System Mechanic - Clean, repair, protect, and speed up your PC!Earl King, R&B Legend
February 07, 1934 - April 17, 2003
R&B legend Earl King died Thursday, April 17, 2003 from diabetes-related complications. He was 69.
Over his 50-year career, King wrote and recorded hundreds of songs and was responsible for some of the most enduring and idiosyncratic compositions in the history of R&B.
Born Earl Silas Johnson IV on February 7, 1934, in New Orleans, King was a self-described "nervous energy person" who constantly needed to be engaged in some creative pursuit. As a youngster, King was fascinated by the recordings of Texas guitarists T-Bone Walker and Gatemouth Brown and the live performances of local luminaries Smiley Lewis and Tuts Washington.
King met his major influence and mentor, Guitar Slim, at the Club Tijuana, and the two become fast friends. Still billed as Earl Johnson, the guitarist debuted on wax in 1953 on Savoy with "Have You Gone Crazy" (with pal Huey "Piano" Smith making the first of many memorable supporting appearances on his platters).
Johnson became Earl King upon signing with Specialty the next year (label head Art Rupe intended to name him King Earl, but the typesetter reversed the names!). "A Mother's Love," Earl's first Specialty offering, was an especially accurate Guitar Slim homage produced by Johnny Vincent, who would soon launch his own label, Ace Records, with King one of his principal artists. King's first Ace single, the seminal two-chord south Louisiana blues "Those Lonely, Lonely Nights," proved a national R&B hit (despite a sound alike cover by Johnny "Guitar" Watson). Smith's rolling piano undoubtedly helped make the track a hit.
In his prime, he was an explosive performer, tearing sinewy solos from his Stratocaster guitar and wearing his hair in an elaborate, upraised coif. King's song writing was informed by syncopated New Orleans beats and his interest in a broad range of subjects, from medieval history to the vagaries of the human heart and his own so-called "love syndromes." King wrote standout tunes for Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, and Lee Dorsey during the '60s. His best-known compositions include the Mardi Gras standards "Big Chief" and "Street Parade"; the rollicking "Come On (Let the Good Times Roll)," which both Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan recorded; and "Trick Bag," the quintessential New Orleans R&B story-song.
Although a potential 1963 pact with Motown was scuttled at the last instant, King admirably rode out the rough spots during the late '60s and '70s. In the 1990's, he rejuvenated his career when he signed with the Black Top label and released two superlative albums; Sexual Telepathy and Hard River to Cross.
Funeral arrangements were undisclosed.
