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Freddie King (1934-1976)

The Texas Cannonball

Freddie King was born Frederick Christian in Gilmer, Texas on September 3, 1934. His mother and uncle, who both played the guitar, began teaching Freddie King to play at the age of six. He liked and imitated the music of Lightnin' Hopkins and saxophonist Louis Jordan. He moved with his family from Texas to the southside of Chicago in 1950. There, at age 16 he used to sneak in to local clubs, where he heard blues music performed by the likes of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, T-Bone Walker, Elmore James, and Sonny Boy Williamson. Howlin' Wolf took him under his wing, and Freddie also began jamming with Muddy Waters' sidemen, who included Eddie Taylor, Jimmy Rogers, Robert Lockwood Jr. and Little Walter. By 1952 he had married a Texas girl, Jessie Burnett. He gigged at night and worked days in a steel mill. He got occasional work as a sideman on recording sessions. Two bands that he played with during this period were the Sonny Cooper Band, and Early Payton's Blues Cats. He formed the first band of his own, the Every Hour Blues Boys, with guitarist Jimmy Lee Robinson and drummer Sonny Scott. In 1953 he made some recordings for Parrot. In 1956 he recorded Country Boy, a duet with Margaret Whitfield, and That's What You Think, an uptempo blues. This was for a local label, El-Bee. Robert Lockwood Jr. appeared as a sideman on guitar. In 1959 Freddie King met Sonny Thompson, a pianist who worked for the King/Federal label. In 1960, he himself signed with that label; while there he often shared songwriting credits, and participated in marathon recording sessions, with Sonny Thompson. On August 26, 1960, he recorded Have You Ever Loved a Woman and Hide Away, which were to become two of his most popular tunes. His debut release for the label was You've Got To Love Her with Feeling. His second release on King/Federal was I Love the Woman. Hide Away was used as the B-side for this disk; that tune, a 12-bar mid-tempo shuffle in E with an infectious theme in the head section, and a memorable stop-time break that featured some robust-sounding work on the bass strings, was destined to become one of his signature numbers. It was an adaptation of a tune by Hound Dog Taylor. It was named Hide Away after a popular bar in Chicago. Strictly an instrumental -- guitar with rhythm section -- it delighted everyone by crossing over and reaching #29 on the US pop chart. It was later covered by Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Canadian guitarist Jeff Healy, among others. After the success of Hide Away, the label got Freddie King and Sonny Thompson to work on making more instrumentals. This they did, producing over 30 of them during the next five years. Freddie King became popular with a young white audience, in Britain as well as the United States, and his playing was a major influence on the upcoming breed of rock guitarists. His band included his brother Benny Turner on bass; and Tyrone Davis, who would later become known in his own right, was the driver and valet. Freddie King, in the spring of 1963, moved back to Texas to rejoin them. His contract with King/Federal expired in 1966. That same year, he was noticed by Atlantic Records front man King Curtis, and in 1968 he signed with the Atlantic subsidiary, Cotillion Records. He released two records for them, both of which showcased his vocal talents. They were not overwhelming commercial successes; however, his first overseas tour, in 1967, was a resounding triumph, being extended from one month to three. In 1969 he hired Jack Calmes to be his manager. Calmes got him booked at the 1969 Texas Pop Festival, alongside Led Zeppelin and others; and got him signed to Leon Russell's new label, Shelter Records. Three albums were made during Shelter period. Later Freddie signed with the RSO. He continued to tour heavily. He died in Dallas on December 28, 1976 from a heart attack and complications arising from bleeding ulcers and pancreatitis. He was 42 years old. (Source: wikipedia.org)

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