He wasn't the fastest or the flashiest bluesman in the business, but Albert King's thick tone and ferocious attack gave his signature guitar-slinging unparalleled emotional power. An imposing figure (6'4", 250-plus lbs.) with an unorthodox technique (a left-hander, he played a Flying V upside-down, as if it were strung for a right-hander), King was a prime mover in the late-'60s blues-boom. Eric Clapton , Stevie Ray Vaughan and Gary Moore are only three of his most notable disciples.

Born Albert Nelson in Indianola, Miss. on April 25, 1923, he adopted the King surname when he began recording in '53. Settling in St. Louis, he scored a minor '61 hit with "Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong" while working as a bulldozer operator. In 1967, King joined the Memphis-based Stax roster, which coupled his full-throated vocals and stinging guitar with the tough, horn-driven soul arrangements of Booker T. & The MGs. The resulting Born Under A Bad Sign LP remains a towering masterpiece of modern blues: guitar-crushing ballads ("As The Years Go Passing By," "Personal Manager," "Laundromat Blues"), hip-grinding grooves ("Oh, Pretty Woman," "Crosscut Saw," "The Hunter") and the oft-covered title track. King found a new audience on the psychedelic ballroom circuit and 1968's Live Wire/Blues Power LP--recorded at the Fillmore West in San Francisco and featuring the locomotive soul instrumental "Night Stomp" and the jivey, good-humored "Blues Power"--documents this period perfectly.

Having found perfection, King continued to tour and record throughout the '70s and '80s, cutting several solid live albums and working with everyone from John Mayall to Allen Toussaint to the Muscle Shoals session crew, until his death from a heart attack on December 21, 1992.

This Biography was written by Don Waller