Manuel Gales, 4 December 1968, Memphis, Tennessee, USA, d. 21 July 2002, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Citing Albert King and Jimi Hendrix as influences, King’s guitar style exhibited an uneasy amalgam of both disparate elements, which he struggled to mould into a recognizably individual sound. He and twin brother Daniel received acoustic guitars for Christmas when they were six. Being left-handed like his mentors, he learned to play ‘upside-down-and-backwards’ and graduated to an electric model soon afterwards. As a teenager, he played in whichever Beale Street clubs would let him in. In 1984, he was seen by Albert King and worked with his band for four years, at the end of which he changed his name legally to King and was ‘adopted’ as a grandson by his band leader. After King’s death, he took over the band and renamed it the Memphis Soul Survivors, with whom his 1991 debut album was made. For his second, King recruited the Hi Rhythm Section, calling them the King James Version Band, and also cut several tracks with Double Trouble, the late Stevie Ray Vaughan’s band. More noticeably than his debut album, this was caught between traditional blues and its rock equivalent. The following year he recorded an album with his guitar playing brothers, Eric Gales and Eugene Gales. He teamed up with soul veteran Willie Mitchell for his third studio album, Soldier For The Blues. King’s rising career was cut short by his untimely death in July 2002.
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