Texas blues guitarist Freddie King was born on this day in Gilmer, a rural town near Longview and east of Dallas, Texas. No relation to either B.B. King or Albert King, Freddie was taught the guitar by his mother and an Uncle while he was still a child. Moving with his family to Chicago in 1950 as a teenager, King seeped himself in the blues sounds of the city.
King was married in 1952, and worked in a steel mill during the day while playing with notable sidemen like Jimmy Rogers and Robert Junior Lockwood at night. The guitarist paid his dues for the better part of the decade before hooking up with Federal Records, a subsidiary of Cincinnati's King Records label, in 1960. Working with the label's A&R genius Sonny Thompson, King recorded a string of well-received songs like "Have You Ever Loved A Woman" and "Hide Away," which hit number five on the R&B chart and #29 on the pop chart.
During the mid-to-late-1960s, King toured with some of the monster R&B acts of the era, opening for legends like James Brown, Sam Cooke, and Jackie Wilson, among others. By the end of the decade, however, his influence on a generation of rock and blues-rock guitarists led to his growing popularity with young, white rock audiences. King played the 1969 Texas Pop Festival alongside Led Zeppelin, and also toured during this period with Eric Clapton.
Before he died in 1976 from heart failure, King had helped popularize blues music with rock & roll audiences. He may not be as well-known as Albert or B.B. King, but Freddie's influence and importance on modern blues music is just as essential. Join us in celebrating the life and career of Freddie King on his birthday!
Related Content: Freddie King Profile
Photo courtesy Price Grabber
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