SAUNDERS KING

                         
                 

                           
                 

                                 

                                  

Saunders King (March 13, 1909 – August 31, 2000) was an American R&B and blues guitarist and singer.

Saunders Samuel King was born in Staple, Louisiana, United States.] He was the son of a preacher, and sang in his father's church while growing up in Oakland, California. As a youngster he learned to play piano, banjo and ukelele, but did not pick up guitar until 1938. At the end of the 1930s he sang with the Southern Harmony Four on NBC radio, and decided to begin playing blues music; he released the tune "S.K. Blues" in 1942, which became a major nationwide hit. The tune featured electric blues guitar, one of the earliest recordings to do so.

The lyrics tell of the singer's dissatisfaction with his bald-headed girlfriend:

"I did more for my baby than the good lord ever done (2X)"

"I went downtown and bought her some hair and the good lord never gave her none"

This verse proved particularly popular and has come to be considered a traditional blues lyric.

The song concludes on a theme of violence toward women:

"Give me back that wig I bought you, and let your head go bald (2X)"

"you keep on mistreatin' me baby, you won't have no hair, no head at all"

King had a series of setbacks in the 1940s which hurt his career; his wife committed suicide in 1942, his landlord shot him with a .45-caliber pistol in 1946, and he was jailed for heroin possession shortly after. He recorded for Aladdin Records, Modern Records, and Rhythm Records, and retired from active performance in 1961, devoting himself to work in the church. Sometime thereafter, his daughter Deborah King was wed, and, in 1979, he played with Carlos Santana, his son-in-law, on the album Oneness.

King was paralyzed by a stroke in 1999, and died the following year in Oakland, California, at age 91.

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El guitarrista  Saunders King tuvo su primer éxito en 1942 con "SK Blues". King era hijo de un predicador que cantaba gospel en la iglesia de su padre en Oakland. Aprendió piano, banjo y ukelele. En 1938 comenzó a tocar la guitarra y terminó cantando con la Southern Harmony Four para una estación de radio NBC en San Francisco. Pronto desarrolló su pasión por el blues y el "SK Blues" fue un enorme éxito. También cuenta con uno de los primeros ejemplos de blues de la guitarra eléctrica, un estilo  que después puso en práctica  T-Bone Walker hasta hacerle famoso. King  grabó parael sello  Aladdin, pudo haber alcanzado  un mayor impacto en la floreciente escena del Blues de la  costa oeste de los años 40, pero fue acarreando  con numerosos problemas personales, incluyendo el suicidio de su esposa en 1942, una herida grave de una pistola calibre 45 disparada por su propietario en 1946 , y el  tiempo que estuve preso  en  San Quintín por posesión de heroína. King  se retiró de la música en 1961 y dedicó tiempo a la iglesia. En 1979, dejó  brevemente de su retiro para grabar en el  álbum  Oneness de su yerno Carlos Santana. En 1999 sufrió un derrame cerebral que le paralizó parcialmente. Falleció el 31 de agosto de 2000 en su casa de Oakland. Tenía 91 años.