Kineman Karma Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 G'day all, My question is; Are Freddy KING & BB KING blood related. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHXKlNP4-Aw&NR=1&feature=fvwp Sorry I tried to post Albert KING but the forum only allows 2x videos I SERIOUSLY CAN'T WAIT FOR MY ES-335 CHERRY FIGURED TOP TO TURN UP AT MY GC!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 It's my understanding that NONE of the musical Kings are related, B.B., Albert, Freddie, Ben E., nor Carole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kineman Karma Posted June 17, 2011 Author Share Posted June 17, 2011 It's my understanding that NONE of the musical Kings are related, B.B., Albert, Freddie, Ben E., nor Carole. WOW!! Thanks for your reply. Well I reckon as far as the Blues is concerned they have to be. I love Freddie, BB and Albert with his upside down flying V...AWESOME!!!! LOL I might change my surname to KING... Here is Albert!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5dpp2iCRwM&feature=related Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 The first "blues" King I heard was B.B.'s "The Thrill Is Gone" on early F.M. radio. I would have to say that style wise, Albert became my favorite (even before SRV stole all his licks). I have also been fortunate enough the have seen B.B., Albert, and Ben E. in concert. PS: If you like Freddie, you should also check out Otis Rush. Plays left-handed like Albert, but with a little more "R&R" style like Freddie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clayville Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Freddie is the one I love most. Such fire and zest for life in everything he does, terrific writing - many of his tunes became standards, fabulous semi-hollow tone and more power in his voice than anyone after Howlin' Wolf, imho. To have run through that arc from the 50's pompadour and the early instrumentals (Hide Away, San-ho-zay), through the commanding blues of songs like Have You Ever Loved a Woman & Tore Down & his version of Someday After While, on through the later funk/blues -- all in his very short time on earth (42 years)... the big man cast a giant shadow. If you don't know his work well, do yourself a favor and pick up one of the greatest hits collections at least. I love Albert & B.B. too, but Freddie is IT for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojorule Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Freddie is the one I love most. Such fire and zest for life in everything he does, terrific writing - many of his tunes became standards, fabulous semi-hollow tone and more power in his voice than anyone after Howlin' Wolf, imho. To have run through that arc from the 50's pompadour and the early instrumentals (Hide Away, San-ho-zay), through the commanding blues of songs like Have You Ever Loved a Woman & Tore Down & his version of Someday After While, on through the later funk/blues -- all in his very short time on earth (42 years)... the big man cast a giant shadow. If you don't know his work well, do yourself a favor and pickup on of the greatest hits collections at least. I love Albert & B.B. too, but Freddie is IT for me. With you on that, despite loving BB best when starting out (especially Thrill is Gone, as well). In the end BB's penchant for the major pentatonic leaves me wanting more blues notes. It ups his jazz factor, while taking just a little of the biting bluesy edge off his playing for me. I used to turn to 60s-era Clapton for vibrato, sustain and phrasing in the BB vein, but with more emphasis on the minor scales. Then I figured that Clapton was channelling Freddie through more than just his cover of Hideaway. I think Clapton's whole schtick about being most influenced by Robert Johnson was a big red herring. I always preferred the tone of BB's clean amps to that of Clapton's Marshalls, and the thing about Freddie's later sound is that it does blues with more minor notes than BB, but also with what I consider the ideal tone: 345/355 through hard pushed, big clean Fenders still sounding like they're about to break up. (And despite the fetishism for black-face Fenders, just about all of my favourite blues cuts in terms of tone come from the very late 1960s and the 1970s, and quite probably involve silver-face technology - in the case of Freddie King, for sure.) As for the OP, it might be worth thinking about the origins of many Afro-American surnames in so-called slave names. Presumably all three blues Kings are descended from slaves owned by somebody called King. So not blood-related, but it is just possible that their forebears all worked on the same plantation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeylovetx Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 I play with Freddie's daughter Wanda (King) here in Dallas,TX. I can assure you they are not related, I love all three King's (BB, Freddie, Albert) but have to say out of the three, Freddie is my favorite. I was excited when I got the call to start playing with Wanda, she has a lot of great stories to tell, wish she would write a book... we are working on her 3rd CD release and it's coming along nicely so be on the lookout for it. We are all happy that Freddie finally got inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame... It would be nice if someday we would see a Freddie King signature Gibson to honor such a great influential blues man.. maybe with his induction into the Hall of Fame we'll see that happen... Peace, Joey L. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbluesplayer Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 I think Albert changed his name to King. I vaguely remember something about him supposedly doing it to gain a little notoriety by association. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimR56 Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Ben E. King is a soul singer. The other King in the blues guitar realm was Earl King. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clayville Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 I play with Freddie's daughter Wanda (King) here in Dallas,TX.... We are all happy that Freddie finally got inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame... It would be nice if someday we would see a Freddie King signature Gibson to honor such a great influential blues man. Peace, Joey L. Very nice to hear that his legacy lives on in more ways than one. I wonder what that Sig model might look like? Gold LP? Red ES-355? I seem to recall a brown/walnut semi on youtube somewhere too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Aw, man...I love all those (3) King boys! For their differences, as well as their similarities. They all gave us, so much! It's rumored (at least), that B.B. invented the vibrato, we all use, now...when he was trying to get the sound, of his cousin Bukka White's slide guitar, without playing slide, as he didn't know how. Whatever... it certainly changed Rock riffing, after that. I feel like, too...that B.B. has transcended "blues man," to "National Treasure!" CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimR56 Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Freddie is my favorite among the big 3 as well, and was a real inspiration to me as I began to play guitar back in the 70's. I always picture him with a red ES345, like on the cover of the "Bonanza Of Instrumentals" album. He was still using one when a lot of those "Beat" videos were shot, too, around '66. The late-period FK was good, but I lean toward the classic 60's period. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbqtnNorgQA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clayville Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Here's the brown one I knew I'd seen, with a short pickguard and the maestro vibrola http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eLw0Qf4XNY I vote red! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich W Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I think Albert changed his name to King. I vaguely remember something about him supposedly doing it to gain a little notoriety by association. Yup ... Albert's original surname was Nelson. He also started calling his guitar Lucy. This "appropriation" of other people's names and image was common among blues players, and probably the worst case was Rice Miller deciding to start calling himself Sonny Boy Williamson ... which really p*ssed off the original and still active Sonny Boy Williamson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich W Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I would have to say that style wise, Albert became my favorite (even before SRV stole all his licks). +1 for Albert ... because I love deep, down-and-dirty, electric blues BB also plays it with the best of them, but I don't care for a lot of his more "urban", big-band, R&B stuff ... I've tried to develop an appreciation for it, but find I only listen to his bluesy classics like Sweet Little Angel and How Blue Can You Get ... he sure had great pipes in his prime Freddie was a wonderful singer too ... gone too soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JO'C Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 +1 for Albert ... because I love deep, down-and-dirty, electric blues BB also plays it with the best of them, but I don't care for a lot of his more "urban", big-band, R&B stuff ... I've tried to develop an appreciation for it, but find I only listen to his bluesy classics like Sweet Little Angel and How Blue Can You Get ... he sure had great pipes in his prime Freddie was a wonderful singer too ... gone too soon I found this topic to be quite interesting. I love them all but have only seen BB live a few times. Freddy died way too young and I never had the chance to see Albert. My own playing style is more Albert-like with the bending. Because he plays a righty guitar lefty, his licks are very difficult for a conventional righty. He is pulling while we are pushing. Clapton and SRV may have "borrowed" his licks sound-wise but the path to that sound is completely different and is much more difficult. I've spent the last 30 years trying to master the bending style. Freddy has been a favorite since I first heard "Hideaway". BB is great but I like a little dirtier sound with more sustain. Anyhow, since I never saw Freddy or Albert, I decided to check their concert footage on YouTube. There is some amazing stuff, especially Freddy in 1972 and 1973. He was really on top of his game and you can tell he was enjoying every minute of it. Albert, on the other hand always sounds great but he is always looking back, angry at his band. I heard that he frequently fired his band, sometimes in the middle of a show. I guess for some, the underlying tension is what it takes to bring out the best in the Blues. Just look at Cream. They hated each othe by 1968 but their live performances on "Wheels of Fire" were phenomenal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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