Find the latest tracks, albums, and images from Freddie King. Listen to music from Freddie King. Find the latest tracks, albums, and images from Freddie King. Playing via Spotify Playing via YouTube. The Best Of Freddie King: The Shelter Years. 45,706 listeners 7 Jun 2000 18 tracks Play album Buy. Loading; Hide Away: The Best of Freddie. Freddie Christian was already an accomplished player when he moved from Texas to Chicago as a teenager in 1950. Son of JT Christian, the young man was taught guitar by his mother Ella Mae King and her brother Leon, and he had an eloquent and dextrous style reminiscent of T-Bone Walker, who was a big star in Texas when Freddie was growing up.In Chicago, he was influenced by the work of Robert.
Freddie Christian was already an accomplished player when he moved from Texas to as a teenager in 1950. Son of JT Christian, the young man was taught guitar by his mother Ella Mae King and her brother Leon, and he had an eloquent and dextrous style reminiscent of, who was a big star in Texas when Freddie was growing up. In Chicago, he was influenced by the work of and, both Blues players. Later he incorporated more crisp and emotive lines in the style of and who were ‘ripping up the rules’ around the West-side clubs at that time. Freddie sat in with many groups at these clubs, making a reputation for strident and incisive statements. His powerful and distinctive style was emerging.
The young Texan recorded with Little Sonny Cooper, Earle Payton’s Blues Cats and, before signing with. As ‘Freddie King’ he reverted to his mother’s surname, probably encouraged by his label to associate himself with one of the biggest stars in town,. (See ) Freddie’s first solo releases included the influential instrumental ‘Hideaway’, which topped the R&B Charts and featured in the Hot 100. His sharp, assured manner with the guitar was matched with a light, relaxed vocal delivery, and Freddie formed a band which toured and recorded for many years, working closely with King/Federal’s A&R man Sonny Thompson. They put out seven albums in five years, and his songs ‘(I’m) Tore Down’ and ‘Have You Ever Loved a Woman’ were substantial hits and were extensively covered by other Blues bands. Freddie’s explosive style led to him being billed as ‘The Texas Cannonball’ Freddie plays ‘Hideaway’ on TV in 1966. Can you spot Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown leading the House-band on second guitar?
Over in Britain, Freddie’s direct and distinctive style was a big influence on the young. When Eric quit the Yardbirds because their style was starting to lean towards pop songs, he was determined to establish a hard-edged kind of Blues at the heart of his music. When Eric cut the ‘Beano’ album with a few months later, Pete Brown remarked that Eric had “had a big dose of Freddie King”. Around the British club scene, fronted a successful band called Chicken Shack with Christine Perfect (McVie) on keyboards, that relied heavily on Freddie’s style, which was a by-word for searing guitar licks.
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Blistering guitar lines, soulful vocals and some great classic songs. Starting with his trademark instrumentals, Freddie had a huge influence on the modern Blues guitar.The gave new impetus to young American Blues players, both in record sales and touring opportunities, and Freddie enjoyed huge success ‘across the pond’. In 1970 he joined Leon Russell’s Shelter label and recorded a fine album ‘Getting Ready’ at Studios, including the much covered track ‘Going Down’. Live recordings in these years, including some scintillating guitar battles with guest players, showed that he could still crank up amazing energy. Eric Clapton played a lovely duet with Freddie on his 1974 album ‘Burglar’.Sadly, Freddie was called before his time, dying of heart failure in Dallas in 1976. Freddie makes his guitar sound like a breaking heart at this concert in Sweden, 1973.
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. 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,. Soon, the young guitarist formed his own band, the Every Hour Blues Boys, and was performing himself. 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 from a 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.
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 - 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. After their release, Freddie King and Atlantic/Cotillion parted ways.
King landed a new record contract with 's Shelter Records early in 1970. King recorded three albums for Shelter in the early '70s, all of which sold well.
In addition to respectable sales, his concerts were also quite popular with both blues and rock audiences. In 1974, he signed a contract with RSO Records - which was also 's record label - and he released Burglar, which was produced and recorded with.
Following the release of Burglar, King toured America, Europe, and Australia. In 1975, he released his second RSO album, Larger Than Life.