Albert Gene Collins was born on October 1, 1932, and died on November 24, 1993. He was an American electric blues guitarist and singer known for his unique guitar style. He was famous for his strong playing and used different guitar tunings and a capo. His longtime work with the Fender Telecaster earned him the title "The Master of the Telecaster."

Early life

Collins was born in Leona, Texas, on October 1, 1932. His cousin, Lightnin' Hopkins, who also lived in Leona, introduced him to the guitar. Lightnin' played at family gatherings. The Collins family moved to Marquez, Texas, in 1938 and to Houston in 1941, where Collins attended Jack Yates High School. Collins took piano lessons as a child. When his piano teacher was unavailable, his cousin Willow Young lent him Albert’s guitar and taught him a special tuning he used for the rest of his life. Collins tuned his guitar to an open F-minor chord (FCFA♭CF) with a capo placed on the 5th, 6th, or 7th fret. At sixteen, he decided to focus on learning the guitar after hearing the song "Boogie Chillen'" by John Lee Hooker.

Career

At 18, Collins started his own group, the Rhythm Rockers, where he improved his skills. During this time, he worked at a ranch in Normangee, Texas, for four years. Later, he worked as a truck driver for 12 years with different companies.

Collins played an Epiphone guitar during his first two years with the Rhythm Rockers. In 1952, after seeing Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown play a Fender Esquire, Collins decided to buy a Fender guitar. He wanted a Telecaster, but because of the cost, he chose an Esquire. He took it to the Parker Music Company in Houston to add a Telecaster neck pickup. This guitar was his main instrument until he moved to California. It was used for his earliest recordings, including his signature song, "Frosty." For the rest of his career, he played a "maple cap"–necked natural ash body Fender 1966 Custom Telecaster with a Gibson PAF humbucking pickup added to the neck position. This guitar became the basis for a Fender Custom Artist signature model in 1990.

In 1954, when Collins was 22 and had no record deal, 17-year-old Johnny Copeland joined the Rhythm Rockers. Johnny had recently left the Dukes of Rhythm, a band he started with Joe "Guitar" Hughes, a Houston blues musician.

Collins began playing regularly in Houston, especially at Shady's Playhouse. There, James "Widemouth" Brown (brother of Gatemouth Brown) and other well-known Houston blues musicians gathered for "Blue Monday" jams. By the mid-1950s, he had gained a reputation as a skilled local guitarist and started performing regularly at Walter's Lounge in the Fifth Ward with the group Big Tiny and the Thunderbirds.

The saxophonist and music teacher Henry Hayes learned about Collins from Hughes. After seeing Collins perform live, Hayes encouraged him to record a single for Kangaroo Records, a label Hayes started with his friend M. L. Young. Collins recorded his debut single, "Freeze," backed with "Collins Shuffle," for Kangaroo Records at Gold Star Studios in Houston in the spring of 1958. Hayes played saxophone on the recording. Texas blues bands of that time often included a horn section, and Collins later credited Hayes with teaching him how to arrange music for horns.

In 1964, Collins recorded "Frosty" at Gulf Coast Recording Studio in Beaumont, Texas, for Hall Records, which was owned by Bill Hall. Hall Records signed Collins based on a recommendation from Cowboy Jack Clement, a songwriter and producer who had worked with Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash at Sun Records. His debut album, The Cool Sound of Albert Collins, released in 1965 on the TCF Hall label, included previously released instrumentals such as "Thaw-Out," "Sno-Cone," and "Don't Lose Your Cool."

On June 19, 1968, the group Canned Heat was playing at the Music Hall in Houston. A friend of theirs mentioned that Collins was performing at the Ponderosa Club, so they attended. After Collins finished his set, they introduced themselves and offered to help him find an agent and connect with Imperial Records in California. With a record deal and regular live work, Collins moved to Kansas City in July 1968, where he played in the organ trio of keyboardist Lawrence Wright. In November 1968, he moved to Palo Alto, California. For his 1968 Imperial album, Collins chose the title Love Can Be Found Anywhere (Even in a Guitar), inspired by the lyrics of Canned Heat's "Fried Hockey Boogie," to honor Canned Heat and their lead singer, Bob Hite, who wrote the album's liner notes. In the spring of 1969, Collins was hired by Bob Krasnow to play on the Ike and Tina Turner album The Hunter, released by Krasnow's Blue Thumb Records. Moving to California helped Collins establish himself as a regular act on the West Coast circuit, performing at venues like the Fillmore West, the Whisky a Go Go, and the "Newport 69" festival in Northridge, California, in June 1969, and the Gold Rush Festival at Lake Amador, California, in October. In December 1969, his debut album, The Cool Sound of Albert Collins, was reissued as Truckin' with Albert Collins by Blue Thumb. He opened for the Grateful Dead at the Family Dog on the Great Highway in San Francisco in early August 1969.

In November 1971, the Denver-based label Tumbleweed Records, created by Larry Ray

Style

Collins is remembered for his friendly and engaging live performances. He often left the stage while still playing his guitar to talk to the audience. A long guitar cord allowed him to move outside clubs to the sidewalk. One story says he left a club with the audience following him to buy a candy bar from a store nearby, without stopping his performance.

He was also known for his funny stage presence, which appears in the comedy film Adventures in Babysitting. This is also shown in the documentary Antones: Austin's Home of the Blues. During one performance at Antone's, Collins played a long solo and left the building while still playing. He returned to the stage, continued his solo, and resumed playing for the audience. Soon after, a man arrived at the club and handed Collins the pizza he had ordered.

Personal life

In his early years, Collins worked as a paint mixer and truck driver to earn enough money to cover expenses. In 1971, when he was 39 years old, he worked in construction because he could not earn a stable income from his music. One of his construction jobs involved helping to renovate a home for Neil Diamond. He continued this type of work until the late 1970s, when his wife, Gwen, encouraged him to return to a career in music.

After a three-month illness with cancer, Collins passed away at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 24, 1993. He was 61 years old. He was survived by his wife, Gwendolyn, and his father, Andy Thomas.

Albert Collins is buried at Davis Memorial Park in Las Vegas, Nevada, a cemetery located next to Harry Reid International Airport.

Legacy

Albert Collins was a major influence on many Texas guitar players, such as Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimmie Vaughan. He was part of a small group of Texas blues musicians, including Johnny "Guitar" Watson and Johnny Copeland, who helped change the style of T-Bone Walker into a modern blues sound that later influenced many musicians. In an interview with Guitar World magazine, Robert Cray said, "Seeing Albert Collins perform at a rock festival in 1969 was the moment that made me realize how much I wanted to learn about the blues." Two years later, Collins played at Cray's high-school graduation party in Tacoma, Washington. Cray said, "That experience had a big impact on me. From that moment, I began studying the blues seriously." Rolling Stone magazine ranked Collins at number 56 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists.

Discography

• 1965: The Cool Sound of Albert Collins (TCF Hall TCF-8002) – a collection of songs, reissued in 1969 as Truckin' with Albert Collins (Blue Thumb BTS-8)
• 1968: Love Can Be Found Anywhere (Even in a Guitar) (Imperial LP-12428)
• 1969: Trash Talkin' (Imperial LP-12438)
• 1970: The Compleat Albert Collins (Imperial LP-12449)
• 1971: There's Gotta Be a Change (Tumbleweed TWS-103) – his only album to chart. It reached No. 196 on the Billboard Top LPs in 1972.
• 1978: Ice Pickin' (Alligator AL-4713)
• 1980: Frostbite (Alligator AL-4719)
• 1983: Don't Lose Your Cool (Alligator AL-4730)
• 1986: Cold Snap (Alligator AL-4752) – with Jimmy McGriff
• 1991: Iceman (Pointblank/Virgin VPBCD-3; 91583; 86197; 39194)

• 1985: Showdown! (Alligator AL-4743) – with Robert Cray, Johnny Copeland

• 1969: Alive & Cool (Red Lightnin' RL-004) – live performance at the Fillmore West, 1969
• 1976: The Bicentennial Session (Crossed Arrow Music 2008)
• 1978: Albert Collins with The Barrelhouse Live (Munich Records BM-150225)
• 1979: Jammin' with Albert (Blues Tune BT-008) – with Champion Jack Dupree, Rory Gallagher
• 1981: Frozen Alive! (Alligator AL-4725) – live performance at the Union Bar, Minneapolis, MN
• 1984: Live in Japan (Alligator AL-4733) – live performance at Kudan Kaikan, Tokyo, 1982
• 1989: Jazzvisions: Jump the Blues Away (Verve 841287) – with Etta James, Joe Walsh
• 1995: Live '92/'93 (Pointblank/Virgin 40658)
• 1995: Cold Tremours (Blues Boulevard 250186, Music Avenue 250186)
• 1995: Charly Blues Legends Live – Vol. 7 (Charly CBL-756)
• 1998: Molten Ice (Cass Records CAS-70108) – live performance at the El Mocambo Club, 1973; also released as The Things He Used To Do, The Iceman Cometh, and The Hot 'Cool' Sound of Albert Collins
• 2005: The Iceman at Mount Fuji (Fuel 2000/Varese 061457) – live performance at the Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival, 1992
• 2008: Live at Montreux 1992 (Eagle ER-20124)
• 2014: Funky Blues – Live 1973 (Rockbeat ROC-3275) – live performance at Joe's Place, Cambridge, MA
• 2016: Live at Rockpalast – Dortmund 1980 (MIG Music 90632, 2-CD + DVD set)
• 2017: At Onkel Pö's Carnegie Hall – Hamburg 1980 (Delta Music N-77040, 2-CD set)

• 1991: The Complete Imperial Recordings (EMI America 96740, 2-CD set)
• 1993: Collins Mix (The Best Of) (Pointblank/Virgin 39097) – re-recordings of his classic tracks
• 1997: Albert Collins: Deluxe Edition (Alligator ALCD-5601)
• 1999: The Ice Axe Cometh (The Collection 1978–1986) (Music Club MCCD-406)

• Gary Moore, Too Tired on Still Got the Blues
• Gary Moore, The Blues is Alright on After Hours
• Gary Moore, Too Tired on Blues Alive
• David Bowie, Underground on Labyrinth
• Jack Bruce, Blues You Can't Lose on A Question of Time
• Robert Cray, You're Gonna Need Me on Shame + A Sin
• John Lee Hooker, Backstabbers on Mr. Lucky
• John Lee Hooker, Boogie at Russian Hill on Boom Boom
• B.B. King, Call It Stormy Monday on Blues Summit
• Ron Levy's Wild Kingdom, Chillin' Out and Defrostin' on B-3 Blues and Grooves
• Branford Marsalis, Super Models in Deep Conversation
• Buckshot LeFonque, No Pain, No Gain on Buckshot LeFonque
• John Mayall, Light the Fuse and I'm a Sucker for Love on Wake Up Call
• John Zorn, Two-Lane Highway on Spillane
• Blues for Stevie on Guitar World Presents…'Guitars That Rule The World' (various artists 1991 sampler)

• Freeze / Collins Shuffle (Kangaroo KA-103/KA-104)
• Defrost / Albert's Alley (

Videography

• 1986: Further On Down the Road – Albert Collins, Lonnie Mack, Roy Buchanan. Live at Carnegie Hall (Alligator)
• 2003: The Iceman at Mount Fuji (Fuel 2000/Varese 061299)
• 2003: In Concert: One Filter (Music Video Distributors 6526)
• 2005: Albert Collins: Warner Bros. Classics (Warner Bros. 9086390)
• 2006: Live Has Many Faces (Munich MRDVD-6004)
• 2008: Live From Austin TX (New West NW-8051)
• 2008: Live at Montreux 1992 (Eagle Vision EREDV641)
• 2016: Live at Rockpalast – Dortmund 1980 (MIG Music 90632, 2-CD and DVD set)

Film and television

• 1978 Live Has Many Faces (Barrelhouse, a music group that includes Albert Collins, was recorded for a Dutch TV show called Tros Sesjun)
• 1987 Late Night with David Letterman (appeared as a musical guest on a TV show)
• 1987 Adventures in Babysitting (made a brief appearance in a movie with his band)
• 1992 Austin City Limits [season 17, episode 5] (a 1991 studio concert recording)