Freddie King (born Fred Christian; September 3, 1934December 28, 1976), also billed as Freddy King, was an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with

Albert King Albert King ( Nelson; April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), was an American guitarist and singer who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time. He is perhaps best known for his popular and ...

and B. B. King, none of whom was a blood relative). Known for his soulful and powerful voice and distinctive guitar playing, King had a major influence on

electric blues Electric blues is blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930s and John Lee Ho ...

music and on many later blues guitarists. Born in Gilmer, Texas, King became acquainted with the guitar at the age of six. He started learning the guitar from his mother and his uncle. King moved to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

when he was a teenager; there he formed his first band the Every Hour Blues Boys with guitarist

Jimmie Lee Robinson Jimmie Lee Robinson (April 30, 1931 – July 6, 2002), also known as Lonesome Lee, was an American blues musician who was predominantly known for his involvement in the Chicago blues scene in the 1950s and 1960s. He performed with other blues ...

and drummer Frank "Sonny" Scott. As he was repeatedly being rejected by

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock an ...

, he got signed to

Federal Records Federal Records was an American record label founded in 1950 as a subsidiary of Syd Nathan's King Records and based in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was run by famed record producer Ralph Bass and was mainly devoted to rhythm & blues releases. The comp ...

, and got his break with single "

Have You Ever Loved a Woman "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" is a blues song written by Billy Myles and first recorded by American blues artist Freddie King in 1960. The song is performed as a slow 12-bar blues with King's vocal and guitar accompanied by a small combo of pian ...

" and instrumental " Hide Away", which reached number five on the ''Billboard'' magazine's rhythm and blues chart in 1961. It later became a blues standard. King based his guitar style on

Texas blues Texas blues is blues music from Texas. As a regional style, its original form was characterized by jazz and swing influences. Later examples are often closer to blues rock and Southern rock. History Texas blues began to appear in the early 1900 ...

and

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but is performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of African Americans of the fi ...

influences. The album '' Freddy King Sings'' showcased his singing talents and included the record chart hits "

You've Got to Love Her with a Feeling "You've Got to Love Her with a Feeling", or "Love with a Feeling" as it was originally titled, is a blues song first recorded by Tampa Red in 1938. Numerous blues artists have interpreted and recorded the song, making it a blues standard. Whe ...

" and "I'm Tore Down". He later became involved with producers who were more oriented to

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

and was one of the first bluesmen to have a multiracial backing band at performances. He was inducted into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1969. For almost 56 years, it consisted of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard (musician), Frank Beard, and bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill prior to his death in 2021. ZZ ...

in 2012 and into the

Blues Hall of Fame The Blues Hall of Fame is a music museum operated by the Blues Foundation at 421 S. Main Street in Memphis, Tennessee. Initially, the "Blues Hall of Fame" was not a physical building, but a listing of people who have significantly contributed to b ...

in 1982. His instrumental "Hide Away" was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of " 500 Songs that Shaped Rock". He was ranked 19th in the ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' magazine's 2023 edition of 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

Biography

1934–1952: Early life

Fred King was born in 1934 to Ella Mae King and J. T. Christian. When Freddie was 6 years old, his mother and his uncle taught him to play the guitar. In 1949, he and his family moved from Dallas to the South Side of Chicago. In 1952, King started working in a steel mill. In the same year he married another Texas native, Jessie Burnett. They had seven children together.

1952–1959: Move to Chicago and early works

Almost as soon as he had moved to Chicago, King started sneaking into South Side nightclubs, where he heard blues performed by

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player. He was at the forefront of transforming acoustic Delta blues into electric Chica ...

T-Bone Walker Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''R ...

Elmore James Elmore James ( Brooks; January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader. Noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ...

, and

Sonny Boy Williamson Sonny Boy Williamson may refer to either of the two 20th-century American blues harmonica players, who both recorded in Chicago: *Sonny Boy Williamson I (19141948), born John Lee Curtis Williamson *Sonny Boy Williamson II Alex or Aleck Mill ...

. King formed his first band, the Every Hour Blues Boys, with the guitarist

and the drummer Frank "Sonny" Scott. In 1952, while employed at a steel mill, the eighteen-year-old King occasionally worked as a

sideman A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform live with a solo artist, or with a group in which they are not a regular band member. The term is usually used to describe musicians that play with jazz or rock artists, whether solo o ...

with such bands as the Little Sonny Cooper Band and Earl Payton's Blues Cats. In 1953 he recorded with the latter for Parrot Records, but these recordings were never released. As the 1950s progressed, King played with several of Muddy Waters's sidemen and other Chicago mainstays, including the guitarists

Jimmy Rogers Jay or James Arthur "Jimmy" Rogers (June 3, 1924December 19, 1997) was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters's band in the early 1950s. He also had a solo career and ...

Robert Lockwood Jr. Robert Lockwood Jr., a.k.a. Robert Jr. Lockwood, (March 27, 1915 – November 21, 2006) was an American Delta blues guitarist, who recorded for Chess Records and other Chicago labels in the 1950s and 1960s. He was the only guitarist to hav ...

Eddie Taylor Eddie Taylor (January 29, 1923 – December 25, 1985) was an American electric blues guitarist and singer. Biography Born Edward Taylor in Benoit, Mississippi, as a boy Taylor taught himself to play the guitar. He spent his early years playing ...

, and

Hound Dog Taylor Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor (April 12, 1915 – December 17, 1975) was an American Chicago blues guitarist and singer. Life and career Taylor was born in Natchez, Mississippi, in 1915, though some sources say 1917. He first played t ...

; the bassist

Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...

; the pianist

Memphis Slim John Len Chatman (September 3, 1915 – February 24, 1988), known professionally as Memphis Slim, was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxopho ...

; and the harmonicist

Little Walter Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him ...

. In 1956 he cut his first record as a leader, for El-Bee Records. The A-side was "Country Boy", a

duet A duet (italian language, Italian: ''duo'') is a musical composition for two Performing arts, performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a har ...

with Margaret Whitfield. The B-side was a King vocal. Both tracks feature the guitar of

, who during these years was also adding rhythm backing and fills to Little Walter's records. King was repeatedly rejected in auditions for the South Side's

, the premier blues label, which was the home of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Little Walter. The complaint was that King sang too much like

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...

. A newer blues scene, lively with nightclubs and upstart record companies, was burgeoning on the

West Side West Side or Westside may refer to: Places Canada * West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario * West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Westside, Birmingham ...

, though. The bassist and producer

, during a period of estrangement from Chess in the late 1950s, asked King to come to

Cobra Records Cobra Records was an independent record label that operated in Chicago from 1956 to 1959 and launched the careers of Chicago blues artists Otis Rush, Magic Sam and Buddy Guy, a new generation who pioneered the West Side Sound. Cobra was starte ...

for a session, but the results have never been heard. Meanwhile, King established himself as perhaps the biggest musical force on the West Side. He played along with

Magic Sam Samuel Gene Maghett (February 14, 1937 – December 1, 1969), known as Magic Sam, was an American Chicago blues musician. He was born in Grenada County, Mississippi, and learned to play the blues from listening to records by Muddy Waters and ...

and reputedly played backing guitar, uncredited, on some of Sam's tracks for

Mel London Mel London (April 9, 1932 – May 16, 1975) was an American songwriter, record producer, and record label owner. He was active in the Chicago blues and R&B scenes in the 1950s and 1960s. London is best known for his compositions for Chicago ...

's Chief and Age labels, though King does not stand out on them.

1959–1966: Federal Records

In 1959 King got to know

Sonny Thompson Sonny Thompson (probably August 23, 1916 – August 11, 1989), born Alfonso Thompson or Hezzie Tompson, was an American R&B bandleader and pianist, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Biography There is some uncertainty over Thompson's origins, as ...

, a pianist, producer, and A&R man for Cincinnati's King Records. King Records' owner,

Syd Nathan Sydney Nathan (April 27, 1904 – March 5, 1968) was an American music business executive who founded King Records, a leading independent record label, in 1943. He contributed to the development of country & western music, rhythm and blues a ...

, signed King to the subsidiary

in 1960. King recorded his debut single for the label on August 26, 1960: "

" backed with "

" (again credited as Freddy King). From the same recording session at the King Studios in Cincinnati, Ohio, King cut the instrumental " Hide Away", which the next year reached number five on the

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

and number 29 on the

Pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

, an unprecedented accomplishment for a blues instrumental at a time when the genre was still largely unknown to white audiences. It was originally released as the B-side of "I Love the Woman". "Hide Away" was King's melange of a theme by

and parts by others, such as "The Walk", by

Jimmy McCracklin James David Walker Jr. (August 13, 1921 – December 20, 2012), better known by his stage name Jimmy McCracklin, was an American pianist, singer, and songwriter. His style contained West Coast blues, Jump blues, and R&B. Over a career that ...

, and "Peter Gunn", as credited by King. The title of the tune refers to Mel's Hide Away Lounge, a popular blues club on the West Side of Chicago.

later claimed that he had recorded King performing "Hide Away" for

in the late 1950s, but such a version has never surfaced. "Hide Away" became a

blues standard Blues standards are blues songs that have attained a high level of recognition due to having been widely performed and recorded. They represent the best known and most interpreted blues songs that are seen as standing the test of time. Blues s ...

. After their success with "Hide Away", King and Thompson recorded thirty instrumentals, including "

The Stumble "The Stumble" is a blues guitar instrumental composed and recorded by American blues artist Freddie King, for his 1961 album '' Let's Hide Away and Dance Away with Freddy King''. It is considered a blues classic and follows in a string of popu ...

", "Just Pickin'", "Sen-Sa-Shun", "Side Tracked", "San-Ho-Zay", "High Rise", and "The Sad Nite Owl". They recorded vocal tracks throughout this period but often released the tunes as instrumentals on albums. During the Federal period, King toured with many notable R&B artists of the day, including

Sam Cooke Samuel Cooke (; January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964) was an American singer and songwriter. Considered one of the most influential soul music, soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the "King of Soul" for his distin ...

Jackie Wilson Jack Leroy "Jackie" Wilson Jr. (June 9, 1934 – January 21, 1984) was an American singer who was a prominent figure in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. Nicknamed "Mr. Excitement", he was considered a master showman and one of th ...

, and

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

1966–1974: Cotillion, Shelter, RSO Records

King's contract with Federal expired in 1966, by which time he had moved back to Dallas from Chicago, and his first overseas tour followed in 1967. His availability was noticed by the producer and saxophonist

King Curtis Curtis Montgomery (February 7, 1934 – August 13, 1971), known professionally as King Curtis, was an American saxophonist who played rhythm and blues, jazz, and rock and roll. A bandleader, band member, and session musician, he was also a musi ...

, who had recorded a cover of "Hide Away", with Cornell Dupree on guitar, in 1962. Curtis signed King to

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

in 1968, which resulted in two LPs, ''Freddie King Is a Blues Master'' (1969) and ''My Feeling for the Blues'' (1970), produced by Curtis for the Atlantic subsidiary

Cotillion Records Cotillion Records was a subsidiary of Atlantic Records (from 1971 part of WEA) and was active from 1968 through 1985. The label was formed as an outlet for soul, R&B, funk, pop, and jazz. Its first single, Otis Clay's version of "She's About ...

. In 1969 King hired Jack Calmes as his manager, who secured him an appearance at the 1969 Texas Pop Festival, alongside

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

and others, and this led to King's signing a recording contract with

Shelter Records Shelter Records was a U.S. record label started by Leon Russell and Denny Cordell that operated from 1969 to 1981. The company established offices in both Los Angeles and Tulsa, Russell's home town, where the label sought to promote a "worksho ...

, a new label established by the rock pianist

Leon Russell Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016) was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock a ...

and the record producer

Denny Cordell Dennis Cordell-Lavarack (1 August 1943 – 18 February 1995), known as Denny Cordell, was an English record producer. He is notable for his mid-1960s and early 1970s productions of hit singles for The Moody Blues, Leon Russell, The Move, Proc ...

and recorded at their studio,

The Church Studio The Church Studio is a recording studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma established in 1972 by musician, songwriter, and producer Leon Russell. Located in a converted church building, the studio has since been cited as being the heart of the Tulsa Sound. H ...

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

. The company treated King as an important artist, flying him to Chicago to the former

Chess studios Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and rol ...

to record the album '' Getting Ready...'' and providing a lineup of top session musicians, including Russell. Three albums were made during this period, including blues classics and new songs, such as "Going Down", written by

Don Nix William Donald Nix (September 27, 1941 – December 31, 2024) was an American musician, songwriter, and producer. Nix, who was best known for his song "Going Down," was described by AllMusic as "one of the more obscure figures in Southern soul ...

. King performed alongside the big rock acts of the day, such as

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

and

Grand Funk Railroad Grand Funk Railroad (often shortened to Grand Funk) is an American rock band formed in Flint, Michigan, in 1969 by Mark Farner (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica), Don Brewer (drums, vocals) and Mel Schacher (bass). The band achieved pea ...

(whose song "

We're an American Band ''We're an American Band'' is the seventh studio album by American hard rock band Grand Funk Railroad, credited as Grand Funk. The album was released by Capitol Records in July 1973, and was certified gold by the RIAA a little over a month afte ...

" mentions King in its lyrics), and for a young, mainly white audience, along with the white tour drummer Gary Carnes, for three years, before signing with

RSO Records RSO Records was a record label formed by rock and roll and musical theatre impresario Robert Stigwood and record executive Al Coury in 1973. The letters "RSO" stood for the Robert Stigwood Organisation. RSO managed the careers of several ma ...

. In 1974 he recorded ''

Burglar Burglary, also called breaking and entering (B&E) or housebreaking, is a property crime involving trespass to land, the illegal entry into a building or other area without permission, typically with the intention of committing a further criminal ...

'', for which

Tom Dowd Thomas John Dowd (October 20, 1925 – October 27, 2002) was an American recording engineer and producer for Atlantic Records. He was credited with innovating the multitrack recording method. Dowd worked on a veritable "who's who" of recordings ...

produced the track "Sugar Sweet" at Criteria Studios in Miami, with the guitarists Clapton and George Terry, the drummer

Jamie Oldaker James Oldaker (September 5, 1951 – July 16, 2020) was an American rock music, blues rock and country music drummer and percussionist. Biography James Oldaker was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. One of the first bands that he was a member of was c ...

and the bassist

Carl Radle Carl Dean Radle (June 18, 1942 – May 30, 1980) was an American bassist who toured and recorded with many of the most influential recording artists of the late 1960s and 1970s. He was posthumously inducted to the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame ...

. Mike Vernon produced the other tracks. Vernon also produced a second album for King, ''Larger than Life'', for the same label. Vernon brought in other notable musicians for both albums, such as

Bobby Tench Robert Tench (21 September 1944 – 19 February 2024) was a British singer, guitarist, sideman, songwriter and arranger. Tench was best known for his work with Freddie King and Van Morrison, as well as being a member of The Jeff Beck Group, Hu ...

of the

Jeff Beck Group The Jeff Beck Group was a British rock band formed in London in January 1967 by former Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck. Their innovative approach to heavy-sounding blues, rhythm and blues and rock was a major influence on popular music. Histor ...

, to complement King.

Death

Nearly constant touring took its toll on King—he was on the road almost 300 days out of the year. In 1976 he began suffering from

stomach ulcer The stomach is a muscular, hollow organ in the upper gastrointestinal tract of humans and many other animals, including several invertebrates. The Ancient Greek name for the stomach is ''gaster'' which is used as ''gastric'' in medical terms re ...

s. His health quickly deteriorated, and he died on December 28 of complications from this illness and acute

pancreatitis Pancreatitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the pancreas. The pancreas is a large organ behind the stomach that produces digestive enzymes and a number of hormone A hormone (from the Ancient Greek, Greek participle , "se ...

, at the age of 42. According to those who knew him, King's untimely death was due to stress, a legendary "hard-partying lifestyle", and a poor diet of consuming

Bloody Mary #REDIRECT Bloody Mary {{redirect category shell, {{R ambig{{R from other capitalisation{{R unprintworthy ...

s because as he told a journalist, "they've got food in them." King is buried at Hillcrest Memorial Park in Dallas, Texas.

Musical style

King had an intuitive style, often creating guitar parts with vocal nuances. He achieved this by using the open-string sound associated with Texas blues and the raw, screaming tones of

West Side, Chicago The West Side is one of the three major sections of the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The others are the North Side and South Side. The West Side contains communities that are of historical and cultural importance to the history an ...

blues. King's combination of the Texas and Chicago sounds gave his music a more contemporary feel than that of many Chicago bands who were still performing 1950s-style music, and he befriended the younger generation of blues musicians. In his early career he played a solid-body gold-top

Gibson Les Paul The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typic ...

with

P-90 The P-90 (sometimes written P90) is a single coil electric guitar pickup produced by Gibson Guitar Corporation since 1946, as well as other vendors. Compared to other single coil designs, such as the Fender single coil, the bobbin for a P-90 ...

pickups. He later played several slimline semi-hollow body Gibson electric guitars, including an

ES-335 The Gibson ES-335 is a semi-hollow body semi-acoustic guitar introduced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES (Electric Spanish) series in 1958. It has a solid maple wood block running through the center of its body with hollow upper ...

, ES-345, and ES-355. He used a plastic thumb pick and a metal index- finger pick.

Legacy

By proclamation of the governor of Texas,

Ann Richards Dorothy Ann Richards (née Willis; September 1, 1933 – September 13, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995. A Democrat, she first came to national attention as the Texas State Treasurer, ...

, September 3, 1993, was declared Freddie King Day, an honor reserved for Texas legends, such as

Bob Wills James Robert "Bob" Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the founder of Western swing, he was known widely as the King of Western Swing (although Spade C ...

and

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...

. He was inducted into the

in 2012, and placed 15th in ''

'' magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. Several of King's early 1960s instrumentals found their way into the repertoire of

surf music Surf music (also known as surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is inst ...

bands: "Those instrumental hits Freddy King had – 'Hideaway', 'San-Ho-Zay', 'The Stumble' – e way white kids were relating to it was like surf guitar in a way; instrumental music that you could dance to." One band that mixed R&B and surf instrumentals occasionally included

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 196 ...

. He later explained: "When I started playing electric guitar the second time, with the Warlocks, it was a Freddie King album that I got almost all my ideas off of, his phrasing really. That first one, ''Here's Freddie King'', later it came out as ''Freddie King Plays Surfin' Music'' or something like that, it has 'San-Ho-Zay' on it and 'Sensation" and all those instrumentals" (King's 1961 instrumental album, '' Let's Hide Away and Dance Away with Freddy King'', was retitled ''Freddy King Goes Surfin' '' for a 1963 re-release). According to music critic

Cub Koda Michael John "Cub" Koda (né Uszniewicz; October 1, 1948 – July 1, 2000) was an Americans, American rock and roll musician, songwriter, and critic. ''Rolling Stone'' magazine considered him best known for writing the song "Smokin' in the Boys ...

, King has influenced guitarists such as

Mick Taylor Michael Kevin Taylor (born 17 January 1949) is an English guitarist, best known as a former member of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (1967–1969) and the Rolling Stones (1969–1974). As a member of the Stones, h ...

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (also known as SRV; October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (band), Double Trouble. Although his ma ...

, and

Lonnie Mack Lonnie McIntosh (July 18, 1941 – April 21, 2016), known as Lonnie Mack, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was influential in the development of blues rock music and rock guitar soloing. Mack emerged in 1963 with his break ...

. In Michael Corcoran's words, King "merged the most vibrant characteristics of both hicago and Texasregional styles and became the biggest guitar hero of the mid-sixties British blues revivalists, who included Eric Clapton,

Savoy Brown Savoy Brown (originally Savoy Brown Blues Band) were a British blues rock band formed in Battersea, southwest London, in 1965. Part of the late 1960s blues rock movement, Savoy Brown primarily achieved success in the United States, where they p ...

, Chicken Shack, and Peter Green-era

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...

". Clapton said in 1985 that King's 1961 song "I Love the Woman" was "the first time I heard that electric lead-guitar style, with the bent notes ... tstarted me on my path." In a later interview with Dan Forte in ''

Guitar World ''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists and fans of guitar-based music and trends. The magazine has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original a ...

'', he said of King's guitar playing on his rendition of "I Love The Woman": "That just sent me into a complete kind of ecstasy, and it scared the shit out of me. I'd never heard anything like it, and I thought I'd never get anywhere near it. And I know now that I never will, but it was what immediately made me want to carry on." As ''Rolling Stone'' later wrote, "Clapton shared his love of King with fellow British guitar heroes Peter Green,

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English musician. He rose to prominence as the guitarist of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, ...

and Mick Taylor, all of whom were profoundly influenced by King's sharpened-treble tone and curt melodic hooks on iconic singles such as 'The Stumble,' 'I'm Tore Down' and 'Someday, After Awhile.'" King was among many pioneering African-American blues musicians to embrace the British blues scene and tour its club circuit in the late 1960s.

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

credited King's embrace of Britain with creating his renown as a pioneer of electric blues guitar. In

Gary Graff Gary Graff (born 1960) is an American music journalist and author. Biography Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Graff attended Taylor Allderdice High School where he wrote for school newspaper ''The Taylor Allderdice Foreword''. He recei ...

's ''

MusicHound Rock MusicHound (often stylized as musicHound) was a compiler of genre-specific music guides published in the United States by Visible Ink Press between 1996 and 2002. After publishing eleven album guides, the MusicHound series was sold to London-based ...

'' (1996), the entry on King states: "Although his reputation rests with his guitar, King also sang with an underrated, powerful style. His lasting influence has insured Freddie King's recognition as one of the great postwar blues masters."

Appraisal of recording work

Recommending what albums of King's music to hear, ''MusicHound Rock'' cited the 1993

Rhino A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

compilation ''The Best of Freddie King'', for focusing on "the fruitful abundance" of his recordings for King Records (1961–66), and the 1995 Black Top CD ''Live at the Electric Ballroom, 1974'', for its "blasting, ripping concert" recording along with "a rare pair of acoustic" performances; ''Freddie King Is a Blues Master'' (1969) and ''My Feeling for the Blues'' (1970) were named records to avoid, as they "both suffer from thin accompaniment, too little guitar and reedy vocals". John Swenson, writing in '' The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Guide'' (1999), also recommended the Electric Ballroom recording, along with "Home Cooking's ''Live at the Texas Opry House'' (documenting a 1976 show in Houston)", saying they are "the best antidotes to King's lackluster studio work from these years". In his only review of a King album, ''The Best of Freddie King'' (1975) by

, Christgau wrote in '' Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981) that the 1971–73 recordings are "a bunch of

and

boogies, ing'svoice blurred, his guitar all fake and roll." He added that, while the guitarist had recorded some "acute R&B" singles early in his career, he later "coast dfor years". However, in a review of King's 1974 album ''Burglar'' for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, Joe Viglione called it "entertaining and concise" and believed the album "stands as a solid representation of an important musician which is as enjoyable as it is historic".

Discography

Studio albums

Selected compilation albums

Charting singles

References

Bibliography

*Busby, Mark (2004). ''The Southwest''. Greenwood Publishing Group. . *Clapton, Eric (2007). ''Clapton: The Autobiography''. Broadway Books. Digitized September 4, 2008. . *Corcoran, Michael (2005). ''All Over the Map: True Heroes of Texas Music''. University of Texas Press. . *Forte, Dan (2000). "Freddie King". In ''Rollin' and Tumblin': The Postwar Blues Guitarists''. Jas Obrecht, ed. San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books. pp. 275–280. , 978-0-87930-613-7. *Hardy, Phil; Laing, Dave; Stephen, Barnard; Perretta, Don (1988). ''Encyclopedia of Rock''. 2nd ed., rev. Schirmer Books. Digitized December 21, 2006. . *Koster, Rick (2000). ''Texas Music''. St. Martin's Press. . *Lawrence, Robb (2008). ''The Early Years of the Les Paul Legacy 1915–1963''. Hal Leonard. . *O'Neal, Jim; Van Singel, Amy (2002). ''The Voice of the Blues: Classic Interviews from'' Living Blues ''Magazine''. 10th ed. Routledge. . *Pruter, Robert (1992). ''Chicago Soul''. 5th ed., reprint. University of Illinois Press. . *

External links

Official website
* *
Freddy King
at 45cat.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Freddie 1934 births 1976 deaths African-American guitarists African-American male singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers American rhythm and blues musicians Electric blues musicians American lead guitarists Musicians from Dallas People from Longview, Texas Burials at Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery Texas blues musicians 20th-century American guitarists Singer-songwriters from Texas Guitarists from Texas People from Gilmer, Texas 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singer-songwriters 20th-century African-American male singers Apex Records artists Cotillion Records artists Federal Records artists King Records artists P-Vine Records artists RSO Records artists Shelter Records artists