Albert King ( April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992) was an influential American Blues guitarist and singer.
One of the "Three Kings" of the Blues guitar (along with B.B. King and Freddie King), he stood 6 foot 4" weighed in at 260 pounds (118 kg) and was known as "The Velvet Bulldozer". He was born Albert Nelson into a humble family in Indianola, Mississippi, at a cotton plantation where he worked in his early days. One of his earlier influences in music was his own father, Will Nelson, who would often play the guitar. During his childhood he would also sing at a family gospel group at a church. He began his professional work as a musician with a group called In the Groove Boys, in Osceola, Arkansas. He also briefly played drums for Jimmy Reed's band. The electric guitar became his signature instrument, his preference being the Gibson Flying V, which he named "Lucy".
His first hit was "I'm A Lonely Man", released in 1959. However, it wasn't until his 1961 release "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong" that he had a major hit, ranking 14th on the R&B charts. In 1966 he signed with the famous Stax record label and in 1967 released his legendary album Born Under A Bad Sign. The title track of that album (written by Booker T. Jones and William Bell) became King's most well known song and has been covered by many artists (from Cream to Homer Simpson). On February 1, 1968 King was hired by promoter Bill Graham to open the show at the Fillmore West for John Mayall and Jimi Hendrix. King was the first blues musician to play at the Fillmore, and played several times at that venue along his career.