Albert King

A cigar box, a piece of bush and a strand of broom wire made Albert King's first guitar. A self-taught left-hander, he turned conventional instruments upside down, while a dropped tuning and light-gauge strings fed a deep, dramatic bending style that blues and rock players widely copied.

Born on a Mississippi cotton plantation, he worked St Louis clubs for years before breaking through at Stax in Memphis. Backed by Booker T. & the MGs, he cut 'Crosscut Saw' and 'Born Under a Bad Sign', sparse and clean with a slick R&B lift; Jimi Hendrix and Cream covered the latter.

Funk with the Bar-Kays followed on I'll Play the Blues for You; a four-year recording break brought him back to bare 12-bar arrangements with bass, drums and piano. Stevie Ray Vaughan named him his greatest influence. He died of a heart attack in 1992, two days after his final concert.