|
Albert Collins (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993) was an American electric blues guitarist and singer who forged a distinctive guitar style that was instantly recognizable. Collins was noted for his powerful playing and his use of altered tunings and capo. His long association with the Fender Telecaster led to the title "The Master of the Telecaster"
Born in Leona, Texas, Collins was introduced to the guitar at an early age through his cousin Lightnin' Hopkins, also a Leona resident, who frequently played at family associations (reunions). In 1938 his family relocated to Marquez, Texas eventually settling in Houston, Texas in 1941 where he later attended Jack Yates High School. Collins decided to learn to play guitar, aged 12, after hearing "Boogie Chillen'" by John Lee Hooker. His first tutor was his second cousin Frankie Lee Sims; a Specialty Records' artist who recorded prolifically during the 1950s achieving his biggest commercial success in 1953 with the song "Lucy Mae Blues". At eighteen Collins started his own group called the Rhythm Rockers.
Collins started to play regularly in Houston most notably at Shady's Playhouse where James "Widemouth" Brown (brother of Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown) and other well-known Houston blues musicians would meet for the Blue Monday jams. Collins recorded his debut single "The Freeze" b/w "Collins Shuffle" for Kangaroo Records at Gold Star Studios in the spring of 1958. He would go on to record a series of singles including "Frosty" (1962) for Kangaroo and Hall-Way. A number of these singles were collected on the album The Cool Sounds Of Albert Collins on the TCF Hall label (later reissued on the Blue Thumb label as Truckin’ With Albert Collins). Little Frankie Lee (born Frankie Lee Jones) met Collins in 1963 and would go on to join the band as vocalist staying with the group for a number of years. In the spring of 1965 Collins moved to Kansas City, Missouri and made a name for himself there. This was also where he met his future wife, Gwendolyn.
Many of Kansas City's recording studios had closed by the mid-1960s. Unable to record, Collins moved to California in 1967. He lived in Palo Alto, California for a short time before moving to Los Angeles and played many of the West Coast venues popular with the counter-culture. In early 1969 the group Canned Heat were in Houston to promote their latest album and a friend mentioned that Collins was playing at the Ponderosa Club which they duly attended. After Collins had finished playing they introduced themselves and offered to help secure an agent for him as well as an introduction to Liberty Records. In appreciation, Collins' first album title, Love Can Be Found Anywhere, was taken from the lyrics of "Fried Hockey Boogie". Collins signed and released his first album on Imperial Records, a sister label, in 1968.
Collins remained in California for another five years, and was popular on double-billed shows at The Fillmore and the Winterland. He was signed by Bruce Iglauer owner of Alligator Records in 1978 on the recommendation of Dick Shurman whom Collins had met in Seattle. Collins first release for the label was Ice Pickin' (1978) which was recorded at Curtom Studios, Chicago and produced by Iglauer, Shurman and Richard McLeese. He would record seven more albums with the label, before being signed to Point Blank Records in 1990.
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Collins toured the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. He was becoming a popular blues musician and was an influence for Coco Montoya, Robert Cray, Gary Moore, Debbie Davies, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jonny Lang, Susan Tedeschi, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, John Mayer and Frank Zappa.
Collins won the award for Best Blues Album of the Year at the W. C. Handy Award in 1983 for his album Don't Lose Your Cool.
In 1985 Collins performed with George Thorogood and the Destroyers at Live Aid appearing as guest soloist on "Madison Blues".
In 1986 Collins appeared in concert with Etta James and Joe Walsh at the Wiltern Theater, Los Angeles which was subsequently released on video under the title 'Jazzvisions: Jump The Blues Away'. The backing musicians for the concert were Rick Rosas (bass), Michael Huey (drums), Ed Sanford (Hammond B3), Kip Noble (piano) and Josh Sklar (guitar); all of whom are notable LA session musicians.
Collins made a cameo appearance in the 1987 comedy film Adventures in Babysitting. In 1987, John Zorn enlisted him to play lead guitar in a suite he had composed especially for him, entitled "Two-Lane Highway," on Zorn's album Spillane. In 1987 Collins won a Grammy Award with Robert Cray and Johnny Copeland for their album Showdown! which was released in 1986. The following year his solo release Cold Snap was also nominated for a Grammy.
Collins was invited to play at the 'Legends Of Guitar Festival' concerts in Seville, Spain at the Expo in 1992, where amongst others, he played "Iceman", the title track from his final studio album.
He made his last visit to London, England in March 1993.
After falling ill at a show in Switzerland in late July 1993, he was diagnosed in mid August with lung cancer which had metastasized to his liver, with an expected survival time of four months. Parts of his last album, Live '92/'93, were recorded at shows that September; he died shortly afterwards, in November at the age of 61. He was survived by his wife, Gwendolyn. Albert Collins is buried at Davis Memorial Park, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Collins is remembered not only for the quantity of quality blues that he put out throughout his career that has inspired so many other blues musicians, but also for his live performances, where he would frequently come down from the stage, attached to his amplifier with a 100 foot cord, and mingle with the audience whilst still playing. He was known to leave clubs while still playing, and continue to play outside on the sidewalk, even boarding a city bus in Chicago while playing, outside of a club called Biddy Mulligan’s (the bus driver stayed at the bus stop until Collins got off).
Collins has influenced many artists and collaborated with Ronnie Wood, Jimmy Page, Robert Cray, Keith Richards, Johnny Nitro, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gary Moore, B.B. King, Larry Carlton and Eric Clapton.
He is also remembered for his humorous stage presence, which was recounted in the documentary, Antones: Austin's Home of the Blues. Collins got into a long solo one night at Antone's, then left the building, still plugged in and playing. Several minutes after Collins returned to the stage, a pizza delivery man came in and gave Collins the pizza he had just ordered while outside the building.
|
