Track Listings
1. Same Old Blues
2. Dust My Broom
3. Worried Life Blues
4. Five Long Years
5. Key To The Highway
6. Going Down
7. Living On The Highway
8. Walking By Myself
9. I'm Tore Down
10. Palace Of The King
Freddie King Biography
King was born Frederick Christian in Gilmer, Texas on September
3, 1934. His mother was Ella May King, his father J.T. Christian.
His mother and uncle, who both played the guitar, began
teaching Freddie 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 he 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 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, which
was presided over by Syd Nathan, got Freddie and Sonny Thompson
to work on making more instrumentals. This they did, producing
over 30 of them during the next five years. These would
include "The Stumble", "Low Tide," "Wash
Out," "Sidetracked", "San-Ho-Zay,"
"Heads Up," "Onion Rings," and "The
Sad Nite Owl". Freddie 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. He also recorded vocal material including
"Have You Ever Loved A Woman" by songwriter Billy
Myles. During this period he was touring frequently along
with the big R&B acts of the day such as Sam Cooke,
Jackie Wilson, James Brown. 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.
On the personal side, Freddie was fond, perhaps overly fond,
of the Chicago night life. His official website refers to
him "Gambling til dawn in the backroom of Mike's cleaners."
His wife, now with six children, decided to move back to
Texas. Once there, she called Syd Nathan and demanded that
he send her some of the royalty money due to her husband.
To his credit, he sent her two thousand dollars, with which
she made the down payment on a house. Realising that the
family were definitely not coming back to Chicago, Freddie,
in the spring of 1963, himself moved back to Texas to rejoin
them.
His contract with King/Federal expired in 1966. That same
year, while making a series of appearances on an R&B
program called "The!!!Beat", 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. He was
"amazed by his popularity in England."
In 1969 he hired a young member of the "counter culture",
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. Shelter records was based in Oklahoma,
and featured blues/rock performers such as J.J. Cale and
Tom Petty. The company treated Freddie as an important artist,
flying him to Chicago to the former Chess studios for the
recording of his first album, and giving him a supporting
cast of top-calibre session musicians -- including Russell,
a rock pianist. Three albums made during Shelter period
are considered generally as fairly good. They include many
covers of blues classics but also some new songs, including
"Big Legged Woman" and Don Nix's "Going Down".
Most of new material was written by Russell.
As were many of the top bluesmen of his generation, he was
now playing what he affectionately called the "Fillmore
circuit", playing alongside the big rock acts of the
day for a young, mainly white, audience. As a result of
his touring with Eric Clapton, the two became good friends
-- Clapton held him in very high esteem -- and following
his term at Shelter Records, Freddie signed with the label
Clapton was recording for, RSO. His first album there, Burglar,
was produced by Clapton, and had him playing on several
tracks. The album was a disappointment for many fans, since
it did not contain much straight blues material.
Based on incidents while touring, the song "We're an
American band" by Grand Funk Railroad, includes the
line: "Up all night with Freddie King, got to tell
you poker's his thing."
He continued to tour heavily. He died in Dallas in 1976
from a heart attack and complications arising from bleeding
ulcers and pancreatitis. He was 42 years old.
