Bobby Marchan born 30 April 1930

Bobby Marchan (April 30, 1930 – December 5, 1999) was an American rhythm and blues singer, songwriter, recording artist, bandleader, MC, and female impersonator.

Marchan was born Oscar James Gibson in Youngstown, Ohio  and grew up with adolescent loves of blues music and men in drag. By 1953, he was working in a troupe of female impersonators known as the Powder Box Revue, who came to New Orleans to perform at 
the Dew Drop Inn. He liked the city's liberal attitude and decided to stay. Marchan became the MC at the Tiajuana Club, where he discussed make-up with Little Richard.

He made two records in 1954 ("Just A Little Walk" for Aladdin and "You Made A Fool Out Of Me" for Dot), but they made little impact. The New Orleans pianist Huey Smith took Johnny Vincent of Ace Records to see Marchan at the Tiajuana. Vincent gave him $200 and a record contract, thinking that he had signed a female vocalist.

In 1956, Marchan's recording of Smith's novelty song "Little Chickee Wah-Wah" sold reasonably well and he appeared at the Apollo Club in Harlem and at the Brooklyn Paramount. He and Smith decided to work together by forming a group, Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns. Smith would write, arrange, record and play piano while Marchan would sing.

From 1957, Marchan also toured with the Clowns, the band led by Huey "Piano" Smith, sometimes performing as lead singer and bandleader in place of Smith, who reputedly would stay in New Orleans to write and record while his band played clubs and toured. The touring band included James Booker on piano. Marchan also recorded with the band, singing on Huey Smith and the Clowns' hit records "Rockin'

Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu," "Don't You Just Know It," and the original version of "Sea Cruise" (later recorded by Frankie Ford), among others.

In 1958 Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns released one of the greatest double-sided singles in rock'n'roll - "High Blood Pressure" and "Don't You Just Know It". The latter, with its call and response chorus, was written around a phrase used by their coach driver. The single climbed to No 9 in the US charts. Their album, Having A Good Time, shows that Smith knew how to write for Marchan's soaring high-pitched vocals, but Marchan was not happy at seeing only Smith's face on the cover.

                             

In 1959, he left the Clowns and resumed his solo career, on Bobby Robinson's Fire record label. He had a number one hit on the national R&B chart in 1960 with "There's Something on Your Mind", a cover of a song written and first performed by Big Jay McNeely, but with Marchan adding lengthy spoken word passages. 

A series of Fire singles followed in rapid succession, among them "Booty Green," "All in My Mind," "What You Don't Know Won't Hurt You," and "Yes, It's Written All Over Your Face," but none earned much attention on the national charts.

In 1964 Marchan toured with Otis Redding, who recommended him to Stax, where he cut two singles, "What Can I Do" and "Mary's Little Lamb". He moved from label to label and recorded the original version of what later became Slade's first hit, "Get Down and Get With It" for Dial records in 1965. The song was covered by Little Richard, and then reworked in 1971 by British glam rock band Slade as "Get Down and Get with It", giving the band their first chart hit.

After moving to Cameo-Parkway Records he had some success with "There's Something About You, Baby", and then his second solo R&B chart hit in 1966 with "Shake Your Tambourine." Subsequent efforts, including 1967's "Meet Me in Church" and "You Better Hold On," received scant attention, however, and after 1968's "(Ain't No Reason) For Girls to Be Lonely" -- a one-shot for Gamble -- Marchan spent nearly a decade without a record deal, returning to his drag roots yet again also regularly performing at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

By 1977 he was installed as the MC at New Orleans' Club Alhambra, resurfacing that same year on Mercury with "I Wanna Bump With the Big Fat Woman," soon followed by another novelty effort, "Disco Rabbit." Around 1983 Marchan founded his own production company, Manicure, to scout and promote up-and-coming hip-hop acts including Take Fo' Records bounce music artist DJ Jubilee. In 1987 Marchan recorded his final single, an updated version of "There Is Something on Your Mind," and later helped found the Cash Money label.

In recent years, Marchan developed cancer and had a kidney removed. He worked when he could and Westside Records had rush- released a Bobby Marchan CD, Clown Jewels - the Masters 1956-75, so that he could see it before he died in Gretna, Louisiana on December 5, 1999, aged 69.

Marchan was proud of his music, saying "I thought we made records that were different from everyone else in the 1950s."  (Edited from Wikipedia, The Independent & AllMusic)

Big Jay McNeely born 29 April 1927

Cecil James McNeely (April 29, 1927 – September 16, 2018), better known as Big Jay McNeely, was an American rhythm and blues saxophonist. He was credited with being the most flamboyant performer out of the saxophone honkers. His wailing tenor saxophone and outrageous stage antics helped define the sound and sensibility of early rock ’n’ roll,

Cecil James McNeely was born the youngest of three boys, in the Watts neighbourhood of Los Angeles. His father Dillard worked as a porter on floating casino the SS Tango, moored off the coast of Santa Monica. His mother Armonia was a Native American who made quilts sold on the ship. Both played piano, but Cecil was impressed when his brother Bob brought home a tenor saxophone. When Bob was conscripted during the war, he gave the instrument to Cecil, who took lessons. More than anything, Cecil wanted to copy Illinois Jacquet’s solo on the 1942 hit “Flying Home”, by Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra.

McNeely started playing in bands in high school, including a trio with the alto saxophonist Sonny Criss and the pianist Hampton Hawes, both of whom would distinguish themselves as jazz musicians. 

After Mr. McNeely’s unhinged appearance in an amateur night at a club in Watts, Johnny Otis, the renowned bandleader and talent scout, persuaded him to join his ensemble. Mr. Otis was then under contract to Savoy Records, whose owner, Herman Lubinsky, christened Mr. McNeely “Big Jay,” not because of his size — he was 5-foot-10 and of average build — but because of his outsize talent.

He teamed with his older brother Robert McNeely, who played baritone saxophone, and made his first recordings with Otis, who ran the Barrelhouse Club that stood only a few blocks from McNeely's home. Shortly after he performed on Otis's "Barrel House Stomp." Ralph Bass, A&R man for Savoy Records, promptly signed him to a recording contract. McNeely's first hit was "The Deacon's Hop,” an instrumental which topped the Billboard R&B chart in early 1949.

                            

Big Jay McNeely performed for the famed fifth Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on July 10, 1949. It was at this concert that McNeely and Lionel Hampton got into a showdown that resulted in pillows being thrown along with other items. His recording of "Blow Big Jay Blow" catapulted him into National prominence. McNeely and 
his Orchestra would come back to Los Angeles, to perform at the eleventh Cavalcade of Jazz on July 24, 1955 along with Lionel Hampton's Orchestra. The Medallions, The Penguins and James Moody would also be featured that same day.

Best known for his acrobatics and daring in performance, Mr. McNeely whipped up crowds by reeling off rapid sequences of screaming notes while lying on his back and kicking his legs in the air. Other times he would jump down off the stage and blow his horn while strutting his way through the audience.

Thanks to his flamboyant playing, called "honking," McNeely remained popular through the 1950s and into the early 1960s, recording for the Exclusive, Aladdin, Imperial, Federal, Vee-Jay, and Swingin' labels. But despite a hit R&B ballad, "There Is Something on Your Mind," (1959) featuring Little Sonny Warner on vocals, and a 1963 album for Warner Bros. Records,

Big Jay married the singer, Jackie Day (Jacqueline Baldain) on April 4th 1960. They recorded and toured together for many years.  At the time, rhythm and blues was being eclipsed by smoother sounds from Motown and elsewhere, and the ’60s rock culture would soon prize the electric guitar over the saxophone. In 1971, Big Jay and Jackie both retired from the industry. Big Jay gave up the late nights of the music business for the early mornings of being a postman, and Jackie went on to do security and police work.

However, thanks to an R&B revival in the early 1980s, McNeely left the post office and returned to touring and recording full-time, usually overseas. In 1983, after two decades out of the limelight, Mr. McNeely staged a comeback. He toured and recorded into the 21st century. He released the album “Blowin’ Down the House: Big Jay’s Latest and Greatest” just months before his 90th birthday in 2016.

A devout Jehovah Witness, Big Jay died in the Riverside University Health System Medical Centre, Moreno Valley, California on September 16, 2018 of prostate cancer, at the age of 91. 

His original tenor sax is enshrined in the Experience Music Project in Seattle, and he was inducted into The Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame.

(Edited mainly from Wikipedia & the New York Times)

Here’s a clip of Big Jay McNeely performing "Deacon's Hop" with The Crown Vics. Mayne Stage in Chicago, IL. May 2012.

Dale Potter born 28 April 1929

Dale Potter, (28 April 1929* - 14 March 1996) was once called “the greatest fiddle player who ever lived”. His Nashville studio work tended to prove that: Fondly known as “Mr. Double Stop,” he was one of the most-demanded studio fiddlers during the 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s.

He was born on a farm in Puxico, Missouri. He grew up as a child prodigy playing the family mandolin at age 4 and mastering the guitar by the age of 6. His father John Potter was his teacher and first musical influence. He learned about ten hoedowns in only two weeks not just through his father’s teaching but by listening to Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys performing each day at noon on the KVOO radio station out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hearing the fiddle captured Dale’s attention that led him on a mission to master that beautiful sound of the fiddle harmony.

Unaware of Bob Wills having more than one fiddler, Dale worked and soon created that harmony with his one fiddle using double stops. This was unheard of. Dale was so far ahead of his time. The popular western swing style included twin and triple fiddles. Dale remarkably captured that sound with double stops taking fiddling to a new level. His sophisticated fiddling won him many fiddling contests. 

At 16 years old Dale got special permission to leave school early to play from 3:30-4:00 on the KWOC radio station with Slim Dortch and The Ozark Jamboree. He stayed busy playing his fiddle locally. Soon he landed another radio job playing with Donald Howard and The Smiling Hillbillies on KLCN. Dale’s first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry was January 29, 1948 when he was just 18 years old. He played “Cattle Call” for the captive audience. This was the beginning of his many appearances on the Grand Ole Opry.

His characteristic heavy bowing style adorns many of the finest tracks cut in Nashville from the late Forties to the late Fifties, and has proved highly influential. Double Stops are an essential feature of Western Swing fiddling, with the sixth note of the chord often highlighted. Dale Potter is credited by many as the originator of double stopping and the instant creation of harmony fiddle lines. He also deliberately mimicked the riffs produced by the unusual tuning of the pedal steel.

               Here's "Maidens Prayer" from above album.

                             

In March 1949 he played alongside the electric guitarist Zeb Turner, steel guitarist Don Davis and the rhythm guitarist Jack Shook on two Hank Williams sessions. Among the numbers cut were Leon Payne's "Lost Highway", and three songs by Hank Williams, "May You Never Be Alone", "Mind Your Own Business" and "You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)". He subsequently became an in-demand session player, working on Red Foley’s Top 10 hit, ‘Sugarfoot Rag’, and a series of hits by Webb Pierce, Kitty Wells, Ray Price, Johnny Paycheck and Faron Young. Although Potter's musical career was interrupted by military service in Korea, it easily resumed when he returned to Nashville. 

He recorded extensively with Webb Pierce and Carl Smith and at the end of the Fifties even performed with "the father of Bluegrass Music", Bill Monroe. In 1952 he joined Homer and Jethro, Chet Atkins and the steel guitarist Jerry Byrd to cut an album as the Country All-Stars. He was married to Anita Carter (June Carter Cash's sister) in 1950 and was divorced from her in 1953. Potter also appeared on the very first Everly Brothers recording session in 1955.

Over the years Dale stayed busy playing in Las Vegas, Nevada with The Judy Lynn Show, Honolulu, Hawaii with a band he formed and Dallas, Texas with The Sons Of The West. Later in life Dale realized he had played his fiddle in every state except Alaska. 

There was however, to be one last flowering of his talent as he cut three albums for R.M Stone's Houston-based label, Stoneway: The Unique Fiddle Style of Dale Potter and Country Waltz Time and Super Fiddle (1979).

Dale Potter was a major influence of many great fiddlers like Bobby Hicks, Vassar Clements and Buddy Spicher. He was known for his gentle attitude and kind heart. He never hesitated to show a fiddler anything they wanted to learn and he readily shared new ideas. Dale Potter died March 13, 1996.

Dale Potter was inducted into The National Fiddler Hall of Fame in 2014.

(Edited from The Independent & AllMusic & The National Fiddler Hall of Fame) (* some sources give birth year as 1930)

Lydia (Tuinenburg) born 27 April 1940

Lydia Tuinenburg (April 27, 1940 - September 23, 2016) was an Indonesian-Dutch  rock singer from Amersfoort, Holland, active at the end of the 1950s and early 1960s.

Lydia Tuinenburg was born on April 27, 1940 in the port city of Tjilatjap (now: Cilacap) on the south coast of central Java and she left for the Netherlands with her family in 1952. They lived in Apeldoorn at the Rietzangerweg at the time. Her brother Charles, who was one year younger, formed his own group The Melody Strings in 1958. Lydia started singing with the Apeldoorn cabaret company Paljas, of which Ben Steneker was also a part.

In February 1959 Lydia and Ben joined the Melody Strings and with this combination they won a cup during a local talent show. This was followed by performances for radio KRO's Springbord and Radio Hasselt in Belgium. Partly due to this success they were invited to an audition at the record company Bovema in Heemstede. The test recordings pleased producer Frans van Schaik so much that he was able to offer the group a recording contract and also became their manager.

                             

In an old church in Heemstede, which had been converted into a studio, in May 1959 "Send Me The Pillow That You Dream On" (1949 composition by Hank Locklin) and "Heartbeat" (Buddy Holly & The Crickets) were recorded. Lydia & The Melody Strings appeared on TV in the program Pas Geperst (NCRV) and their live
performance made a big impression. Lydia became known as “the Dutch Connie Francis “and was invited to join others in the song festival at the Casino Kursaal in Knokke in July 1959.

In the autumn of 1959, there was such a demand for Send Me The Pillow that the record was continuously in the Top 10 of the Netherlands' best-selling singles for nine months in the period from November 1959 to August 1960. Judging by the sales results a gold record of more than 100,000 copies should have been awarded, but that never happened.

Lydis and brother Charles

In the meantime, Lydia and the melody Strings made more recordings including “ Lipstick On Your Collar,” “Your Cheatin 'Heart,” “ It's A Sin”  and “Don't Stop Kissin' Me Godnight. “  Since late 1959, Lydia’s photos appeared monthly in the music magazines of the time, such as Muziek Expres, Muziek Parade, Tuney Tunes and Song-Wereld.  The group travelled with the Teenagers Show of the magazine Muziek Expres from November 1959 (Zoo Hall, The Hague) to April 1960 (Carré, Amsterdam) through a number of large halls through the Netherlands.

The Melody Strings also got a new line-up in late 1959 with Ben Steneker continuing as a solo artist at CNR. In the spring of 1960, Charles and Lydia Tuinenburg moved to Zaandam and The Melody Strings were dissolved. Lydia was accompanied by The Black Dynamites during the last performance for the Muziek Expres Teenagers Show on April 2, 1960 in Carré, Amsterdam.

In the summer of 1960 Lydia came into contact with The Rollers in Zaandam. Frans van Schaik was impressed by the musical performance of this group and because he was aware of the impending emigration of Lydia to America at an early stage, it was decided to record enough material for a number of future singles. 

The record session took place in September 1960 and 9 songs were recorded on that occasion. Four singles were released in late 1960 / early 1961 and the unreleased song I Can't Stop Loving You was found in the EMI / Bovema tire archives for 32 years and released as a super bonus on Lydia's CD by Rarity Records.

Suddenly it ended. In the midst of the flood of performances and a bright future, Lydia had secretly married a record producer Ruud Doulage and gave birth to a son Francis-Gary in October 1960. She left for America on November 22, 1960 and joined her husband 

and son Francis in Costa Mesa, Southern California. The 'Dutch Connie Francis' mainly became an inconspicuous housewife and mother, but what she left behind was a financial mess, because it was simply a breach of contract for the record company, with financial consequences for the artists. Lydia's father took care of these matters and managed to stop any legal action if the artists waived all the money they were entitled to.

In 1965 Lydia returned to the Netherlands for two performances in Apeldoorn.  Another visit was planned for a reunion concert during November 2016 with Ben Steneker, but sadly she died from the effects of a cerebral hemorrhage, September 23, 2016 at the age of 76.(Edited from a Google translation from the Apeldoorn blog site Waterloo Station.)

Anita Darian born 26 April 1927

Anita Darian (April 26, 1927 – February 1, 2015) was an American soprano and actress whose four-octave voice earned her the nickname "The Armenian Yma Sumac" and spawned an eclectic 50-year career that ranged from performances with the New York City Opera, Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic to big-band jazz concerts

Born Anita Esgandarian in Detroit on April 26, 1927 of Armenian-American descent, she studied opera at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the Juilliard School of Music in New York, but first came to popular attention as a featured singer with the short-lived Sauter-Finegan jazz band of the mid-1950s, with whom she recorded for RCA Victor. She settled in New York City and worked in everything from opera and classical recitals to television jingles and cartoon voice-overs.

She recorded the Gershwins' musical "Lady Be Good" with Lehman Engel and the Belgium Radio Orchestra, which was broadcast nationally on NPR, and later participated in the recording of John Corigliano's eccentric electric-rock opera "The Naked Carmen," based on the original Bizet opera.

Her solo albums included two classics of "exotica"-"Hawaiian Paradise" for Fidelio Records in 1959 and "East of the Sun," released by Kapp Records in 1960, which was especially praised for her versions of "Miserlou" and "Gomen Nasai".
                        

                        Here's "Misirlou" from above album. 

                             

In 1961, millions of listeners heard her demonstrate her vast vocal range without knowing her name when she provided the swooping theramin-sounding counter-melody behind the tenor lead on the Tokens' No. 1 hit, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". 

Two RCA producers, Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore, had engaged George David Weiss to fashion a more modern English -language adaptation of the South African folk song "Wimoweh" by Solomon Linda, and he brought Darian in to vocalize before, during and after the saxophone solo, using her eerie descant voice as another instrument. Originally intended as the "B" side of the Tokens single "Tina," it became one of the biggest-selling records of all time.

Her unique soprano was also heard as background on numerous other pop and R&B recordings, including Mickey and Sylvia's No. 1 hit "Love is Strange" and for such diverse artists as Burt Bacharach, Dinah Washington, LaVern Baker, King Curtis, Jane Morgan, Patti Page, Eddie Calvert, and Maxene Andrews of the Andrews Sisters

On Broadway, she was seen as Helen Chao in Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Flower Drum Song" and as Lady Thiang in both the 1960 City Centre revival of "The King and I" with Barbara Cook and Farley Granger and the 1968 City Centre production with Constance Towers and Michael Kermoyan. She had previously appeared with Cook in a 1956 live TV broadcast of the musical "Bloomer Girl.”  Other stage roles included Maria Corona in the 1965 City Centre revival of Gian Carlo Menotti's "The Saint of Bleecker Street".

She was featured on several studio-cast album recordings of Broadway musicals and operettas, reprising her role of Lady Thiang for a 1962 version of "The King and I" with Barbara Cook and Theodore Bikel; as Julie in "Show Boat" with Cook and John Raitt; and as Princess Margaret in "The Student Prince" with Jan Peerce, Roberta Peters and Georgio Tozzi, all for Columbia Records. She was also seen in TV adaptations of "The Golden Apple" with Margaret Whiting and the Jule Styne-Leo Robin musical version of "Ruggles of Red Gap" with Michael Redgrave, Peter Lawford and Jane Powell. Her guest appearances included such programs as "The Bell Telephone Hour," "The Jack 

Paar Show," "Music For a Summer Night," and the British series "The Music Shop".

In 1970, Leonard Bernstein cast her as Leonora in "Fidelio" for his celebration of Beethoven's 150th birthday at Lincoln Center, which was also broadcast on CBS-TV as part of the New York Philharmonic's "Young People's Concert" series. Darian had previously appeared on the program humming a kazoo in the Philharmonic's performance of Mark Bucci's "Concerto For Singing Instrument," which emanated from the stage of Carnegie Hall, conducted by Bernstein

Later classical recordings under her own name include Glenn Gould's "So You Want to Write a Fugue" with the Juilliard String Quartet and Ned Rorem's "Four Dialogues For Two Voices and Two Pianos".  She toured the country singing with several major symphonies including The Cleveland Orchestra and The Los Angeles Symphony, and appeared at such venues as The Hollywood Bowl, New Jersey Arts Centre and Blossom Festival in Ohio. As late as 2012, she was featured in concerts honouring the Great American Songbook.

Darian died on February 1, 2015, aged 87, at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, New York, due to surgical complications.  (Edited mainly from Broadway World.)

Albert King born 25 April 1923

Albert Nelson (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), known by his stage name Albert King, was an American blues guitarist and singer whose playing influenced many others He is one of the three performers (together with B.B. King and Freddie King) known as the "Kings of the Blues."

Albert King was born in Indianola, Mississippi, the same town where B.B. King grew up. However, on his Social Security application in 1942, his birthplace was entered as “Aboden, Miss.,” likely based on his pronunciation of Aberdeen. King, who gave his birth date as April 25, 1923, was raised primarily in Arkansas. As a child, he sang with his family’s gospel group at a church where his father played the guitar. When King was eight, his family moved to Forrest City, Arkansas and he would pick cotton on plantations in the area. Around that same time, King bought his first guitar, paying only $1.25. His first inspiration was T-Bone Walker.

King began working as a professional musician when he joined a group called In the Groove Boys in Osceola, Arkansas, in the late Forties. He then moved north and played drums with Jimmy Reed, both onstage and on several early Reed recordings. In the early Fifties, King moved to Gary, Indiana, and then, in 1953, to Chicago. It was in Chicago that King cut his first singles, “Lonesome in My Bedroom” and “Bad Luck Blues,” for Parrot Records.

The electric guitar quickly became King’s primary instrument; his preferred instrument being “Lucy” a Gibson Flying V that he played left-handed, holding it upside down and tuning it for a right-handed player. Standing 6′ 4″, and weighed 260 pounds, known as “The Velvet Bulldozer”, he was a major influence on blues & rock guitar players, some say without him, modern guitar music would 
not sound as it does, his style has influenced both black and white blues players from Otis Rush and Robert Cray to Gary Moore and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

In 1956, King returned to St. Louis and formed a new band. He resumed recording in 1959 and scored his first minor hit, “I’m a Lonely Man.” The song was written by Little Milton, who was an A&R man for Bobbin Records, the label that released the record. King recorded for several other small labels during this period, including King Records. In 1961, he scored his first major hit, “Don’t Throw Your Love on Me Too Strong,” which reached Number 14 on the R&B chart.

                            

King’s real breakthrough came in 1966, when he moved to Memphis and signed with Stax Records. Working with producer Al Jackson Jr. and backed by Booker T. and the M.G.’s, King recorded such classics as “Crosscut Saw” and “As the Years Go Passing By.” In 1967, Stax released Born Under a Bad Sign. 

The title track became King’s best-known song and has been covered by many artists, including Cream, even though they titled it “Strange Brew”. (Clapton’s solo is a note-for-note cover of King’s solo on his Stax Record hit “Crosscut Saw”). King played many shows at promoter Bill Graham’s Fillmore East and the Fillmore West venues. One show was recorded and released as the album Live Wire/Blues Power.

In 1969, King performed live with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, forming what was called an “87-piece blues band.” During the early Seventies, he recorded the album Lovejoy with a group of white rock singers and an Elvis Presley tribute album, Albert King Does the King’s Things. By 1970s, Albert King was releasing one album a year. His albums were steady sellers, consistently entering the US Billboard 200 and the US R&B Charts. King continued to tour throughout the Seventies, and in June 1970, he joined the Doors onstage at a show in Vancouver, Canada.

King’s sound underwent a major change in the Seventies, as he teamed up with the Bar-Kays and the Memphis Horns on the albums I’ll Play the Blues for You and I Wanna Get Funky. That partnership gave his music a much funkier sound than it had on his earlier recordings, and the former album’s title track became one of his signature songs. King also worked with Allen Toussaint and some of the Meters during this period.

During the Eighties, King received considerable praise from many young blues guitarists, most notably Stevie Ray Vaughan. The two appeared together on the Canadian television show In Session in December 1983, a performance that was issued on CD in 1993. One British writer described Vaughan as a “young Texan who apparently believes that Albert King is God and the Lord should be praised regularly.”

King announced his retirement in the mid 80.s,, but it was short-lived -- Albert continued to regularly play concerts and festivals throughout America and Europe for the rest of the decade. He continued to perform until his sudden death in 1992, when he suffered a fatal heart attack on December 21. His final concert had been in Los Angeles two days earlier. He was given a funeral procession with the Memphis Horns playing "When the Saints Go Marching In" and at his funeral, Joe Walsh played a slide-guitar rendition of “Amazing Grace” as a tribute to King. He was buried in Paradise Gardens Cemetery in Edmondson, Arkansas, near his childhood home.

(Edited mainly from rockandrollparadise.com)