"The Master of the Telecaster," Albert Collins always delivered the goods. From his earliest days as a youngster in Houston to his final days on the road with his band, The Icebreakers, Albert Collins worked hard, played hard and left a beautiful memory.
Born in rural Texas, his earliest heroes of the guitar were Lightnin' Hopkins and John Lee Hooker. Although he originally was interested in the piano and organ, he began picking the guitar in the early 1950's and by 1952 was playing the small beer joints in Houston's black neighborhoods. His first recording, The Freeze gave his career its life long theme...the cool sounds, and established him as a journeyman blues player.
During the 60's he recorded for a number of small independent labels, many of which carried "cool" titles such as Frosty, Sno-Cone and Defrost. By the late 60's he had been enticed to move to California by Bob Hite of Canned Heat who had set up a record deal with LIBERTY Records. Albert cut three LP's for the label and began touring up and down the West Coast influencing a whole new generation of Blues players such as Robert Cray and Joe Louis Walker.
At the beginning of the 1980's, Albert hooked up with ALLIGATOR records which helped establish him as a potent force in the international Blues community, and recorded some of his finest work. Many of his records for the company were nominated for Grammys, but it wasn't until the 1985 Showdown LP with Johnny Copeland and Robert Cray that he received the honor.