Eric Clapton has a well-known admiration for Robert Johnson, but if you examine his electric guitar playing it is clear that one of his top influences has been Albert King. Other guitarists who credit King as an influence have included Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robert Cray and Otis Rush. Albert played with a powerful tone, great imagination and, unlike a great many current Blues and Rock guitarists, never relied on B. B. King clichés.
Arkansas born Albert King Nelson was rather typical. Having started as a gospel musician, he also taught himself guitar at a very early age. His playing was heavily impacted by his being left handed. Guitar aficionados will be interested that King merely flipped the guitar over without re-stringing it — that certainly had an influence on his sound.
King's switch from sacred music to Blues was the result of hearing Lonnie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson and others. By 1950, King was playing the Blues exclusively and was a member of the house band at the T-99 nightclub in Osceola, Arkansas. The group also played other area clubs and after gaining some local notoriety he moved to Gary, Indiana, joining a band that included Jimmy Reed. Since the group had two guitarists already, King switched to drums for a time.
Soon after moving to Gary, King was discovered — as so many were — by Willie Dixon. He soon recorded his first sessions in 1953, though they saw only a little regional success. Hence King returned to Arkansas and again worked locally. A move to Saint Louis in 1956 led to a bit more success and by 1958 he was doing a fair amount of recording having his first national success in 1961 with "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong."
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True Blues stardom came in 1966 with Albert King's signing with the legendary Stax Records. Rock audiences were catching on to King and he played Fillmore West a number of times in the late 1960s. The 1970s and the rest of his life saw much touring and well supported shows in clubs and at festivals. He passed away in 1992.
Time will not soon erase the iconic image of Albert King playing left handed on his familiar Gibson Flying V guitar.