-the Master of the Telecaster-, Mr. Albert Collins is truly
regarded being one of the world's most talented and versatile
blues guitar players. Together with his reliable, phat and
funky guitar trademark has he once and for all made himself
permanent in the worlds music history. Not only as being
one of the coolest and most devoted blues guitarists around,
but also due to the fact of his original guitar playing
style, and his great and humble personality.
Albert Collins was born on the 1st of October, in 1932 in
Houston, Texas. He grew up on a farm with two farming parents,
and at a very young age he soon found himself helping out
at home with different chores. Being exposed to music at
a very early age, his first guitar heroes soon came to be
his cousin Lightnin' Hopkins and the nowadays legendary,
John Lee Hooker.
In 1941 the Collins family decided to move back Albert's
birthplace, Houston. Albert continued school but found it
to be enough after 10th grade and quit in favor of working.
From the beginning he was mostly interested in the organ
and the piano, but soon he found a lot bigger interest in
the guitar, which he had started to play at the local church.
However he didn't become really serious about hi s guitar
playing until he in the beginning of the 50s, started to
tour the black juke joints in Houston's black areas. In
1952 he formed his own group, Albert Collins & the Rhythm
Rockers, which included musicians like Eddie "Guitar
Slim" Jones (voc, el-g) and "Little" Milton
Campbell (voc, el-g). His first recording, The Freeze quickly
gave him the reputation as one of the greatest blues guitarists
alive, and his cool and funky guitar trademark came to mark
his career permanently. Between 1958 and 1971, Al bert recorded
mostly instrumental Texas blues, influenced by artists as
T-Bone Walker, John Lee Hooker, Lightning' Hopkins and various
jazz musicians.
During the 60s he recorded for several independent labels
like Kangaroo, Great Scott and TCF Hall. Many of his songs
were given cool little titles as Frosty, Sno-cone and Defrost.
Together with his band he also toured with different performers
as blues guitar player Albert King, vocalist Little Richard
and guitarist and harmonica player Jimmy Reed. In 1965 he
dissolved his group and settled in Kansas City. He was still
very musical active, and played with legendary musicians
as jazz-guitarist Wes Montgomery and organ player Jimmy
McGriff. In 1968 he was persuaded by Bob Hite, from the
famous blues/rock band Ca nned Heat, to move to California
were Hite had arranged a record deal for Albert with Imperial
Recordings. Albert decided to move out to California and
with Hite as prod ucer he cut three LPs for the company.
By the same time Albert started touring the Amer ican west
coast, and played among others with guitarist Robert Cray.
Collins west coast tours also generated in him inspiring
a whole new generation of blues guitar players as Robert
Cray, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Joe Louis Walker.
From 1972 to 78 Collins was quite tired of music and played
more and more seldom, and during these six years he completely
stopped recording. The whole matter went so far that he
during 1974 and 75 totally quit playing the guitar. Instead
he took a job as a construction worker, and e.g. did work
on Neil Diamonds house. After hard persuasions from his
wife, Gwen Collins, Albert decided to return to his music
career in the late 70s.
the Master of the Telecaster, live in London 1989
In 1978 Collins got a contract with one of Americas biggest
blues record companies , the Chicago based Alligator records.
The years with Alligator, backed by his own band the Icebreakers,
generated in some of his best recordings ever. His work
on Alligator quickly helped him back into international
blues society and the musical spotlights. Many of his recordings
on Alligator became Grammy nominated, but it was not until
the record "Showdown" from 1985 with Robert Cray
and Johnny Copeland, that Collins finally got the big respect
and acknowledgement that he so well deserved. In 1991 he
moved to the Virgin owned record company Pointblank were
he recorded three great and genuine recordings. He also
participated with B.B King on Gary Moores album After Hours
from 1992. The collaboration with Moore also led to Albert
being the guest blues artist on Moores following world tour
in 1993. He was also featured on a live recording with Moore
(Blues Alive) which was recorded during the tour. Collins
has also participated on one of jazz saxophone player Branford
Marsalis albums. In 1993 Collins released a collection titled
"Collins Mix- the best of" which included prominent
guest stars as Gary Moore, B.B King, Branford Marsalis and
harmonica player Kim Wilson from the Fabulous Thunderbirds.
In 1993 when Albert Collins was at his peak of his career,
he received the tragic diagnose that he was suffering from
incurable liver cancer. Despite the cancer he continued
to play and tour clubs and different festivals with his
band the Icebreakers until his imminent death. The last
recordings with the Icebreakers resulted in his last record,
Live 92-93 which was released in 1995, and captures one
of the worlds top blues guitarists in top shape. On the
25th of November, 1993, at the age of 61, Albert Collins
tragically passed away in peace at his home in Las Vegas,
California, only six months after being diagnosed with cancer.
Albert Collins was a moderate vocalist, but instead an incredible
and extremely magnificent guitarist with a rel iable phat
and juicy Fender Telecaster sound. With his peculiar, original
and funky guitar trademark Collins quickly established himself
as one of the worlds leading blues guitar players, together
with fellow guitar colleagues as B.B King, Buddy Guy, Eric
Clapton and Albert King. Between 1958 and 1971, Collins
mainly recorded instrumental Texas blues influenced by artists
as T-Bone Walker, John Lee Hooker, Lightning' Hopkins and
various jazz musicians. It would take until the mid 1970s
before he finally stepped up in front of the microphone
for the first time. During the years with Alligator he developed
his vocal skills, and after being faced with hard persuasions
from his friends and from his wife Gwen, he finally agreed
to give his vocals a chance. Eventually he turned out to
become a really great singer as well. Collins who since
the 50s been a devoted Fender Telecaster fan, has also been
honored by Fender with an own Fender Telecaster Signature
model.
