King, Albert (1923–1992)

US blues guitarist and singer. His ringing style influenced numerous rock guitarists. His recordings for the Stax label, such as ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’ and ‘Crosscut Saw’ (both 1967), became classics and made him popular beyond the blues circuit. His playing also shows psychedelic and funk influences.

King was born in Indianola, Mississippi. Left-handed, he learned to play on a standard guitar without restringing it, which contributed to his characteristic sound. His first recordings were made in Indiana, Chicago, and St Louis. In 1966 he signed with Stax Records in Memphis, then a leading blues and soul label, which provided him with first-rate backing musicians in Booker T and the MGs for the album Born Under a Bad Sign (1967). At that time many rock guitarists were discovering the blues, and King's strong electric guitar solos were much borrowed and imitated; King in turn gained a new audience in the rock clubs, and his next Stax album, Live Wire/Blues Power (1968), was recorded live at the fashionable Fillmore club in San Francisco.

Horn sections added a funk element to King's music in the 1970s, both before and after the demise of Stax; later he returned to a purer blues sound, as on the album I'm in a Phone Booth, Baby (1986), with its title track written by the younger blues musician Robert Cray (1953– ).