Biography
King was born
Earl Silas Johnson IV in
New Orleans,
Louisiana. His father, a local piano player, died when King was still a baby, and he was brought up by his mother. With his mother, he started going to church at an early age. In his youth he sang
gospel music, but took the advice of a friend to switch to
blues to make a better living.
King started to play
guitar at age 15. Soon he started entering talent contests at local clubs including the Dew Drop Inn. It was at one of those clubs where he met his idol
Guitar Slim. King started imitating Slim, and his presence gave a big impact on his musical directions. In 1954, when Slim was injured in an automobile accident (right around the time Slim had the #1 R&B hit with "The Things That I Used To Do"), King was deputized to continue Slim's band tour, representing himself as Slim. After succeeding in this role, King became a regular at the Dew Drop Inn.
His first recording came in 1953. He released a 78 "Have you Gone Crazy" b/w "Begging At Your Mercy" on
Savoy label as Earl Johnson. The following year, talent scout Johnny Vincent introduced King to
Specialty label, and he recorded some sides including "Mother's Love" which created a little stir locally. In 1955, King signed with Johnny Vincent's label, Ace. His first single from the label "Those Lonely, Lonely Nights" become hit reaching #7 on the
US Billboard R&B chart. He continued to record during his five year stay at the label, and during that time, he also he started writing songs for other artists such as Roland Stone and
Jimmy Clanton.
King also co-wrote a number of songs with Bartholomew, either under his own name or under the pseudonyms of "Pearl King" and "E.C. King". One of the best known collaborations between Bartholomew and King is the rhythm and blues standard, "
I Hear You Knocking", originally recorded in 1955. The latter song is variously credited to Pearl King and E.C King as the co-writer, with Bartholomew.
King recorded for Imperial till 1963, but he went without a
recording contract for the remainder of the 1960s. During this time, he mostly concentrated in producing and songwriting for local labels
NOLA and
Watch. His compositions from this era includes
Professor Longhair's "
Big Chief",
Willie Tee's "Teasin' You", and
Lee Dorsey's "Do-Re-Mi". He also went to
Detroit for an audition with
Motown Records and recorded a few tracks in the mid 1960s. Three tracks from the session appeared on the
Motown's Blue Evolution CD released in 1996.
In 1972, he was joined by
Allen Toussaint and
the Meters to record the album
Street Parade. Though
Atlantic initially showed interest in releasing it, they eventually declined. The title cut "Street Parade" was released as a single from Kansu label at the time, but the rest had to wait till 1982 to see the light of the day, when the album was finally released by
Charly Records in the
UK.
During the 1970s, he recorded another album That Good Old New Orleans Rock 'n Roll which was released by Sonet in 1977. He also appeared on the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 1976 album.
In the early 1980s, he also met Hammond Scott, co-owner of
Black Top Records, and started to record for the label. The first album
Glazed, backed up by
Roomful of Blues was released in 1986, and a second album,
Sexual Telepathy came in 1990. It featured
Snooks Eaglin as a guest on two tracks, and also
Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters backed him up on some tracks. His third from the label
Hard River To Cross (1993) was backed by
George Porter, Jr., David Torkanowsky, and Herman V. Ernest, III.
In 2001, he was hospitalized for an illness during a tour to
New Zealand, however, that did not stop him from performing. In December of the same year, he toured
Japan, and he continued to perform off and on locally in New Orleans until his death.
He died on April 17, 2003, from
diabetes related complications, just a week before the
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. His funeral was held during the Festival period on April 30, and many musicians including
Dr. John,
Leo Nocentelli and
Aaron Neville were in attendance. His Imperial recordings, which have been long out-of-print, were reissued on CD soon after he died. The June 2003 issue of a local music magazine
OffBeat paid a tribute to King by doing a series of special articles on him.