Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Albert King


Artist:Albert King

Song:Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'

Album:Christmas In Soulsville





Here's a fabulous Christmas song from all time blues great Albert King. He was born Albert Nelson Apr. 25, 1923 in Indianola, MS. The most distinctive thing about Albert King is he played the guitar left handed but never turned the strings over so his upside down playing style made him unique and has been influential on other musicians. King had mostly regional success until he signed with Stax Records in 1966. His recordings with Stax house band Booker T & The MGs and endorsement from Cream guitarist Eric Clapton brought him to a much larger audience. Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin' was written and originally recorded by Sir Mack Rice, best known as writer of Mustang Sally. Stax released the Albert King version as a single and also on the It's Christmas various artists album. Christmas In Soulsville is the latest version of that and was released last year after Concord Jazz acquired the Stax library. It doesn't appear that this has ever been issued on an Albert King CD. Christmas In Soulsville includes Christmas songs by Otis Redding, The Staples Singers & Isaac Hayes. You can't go wrong with that crew. Stax went bankrupt in 1975 and like a lot of Stax artists, Albert King struggled as a recording artist elsewhere. But he continued to be a popular live act until his death from a heart attack on Dec. 23, 1992 at age 69. Here's Albert King performing Blues Power at the Fillmore East in New York July 23, 1970.

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