Solomon King

The Detroit born blues guitarist/singer first came to national attention in 2008 when his recordings of “Jack me Up” and “Frankie and Johnnie” were featured on HBO’s smash hit series “True Blood”. King Followed his t.v. debut with a live performance at the world famous Whiskey-a-go-go. Legendary Motown producer/arranger Sylvester Rivers saw video of the show on Youtube. He then brought King into the studio with a dream team rhythm section comprised of fellow Detroit native’s Ray Parker Jr. (Ghostbusters), Ollie Brown (Stevie Wonder, the Rolling Stones) and Reggie Mcbride (Aretha Franklin, Keb Mo, Ricki Lee Jones) The result is the 2009 cd “Under the Sun”; a collection of original compositions and Rhythm & Blues classics. *“King is blessed with a soulful and bluesy voice … you are surprised when an artist takes these songs and brings new life to them by changing them to deliver a personal musical vision that respects the song’s roots without resorting to mere mimicry.” Solomon King has an original take on the blues. With a sound that is both refreshingly new and comfortingly familiar King is “an artist with serious potentia Official Bio: Solomon King: New American Bluesman Back in the day of the old American Dream, Solomon lived in Detroit City and worked at the big automobile dream factory. But the promise of fulfilling that big dream quickly faded into the assembly line Blues. Mind-numbing monotonous hours, and a daily grind of soul-destroying work, eased only by lots of booze, broads, and the never-ending Friday night cocaine Blues. Reflecting on those times, he says, "There was a lot of hurting going on. It's too hazy to remember. But one thing was constant. I always had the Blues. Well, truth is the Blues always had me. We were joined at the hip." Then the layoffs hit. The great auto dream factories began closing down. Out of work, Solomon tossed his trusty acoustic guitar into the trunk of a Ford Maverick and headed west. He managed to dodge some occasional scrapes with the law along the way and when he ran out of road found himself in L.A. Different town, different dream, same factory—The Hollywood Creedo of "Hurry up and wait". The endless hours of unemployment and nothing to do drove Solomon to playing his guitar and "writing songs about what I knew best—the Blues." Solomon continued honing his craft jamming with Blues musicians and hanging out in their circles. Then one day an electric guitar uttered a sweet whisper promising to take his music to new heights. The plea was so urgent that he abandoned his acoustic guitar for a '57 Goldtop. Then he took one more step—maybe more of a leap of faith than a step. To honor the royal lineage of the great electric Blues guitarists like B. B. King, Freddie King and Albert King, another King was added to the list, Solomon King: New American Bluesman. With his non-compromising approach to his music, Solomon King quickly garnered international attention in 2008 as "Jack Me Up" and "Frankie & Johnny," both from "Under the Sun" CD, were featured on two episodes of HBO's Golden Globe winning True Blood series. 2009 brought a Grammy entrant nomination as "Under the Sun" was considered for Best Contemporary Blues Album. 2010 found the music of Solomon King played on broadcast radio stations across the U.S., Canada, Australia, Europe and even South America. Now with 2011, Solomon King breaks through with the stripped down raw sound of Medicine. To hear Solomon King is to follow the road map of great American Music It's a journey that starts with a piece of broken concrete torn from the wreckage of the Motor City. Up ahead a new stretch of the music super highway is being built. Its a road that goes to places you have never been to before. This is the destination where you will find Solomon King. Official Website: www.solomonkingmusic.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Solomon-King/280243743878 Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.