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Freddie King
Performance photograph, 1975 — photographer unrecorded/unknown (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)
Texas

Freddie King

This artist is no longer with us.
Born: September 3, 1934, Gilmer, Texas · Died: December 28, 1976, Dallas, Texas (complications from stomach ulcers and acute pancreatitis)• United States
Texas BluesElectric Blues
Eric Clapton once described hearing Freddie King's guitar for the first time as sending him "into a complete kind of ecstasy" while simultaneously scaring him half to death — a reaction that says a great deal about why King, alongside B.B. and Albert, became one of the three men blues fans simply call "the Kings." He was born Fred Christian on September 3, 1934, in Gilmer, Texas, to Ella Mae King and J.T. Christian; he later took his mother's surname. His mother and uncle taught him guitar starting at age six, and in 1949 the family moved to the South Side of Chicago, putting him directly inside one of the most concentrated blues scenes in America (Kilde: Wikipedia). There he soaked up Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James and Sonny Boy Williamson, and played alongside several of Muddy's own sidemen, including guitarists Jimmy Rogers, Robert Lockwood Jr., Eddie Taylor and Hound Dog Taylor — a direct, hands-on Chicago blues education layered on top of the Texas guitar tradition he'd already absorbed (Kilde: Wikipedia). He married Jessie Burnett in 1952, and the couple went on to have seven children together. His first record, a duet called "Country Boy" with Margaret Whitfield, came out on the small El-Bee label in 1956. His real career began in 1960, when producer Sonny Thompson signed him to Federal Records, a subsidiary of Cincinnati's King Records, run by Syd Nathan. His debut instrumental for the label, "Hide Away" — King's own reworking of a theme he credited to Hound Dog Taylor, folded together with pieces of other tunes — reached #5 on the R&B chart and #29 on the pop chart in 1961, and remains, to this day, the song most closely identified with him. The same year's album, "Let's Hide Away and Dance Away with Freddy King," also produced "San-Ho-Zay," which put the small city of San Jose into blues history and reached #4 R&B. His vocal side "Have You Ever Loved a Woman," from the same period, is now regarded as one of the great blues vocal performances of the era (Kilde: Wikipedia). After leaving King Records in 1966, he recorded two albums for Cotillion/Atlantic between 1968 and 1970, produced by King Curtis, before signing to Leon Russell's Shelter Records in 1971. Shelter flew him to Chicago to record "Getting Ready..." at the famous Chess Studios, backed by Russell on piano, Duck Dunn on bass and Chuck Blackwell on drums; the album's cover of Don Nix's "Going Down" became one of his signature latter-career songs. He recorded two more albums for Shelter before moving to RSO Records for "Burglar" and "Larger Than Life," released between 1974 and 1976 (Kilde: Wikipedia). King toured relentlessly — by some accounts close to 300 days a year — and the pace caught up with him. Complications from stomach ulcers and acute pancreatitis, likely aggravated by years of touring stress and poor diet, killed him in Dallas, Texas, on December 28, 1976, at just 42. He was buried at Hillcrest Memorial Park in Dallas. In 1993, Texas Governor Ann Richards proclaimed September 3 as Freddie King Day (Kilde: Wikipedia).

Musical Influence

Eric Clapton has repeatedly credited King as the direct source of his own bent-note electric lead guitar style, and Jerry Garcia said flatly that when he started playing electric guitar, "it was a Freddie King album that I got almost all my ideas off of, his phrasing really." Mick Taylor, Lonnie Mack, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Peter Green and Jeff Beck have all cited him as directly formative. "Hide Away" is included on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll, and King himself was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012, introduced by ZZ Top (Kilde: Wikipedia).

Influences

Muddy WatersEddie TaylorT-Bone WalkerHound Dog Taylor

Family and personal life

Parents
Ella Mae King & J.T. Christian

His mother and an uncle taught him guitar starting at age six.

Wife
Jessie Burnett

Married 1952; the couple had seven children.

Formative experiences

  • •1949: Family moved to Chicago's South Side. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •1956: First record, "Country Boy," on El-Bee Records. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •1960: Signed to Federal Records under producer Sonny Thompson. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •1961: "Hide Away" reached #5 R&B — became his signature song. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •1971: Recorded "Getting Ready..." at Chess Studios for Shelter Records. (Kilde: Wikipedia)

Stories & Anecdotes

"Eric Clapton said hearing King's playing sent him "into a complete kind of ecstasy" while also scaring him. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"
""Hide Away" was King's own reworking of a theme he credited to fellow guitarist Hound Dog Taylor, blended with pieces of other tunes. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"
"Texas Governor Ann Richards proclaimed September 3, 1993 — his birthday — Freddie King Day. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"

Collaborators

Sonny Thompson

Producer who signed him to Federal Records in 1960.

Leon Russell

Producer and pianist on "Getting Ready..." (1971) for Shelter Records.

King Curtis

Produced his two Cotillion/Atlantic albums, 1968–1970.

Hound Dog Taylor

Fellow guitarist whose theme King reworked into "Hide Away."

Watch & Listen

Featured

Freddie King - Hide Away (1961)

His signature instrumental, reaching #5 R&B and #29 pop in 1961.

Classic Mood Experience

Freddie King - San-Ho-Zay (1961)

Freddie King - San-Ho-Zay (1961)

Freddie King / Getting Ready... - Going Down

Freddie King / Getting Ready... - Going Down

Freddie King - Have You Ever Loved A Woman

Freddie King - Have You Ever Loved A Woman

Watch & Listen

Henter videoer fra YouTube…

Discography

YearTitleProducerStudioLabelChartSalesMusiciansYouTubeNotes
1956"Country Boy" (debut single)El-Bee Records—El-Bee——Margaret Whitfield (Vocals)Duet with Margaret Whitfield.
1961Let's Hide Away and Dance Away with Freddy KingSonny Thompson—Federal / King———Includes "Hide Away" (#5 R&B) and "San-Ho-Zay" (#4 R&B).
1961Freddy King SingsSonny Thompson—King Records———Includes "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" — later famously covered by Derek and the Dominos.
1968Cotillion/Atlantic eraKing Curtis—Cotillion / Atlantic———Two albums, 1968–1970.
1971Getting Ready...Leon Russell—Shelter Records——Leon Russell (Piano), Duck Dunn (Bass), Chuck Blackwell (Drums)Recorded at Chess Studios, Chicago; includes "Going Down" (Don Nix cover).
1974BurglarRSO Records—RSO——Eric Clapton (Guitar), George Terry (Guitar), Jamie Oldaker (Drums), Carl Radle (Bass) Clapton and his band appeared on the track "Sugar Sweet," produced by Tom Dowd at Criteria Studios, Miami.
1975Larger Than LifeRSO Records—RSO——Bobby Tench (Guitar, vocals)One of his final studio albums. Producer Mike Vernon brought in Bobby Tench of the Jeff Beck Group to complement King.

Famous songs

01Hide Away
02San-Ho-Zay
03Have You Ever Loved a Woman
04Going Down

External links

YouTube Music Wikipedia

Sources

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