Earl Kings Passes at 60
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Unilaterally respected around his Crescent City homebase as both a performer and a songwriter, guitarist Earl King has passed. Mr. King had been a prime New Orleans R&B force for more
than four decades. He died of complications from diabetes, today.
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 Tiajuana, one of King's favorite haunts (along with the Dew Drop, of course), the two becoming 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 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 standout
tunes for Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, and Lee Dorsey during the '60s.
"Street Parade" by Earl King, was the biggest Mardi Gras tune sung by this artist. This gem was originally recorded in the early 70s, with the Meters backing up Earl. Available on CD, it captures the feeling of the city's back streets, "I wanna Second Line, and have a good time." Yes, indeed.
Also as the story goes, Earl, Dr. John, and the Meters, recorded the song "Big Chief", in the studio, with Professor Longhair laying down the keyboard track. After Professor Longhair had finished,
Earl, added the whistling, and the vocals. The thought was, the Professor would come back and put the vocals in his own unique voice. The tune however, was released as is and the rest is history. The song revived
the professor's career a great deal, and Earl King didn't mind a bit at helping his old mentor.
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. Since signing with Black Top, his performing career has been
rejuvenated; 1990's Sexual Telepathy and Hard River to Cross three years later were both superlative albums.
We were actually planning very soon to ask Mr. king for an interview , and we are sadden that we didn't get that chance, Earl king, dead, at age 60.
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