Freddie King (September 3, 1934 – December 28, 1976) was an
American blues guitarist and singer. He has been described as one of the
"Three Kings" of electric blues guitar, along with Albert King and
B.B. King.
Freddie King (who was originally billed as "Freddy" early in his career) was born and raised in Gilmer, TX, where he learned how to play guitar as a child; his mother and uncle taught him the
instrument. Initially, King played rural acoustic blues, in the vein of Lightin' Hopkins. By the time he was a teenager, he had grown to love the rough, electrified sounds of Chicago blues. In 1950, when he was 16 years old, his family moved to Chicago, where he began frequenting local blues clubs, listening to musicians like Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Little Walter, and Eddie Taylor. Soon, the young guitarist formed his own band, the Every Hour Blues Boys, and was performing himself.
In the mid-'50s, King began playing on sessions for Parrott and Chess Records, as well as playing with Earlee Payton's Blues Cats and the Little Sonny Cooper Band. Freddie King didn't cut his own
record until 1957,
when he recorded "Country Boy" for the small independent label
El-Bee. The single failed to gain much attention.
Three years later, King signed with Federal Records, a
subsidiary of King Records, and recorded his first single for the label,
"You've Got to Love Her With a Feeling," in August of 1960. The
single appeared the following month and became a minor hit, scraping the bottom
of the pop charts in early 1961. "You've Got to Love Her With
Feeling" was followed by "Hide Away," the song that would become
Freddie King's signature tune and most influential recording. "Hide
Away" was adapted by King and Magic Sam from a Hound Dog Taylor
instrumental and named after one of the most popular bars in Chicago.
The single was
released as the B-side of "I Love the Woman" (his singles featured a
vocal A-side and an instrumental B-side) in the fall of 1961 and it became a
major hit, reaching number five on the R&B charts and number 29 on the pop
charts. Throughout the '60s, "Hide Away" was one of the necessary
songs blues and rock & roll bar bands across America and England had to
play during their gigs.
King's first album, Freddy King Sings, appeared in 1961, and
it was followed later that year by Let's Hide Away and Dance Away With Freddy
King: Strictly Instrumental. Throughout 1961, he turned out a series of
instrumentals -- including "San-Ho-Zay," "The Stumble," and
"I'm Tore Down" -- which became blues classics; everyone from Magic
Sam and Stevie Ray Vaughan to Dave Edmunds and Peter Green covered King's
material. "Lonesome Whistle Blues," "San-Ho-Zay," and
"I'm Tore Down" all became Top Ten R&B hits that year.
Freddie King continued to record for King Records until
1968, with a second instrumental album (Freddy King Gives You a Bonanza of
Instrumentals) appearing in 1965, although none of his singles became hits.
Nevertheless, his influence was heard throughout blues and rock guitarists
throughout the '60s -- Eric Clapton made "Hide Away" his showcase
number in 1965. King signed with Atlantic/Cotillion in late 1968, releasing
Freddie King Is a Blues Masters the following year and My Feeling for the Blues
in 1970; both collections were produced by King Curtis. After their release,
Freddie King and Atlantic/Cotillion parted ways.
Nearly constant touring took its toll on King—he was on the
road almost 300 days out of the year. In 1976 he began suffering from stomach
ulcers. His health quickly deteriorated, and he died on December 28 of
complications of this illness and acute pancreatitis, at the age of 42.
