Earl King

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Earl King (1997)
Earl King (1997)
Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Those Lonely, Lonely Nights
  US 7th 08/20/1955 (11 weeks)
Always a first time
  US 17th 03/17/1962 (5 weeks)

Earl King (born February 7, 1934 in New Orleans , † April 17, 2003 ibid; real name Earl Silas Johnson IV ) was an American blues and rhythm and blues singer, guitarist and songwriter. Due to his involvement in the recordings of many artists and his many contacts, he belonged to the influential core of the New Orleans rhythm and blues scene.

Career

Earl Silas Johnson IV was the son of a blues pianist and grew up in the Irish Channel neighborhood of New Orleans. The father Earl Silas Johnson III, who played in a band with Tuts Washington , passed away early. Earl King made his first musical experiences with gospel music in the church choir. In New Orleans he also heard Smiley Lewis play in a bar, whereupon he began to sing the blues.

The pianist Huey "Piano" Smith hired the young singer for his band and finally persuaded him to play the guitar. While working in the city's renowned blues clubs, Earl King was also able to study and acquire the style of Guitar Slim . In classes with Slim he learned to tailor the guitar solo specifically to the song and a "psychological approach" to songwriting. Earl was able to replace his mentor in his band when he could not take a tour on the occasion of his chart success The Things That I Used to Do due to a hospital stay. At this time Little Richard came to New Orleans for the first time, where he heard Earl King, and whose great influence on his rock 'n' roll he later recorded.

In 1953 Earl King was able to record a first single for the Savoy Records label with Huey Smith on piano and Lee Allen on saxophone, which, however, attracted little attention. The next year he recorded three singles for Specialty Records . In addition to the regional hit A Mother's Love , the name change was particularly important: the label boss Art Rupe had come up with the stage name "King Earl", but an employee twisted the words when designing the record labels , so that from that point on Earl only published as "Earl King". The development opportunities at Specialty were limited, however, as Earl looked too much like Guitar Slim on the recordings, whose reputation and support were paid more attention by the label.

Specialty producer and talent scout Johnny Vincent founded Ace Records in 1955 and convinced Earl King to follow suit. With Those Lonely, Lonely Nights Earl made his national breakthrough there and reached seventh place on the R&B charts. Don Robey from the Texan label Duke-Peacock took over the promotion and tour management for the marketing of Earl's first hit, despite the existing competition to Ace. This made the song a widely covered standard. In the charts, the original version immediately had to assert itself against the cover of Johnny Guitar Watsons . Earl King released a record at Ace every year until 1960.

With the move to Imperial Records in 1960, Earl King intensified his activities in the musical business. In collaboration with producers Dave Bartholomew and Cosimo Matassa , he began to compose, arrange and produce for other artists. He was in charge of Imperial Huey Smith, Roland Stone and Jimmy Clanton , whose hit Just a Dream he wrote. He also composed Hum Diddy Doo and Teenage Love for Fats Domino and Do-Re-Mi for Lee Dorsey .

Earl King's first own single on Imperial was Come On (and Let The Good Time Roll) , which featured versions by Jimi Hendrix , Stevie Ray Vaughan , Fats Domino, Lee Dorsey and Dr. John gives. 1962 saw Earl King's own new regional hit, Trick Bag , which became an unofficial theme tune for the city of New Orleans and which the Meters and Robert Palmer replayed. In the same year Earl released his second chart hit Always a First Time , which could move up to 17th place in the R&B charts. A planned contract with Motown Records only just failed.

To kickstart Professor Longhair's career , Earl King wrote the piano veteran Big Chief in 1964 , in homage to Earl's mother. With co-author Dr. John on guitar, the author sang and whistled two audio tracks as a template for later adaptation by Professor Longhair. The provisional was found to be so good that the traces remained unchanged on the original sound carrier. The good-humored, whistled melody turned the song into a Mardi Gras anthem in New Orleans.

After Earl King had cut back on his activities for a few years, he recorded his first album entitled Street Parade in Allen Toussaint's studio , which was only released in the UK . Still, the theme song once again became a carnival standard. It stayed that way for a long time apart from some compositions and participation in compilations .

It wasn't until 1986 that he played a second album called Glazed for the Black Top Records label . During the recordings he was accompanied by the band Roomful of Blues . The album, released in 1988, received critical acclaim and was nominated for a Grammy . Earl King built on this success by releasing the album Sexual Thelepathy in 1990 and the album Hard River to Cross in 1993. Both albums sometimes contain new recordings of old hits.

Despite complaints from a sugar disease , the guitarist toured regularly in the following years, less in his homeland than in blues-loving Japan . Earl King died on April 17, 2003 in a New Orleans hospital from complications with his illness. He received a typical Creole funeral with a street parade and jazz marching music.

Discography

Albums

Singles

  • 1953 Have You Gone Crazy / Beggin 'at Your Mercy , Savoy 1102 (as Earl Johnson)
  • 1954 - A Mother's Love / I'm Your Best Bet Baby , Specialty 495
  • 1954 - Till I Say Well Done / What Can I Do , Specialty 497 (as The Kings)
  • 1954 - No One But Me / Eating and Sleeping , Specialty 531
  • 1955 - Baby, You Can't Get Your Gun / Those Lonely, Lonely Nights , Ace 509
  • 1955 - My Love Is Strong / Little Girl , Ace 514
  • 1955 - Greatfully / Don't Take It So Hard , King 4780
  • 1955 - I Get So Happy / Someone Who Cares , King 4824
  • 1956 - They Tell Me / I Call on You , King 4959
  • 1956 - It Must Have Been Love / I'll Take You Back Home , Ace 517
  • 1956 - Mother Told Me Not to Go / Is Everything Allright? , Ace 520
  • 1957 Those Lonely, Lonely Feelings / You Can Fly High , Ace 529
  • 1958 - I'll Never Get Tired / Well 'O Well' O Well 'O Baby , Ace 543
  • 1959 - A Weary Silent Night / Everybody's Carried Away , Ace 564
  • 1960 - Don't You Know You're Wrong / Buddy, It's Time to Go , Ace 598
  • 1960 - Darling Honey Angel Child / I Can't Help Myself , Rex 1015
  • 1960 - Come On (Let the Good Times Roll) Part 1 / Part 2 , Imperial 5713
  • 1960 - Love Me Now / The Things That I Used to Do , Imperial 5730
  • 1961 - You're More to Me Than Gold / Come Along With Me , Imperial 5750
  • 1961 - You Better Know / Mama and Papa , Imperial 5774
  • 1962 - Trick Bag / Always a First Time , Imperial 5811
  • 1962 - We Are Just Friends / You're More to Me Than Gold , Imperial 5858
  • 1962 - Tic Tac Toe / A Part of Me , wall 11230
  • 1962 - Mama and Papa / This Is What I Call Living , wall 11232
  • 1965 - Poor Sam , Hot Line 908
  • 1967 - Poor Sam / Feeling My Way Around , Checker 1167
  • 1972 - Street Parade Part 1 / Part 2 , Kansu 101

literature

  • Jeff Hannusch: I Hear You Knockin ' . 5th edition. Swallow Publications, Ville Platte 2005, ISBN 0-9614245-0-8 , Earl King. Still Letting The Good Times Roll, p. 189-204 (American English, first edition: 1985).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Charts US
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Jeff Hannusch: I Hear you Knockin ' . 5th edition. Swallow Publications, Ville Platte 2005, ISBN 0-9614245-0-8 , Earl King. Still Letting The Good Times Roll, p. 189-204 (American English, first edition: 1985).
  3. ^ A b c d e Greg Johnson: Earl King. In: Cascade Blues Association (archive). Archived from the original on May 30, 2013 ; accessed on November 15, 2008 .
  4. ^ Charles White: The Life and Times of Little Richard. The Authorized Biography . Omnibus Press, London / New York / Paris / Sydney / Copenhagen / Berlin / Madrid / Tokyo 2003, ISBN 0-7119-9761-6 , Thinkin 'About My Mother, pp. 34-42 (first edition: 1984).
  5. ↑ Bill Dahl: Earl King Biography. In: All Music Guide. Retrieved November 15, 2008 .
personal data
SURNAME Earl King
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Johnson, Earl Silas IV (real name); King, Earl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American blues and R&B musician and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH February 7, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH New Orleans , Louisiana, USA
DATE OF DEATH April 17, 2003
Place of death New Orleans , Louisiana, USA