Of the triumvirate of guitar playing Blues "Kings," Albert King's style is one of the most easily identified and widely copied in Blues. Stevie Ray Vaughn, Johnny Winter and Eric Clapton are just a few of the musicians who borrowed heavily from Albert King's bag of tricks. Albert, along with B.B. and Freddie, would dominate the guitar driven blues scene that crossed over to a new white audience in the 1960's.

His career began in church and juke joints in the Delta region, but he moved north in the 1940's where he played drums with Jimmy Reed and others. He first recorded for the tiny PARROT label but really developed his own style while under contract to the KING label in the 1950's. These sax led guitar workouts marked a new direction for him and a transition to his heavily Soul influenced work for the STAX label. Between 1966 and 1968, he produced a steady stream of hits for the Memphis based label leading to his classic Born Under A Bad Sign LP. During this time his popularity increased dramatically with appearances at many of the large Rock venues of the era and international touring. He continued to perform, repeatedly retiring and reentering the stage until his death at age 69.