blues Cats. He formed his first band Every Hour Blues Boys' with guitarist Jimmy Lee Robinson and drummer Sonny Scott. In 1953 he recorded for Parrot Records, but these recordings were not released. In 1956 he recorded a duet with Margaret Whitfield "Country Boy" for El-Bee records[7] which also featured guitarist Robert Lockwood Junior.[8]
Syd Nathan signed him to the King Records subsidiary label Federal, in 1960 and he recorded the single, "You've Got To Love Her with A Feeling", which became his debut release. "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" (1960) and "Hide Away" (1961) followed and found chart success the reaching #29 in the Pop Singles Charts and #5 on the R&B Charts. The previously released "I Love the Woman" and "Hide Away" were used as B-sides. "Hideaway" was an adaptation of a tune by Hound Dog Taylor and was named after a popular bar in Chicago[9] and gained popularity at this time.
After success with "Hide Away" [10] King and piano player Sonny Thompson record thirty instrumentals, including "The Stumble", "Just Pickin'", "Sen-Sa-Shun", "Side Tracked", "San-Ho-Zay", "High Rise", "I'm torn down" and "The Sad Nite Owl".[11] King's band included his brother Benny Turner on bass and Lonnie Mack played rhythm and second guitar on a number his recordings from this period. During this period he toured with the big R&B acts of the day such as Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson and James Brown.
King's contract with Federal expired in 1966 and his first overseas tour followed in 1967. He was noticed by King Curtis and was subsequently signed to Atlantic during 1968.[12] In 1969 he hired Jack Calmes, to be his manager who secured him an appearance at the 1969 Texas Pop Festival, alongside Led Zeppelin and others[13] and this led to King being signed to Leon Russell's label Shelter Records. The company treated Freddie as an important artist, flying him to Chicago to the former Chess studios for the recording of Getting Ready and gave him a supporting cast of top-calibre session musicians, including rock pianist Leon Russell.[14] Three albums were made during the this period, including blues classics and new songs written by Russell and Don Nix.[15]
King performed alongside the big rock acts of the day, such as Eric Clapton[16] and for a young mainly white audience, before signing to RSO. In 1974 he recorded Burglar, on which Tom Dowd produced the track, "Sugar Sweet", at Criteria Studios in Miami with guitarists Clapton and George Terry, drummer Jamie Oldaker and bassist Carl Radle. Mike Vernon produced all other tracks,[17] and P. P. Arnold sang vocals.[18] Vernon also produced a second album Larger than Life[19] with King, for the same label and brought in other notable musicians to compliment King[20]
King had an intuitive style, often creating guitar parts with vocal nuances.[21] He achieved this by using the open string sound associated with Texas blues and the raw, screaming tones of West Side Chicago blues. He usually played Gibson ES-335 guitars[22] with a plastic thumb pick and a metal index-finger pick to achieve an aggressive finger attack, a style he learned from Jimmy Rogers. He had a relatively more aggressive and creative style of improvisation than others such as, B.B King and Albert King, considered by many to be a more exploratory and less traditional approach.
In 1993 by proclamation from the Texas Governor Ann Richards September 3, 1993, was declared Freddie King Day. This was an honour previously only reserved for Lone Star legends such as Bob Wills and Buddy Holly.[23]
In 2003 Freddie King was placed 25th in Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.[24]
   | Freddie King The Texas Cannonball - FREDDIE KING THE TEXAS CANNONBALL |
| | Article by Johnny Harper on "there" website - THERE - The Virtual Destination |
| | This site - Freddie King MP3 Downloads - Freddie King Music Downloads - Freddie King Music Videos - Freddie King Pictures - MP3.com |
| | The Texas Pop Festival - Texas International Pop Festival - Home Page |
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