Wanda King, the daughter of the late blues master Freddie King, began singing at an early age. She learned from the best. The King's home was always filled with music and musicians from the era of Howlin Wolf, Albert King, B.B. King, Magic Sam, Tyrone Davis, and Johnnie Taylor, just to name a few.

Wanda's brother, Fred Jr., formed a band in grade school. Wanda was the vocalist and keyboardist, Fred Jr. was the bassman, Carmen "Cookie" (recording artist for JSP Records) was the guitarist. The band won so many talent shows that competing in these events was no longer a challenge. The band became professional, although the oldest member of the band was 11 years old. The band played private parties and made more money on Friday and Saturday than some folks could earn in a week.

Wanda became serious about blues music as a teenager. At age fifteen she attended her first blues club show - her father's gig - and was hooked. She tried to convert her brother to R&B and blues but he was into funk, rock, and loud music. Wanda didn't like screaming her vocals over the band's amped up volume, so she quit.

Wanda's father began calling her up to do background vocals or lead a song when he performed locally. He realized that she was serious about the business, so he began educating her on the do's and the don't and the who and the what in the music business.

All those early dreams of a music career ended when Freddie King passed away on Dec 28, 1976. Wanda was so grief struck that she stopped performing professionally. Her attention turned to helping her mother (who was devastated by her husband's untimely death) raise the other siblings. Wanda went to college and got a job, but continued to write poetry and lyrics. She was content for a while, but gradually the need to perform professionally grew and became too strong to resist.

The opportunity presented it self when Wanda was laid off from her day job. One door closes and another door opens. She contacted some talented musicans that she had seen perform locally, Sonny Collie and Robin "Texas Slim" Sullivan (who worked with Fred Jr.), and told them that she wanted to hire them to assist on her CD project. They agreed, and Wanda's first CD, From A Blues Point of View, was recorded in the fall of 2002.

Information from the artist's site

Musicians

• Wanda King: lead vocals, vocals

Influences

James Brown, Nina Simone, Albert King, Bill Doggett, Little Willie John, Hank Ballard, the Stanley Brothers

Favorited by these users:

BassMan, Beth_McCabe, Cj MacPhie, MFThomas, NTBlues, ziaflower

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