-the master of the telecaster-
1932 - 1993
-the Master of the Telecaster-, Mr. Albert Collins is truly regarded as one of the world's most talented and versatile blues guitar players. Together with his reliable and funky guitar trademark, Albert Collins made himself permanent in the world's music history. Not only as being one of the coolest and most devoted blues guitarists around, but also due to the fact of his original guitar playing style, and his great and humble personality.
Albert Collins was born on the 1st of October, in 1932 in Houston, Texas. He grew up on a farm and at a very young age found himself helping out at home with different chores. Being exposed to music at a very early age, his first guitar heroes soon came to be his cousin Lightnin' Hopkins and the nowadays legendary, John Lee Hooker. In 1941 the Collins family decided to move back to Albert's birthplace, Houston. Albert continued school but after 10th grade quit in favor of working.
In the beginning, he was mostly interested in the organ and the piano. However, he soon he found a lot of interest in the guitar, which he started to play at the local church. However he didn't become really serious about his guitar playing until the 50s when he started to tour juke joints in Houston. In 1952 he formed his own group, Albert Collins & the Rhythm Rockers, which included musicians like Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones (voc, el-g) and "Little" Milton Campbell (voc, el-g). His first recording, The Freeze quickly gave him the reputation as one of the greatest blues guitarists alive, and his cool and funky guitar trademark came to mark his career permanently. Between 1958 and 1971, Albert recorded mostly instrumental Texas blues, influenced by artists as T-Bone Walker, John Lee Hooker, Lightning' Hopkins and various jazz musicians. During the 60s he recorded for several independent labels like Kangaroo, Great Scott and TCF Hall. Many of his songs were given cool little titles as Frosty, Sno-cone and Defrost. In addition to his band, he also toured with blues guitar player Albert King, vocalist Little Richard and guitarist/harmonica player Jimmy Reed. In 1965 he dissolved his group and settled in Kansas City. He was still very musical active, and played with legendary musicians such as jazz-guitarist Wes Montgomery and organ player Jimmy McGriff. In 1968 he was persuaded by Bob Hite, from the famous blues/rock band Canned Heat, to move to California where Hite had arranged a record deal for Albert with Imperial Recordings. Albert decided to move to California and with Hite as producer, he cut three LPs for the company. At the same time Albert started touring the American west coast. Collins west coast tours inspired a whole new generation of blues guitar players such as Robert Cray, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Joe Louis Walker.
From 1972 to 78 Collins was quite tired of music and played more and more seldom, and during these six years he completely stopped recording. The whole matter went so far that during 1974 and 75 he quit playing the guitar. Instead, he took a job as a construction worker, and e.g. did work on Neil Diamonds house. After hard persuasions from his wife, Gwen Collins, Albert decided to return to his music career in the late 70s.
the Master of the Telecaster, live in London 1989
In 1978 Collins got a contract with one of Americas biggest blues record companies , the Chicago based Alligator records. The years with Alligator, backed by his own band the Icebreakers, generated some of his best recordings ever. His work on Alligator quickly helped him back into international blues societies and the musical spotlights. Many of his recordings on Alligator became Grammy nominated, but it was not until the record "Showdown" with Robert Cray and Johnny Copeland, that Collins finally got the respect and acknowledgement that he so well deserved. In 1991 he moved to the Virgin owned record company Pointblank were he recorded three great and genuine recordings. He also participated with B.B King on Gary Moores album After Hours in 1992. The collaboration with Moore also led to Albert being the guest blues artist on Moores following world tour in 1993. In addition, he was also featured on a live recording with Moore (Blues Alive) which was recorded during the tour. Collins has also participated on a Branford Marsalis album. In 1993 Collins released a collection titled "Collins Mix- the best of" which included prominent guest stars as Gary Moore, B.B King, Branford Marsalis and harmonica player Kim Wilson from the Fabulous Thunderbirds.
In 1993 when Albert Collins was at his peak of his career, he received the tragic diagnose that he was suffering from incurable liver cancer. Despite the cancer he continued to play, tour clubs and play festivals with his band the Icebreakers until his imminent death. The last recordings with the Icebreakers resulted in his last record, Live 92-93 which was released in 1995, and captures one of the worlds top blues guitarists in top shape. On the 25th of November, 1993, at the age of 61, Albert Collins tragically passed away in peace at his home in Las Vegas, only six months after being diagnosed with cancer.
Albert Collins was a moderate vocalist and an incredible guitarist. With his peculiar, guitar trademark Collins quickly established himself as one of the worlds leading blues guitar players, together with fellow guitar colleagues B.B King, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton and Albert King. Between 1958 and 1971, Collins mainly recorded instrumental Texas blues influenced by artists as T-Bone Walker, John Lee Hooker, Lightning' Hopkins and various jazz musicians. It would take until the mid 1970s before he finally stepped in front of the microphone for the first time. During the years with Alligator he developed his vocal skills, and after being faced with hard persuasions from his friends and from his wife Gwen, he finally agreed to give his vocals a chance. Eventually he turned out to become a really great singer as well. Collins, who since the 50s had been a devoted Fender Telecaster fan, was honored by Fender with his own Fender Telecaster Signature model.