* En anglais uniquement
Highly respected around his Crescent City home base as both a performer and a songwriter, guitarist
Earl King was a prime New Orleans R&B force for more than four decades. Born Earl Johnson, the youngster considered the platters of Texas guitarists
T-Bone Walker and
Gatemouth Brown almost as fascinating as the live performances of local luminaries
Smiley Lewis and
Tuts Washington.
King met his major influence and mentor,
Guitar Slim, at the Club Tijuana, one of
King's favorite haunts (along with the Dew Drop, of course), and the two became 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,"
King'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 soundalike cover by
Johnny "Guitar" Watson).
Smith's rolling piano undoubtedly helped make the track a hit.
King remained with Ace through the rest of the decade, waxing an unbroken string of great New Orleans R&B sides with the unparalleled house band at Cosimo's studio. But he moved over to Imperial to work with producer
Dave Bartholomew in 1960, cutting the classic "Come On" (also known as "Let the Good Times Roll") and 1961's humorous "Trick Bag," and managing a second chart item in 1962 with "Always a First Time."
King wrote stand-out tunes for
Fats Domino,
Professor Longhair, and
Lee Dorsey during the '60s.
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 '90s, he rejuvenated his career by signing with Black Top; 1990's
Sexual Telepathy, and
Hard River to Cross three years later, were both superlative albums. He died in April 2003 of complications from diabetes. ~ Bill Dahl