{{short description|American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter (1964–2002)}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Little Jimmy King | image = | caption = | image_size = | birth_name = Emmanuel Lynn Gales | alias = | birth_date = {{birth date|1964|12|4|mf=y}} | birth_place = Memphis, Tennessee, United States | death_date = {{Death date and age|2002|7|19|1964|12|4|mf=y}} | death_place = Memphis, Tennessee, United States | origin = | instrument = Guitar, vocals | genre = Memphis blues, electric blues, soul blues<ref name="AMG"/> | occupation = Guitarist, singer, songwriter | years_active = 1980s–2002 | label = Bullseye Blues, King James | website = https://www.facebook.com/LittleJimmyKing }}
'''Emmanuel Lynn Gales''' (December 4, 1964 – July 19, 2002<ref name="bare">{{cite book| first1= Bob| last1= Eagle| first2= Eric S.| last2= LeBlanc| year= 2013| title= Blues: A Regional Experience| publisher= Praeger | location= Santa Barbara, California| page=251 | isbn= 978-0313344237}}</ref>), known professionally as '''Little Jimmy King''', was an American Memphis blues guitarist, singer and songwriter.<ref name="AMG">{{cite web|author=Richard Skelly |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/little-jimmy-king-mn0000263681/biography |title=Little Jimmy King | Biography |publisher=AllMusic |date= |access-date=2014-01-27}}</ref> A left-handed guitarist who played the instrument upside down, he concocted his stage name in deference to his two musical heroes, Jimi Hendrix and Albert King.<ref name="AMG"/><ref name="Room">{{cite book | first= Adrian | last= Room | year= 2010 | title= Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins | edition= 5th | publisher= McFarland & Company | location= Jefferson, North Carolina | isbn= 978-0-7864-4373-4 | page= 262}}</ref>
He is best known for his tracks "Win, Lose or Draw" and "Upside Down and Backwards". He was the frontman of Little Jimmy King & the Memphis Soul Survivors. He also worked with Albert King and with his brothers Eric and Eugene Gales.<ref name="Dead">{{cite web|author=Doc Rock |url=http://thedeadrockstarsclub.com/2002b.html |title=The Dead Rock Stars Club 2002 July to December |publisher=Thedeadrockstarsclub.com |date= |access-date=2014-01-27}}</ref>
==Biography== Gales was born in Memphis, Tennessee.<ref name="Dead"/> At the age of six, and along with his twin brother Daniel, Jimmy received an acoustic guitar. Naturally left-handed, he learned to play with the guitar upside down. Around age ten, he and Daniel instructed their younger brother Eric Gales, who also learned to play upside down and left handed, despite being right handed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://personal.mco.bellsouth.net/m/u/murf01/e-gale/e-gale2.htm |title=Eric Gales and the Gales Brothers |website=Personal.mco.bellsouth.net |access-date=March 18, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220083522/http://personal.mco.bellsouth.net/m/u/murf01/e-gale/e-gale2.htm |archive-date=February 20, 2012 }}</ref> In his early teens, Jimmy graduated to an electric model.<ref name="Oldies">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.oldies.com/artist-biography/Little-Jimmy-King.html |title=Little Jimmy King Biography |author=Larkin, Colin |date= |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |publisher=Oldies.com |access-date=December 19, 2011}}</ref> He started his musical career playing rock and roll, but in the 1980s he switched to playing the blues.<ref name="AMG"/> Nevertheless, as was later noted, King often merged both genres in his playing.<ref name="Oldies"/><ref name="Little">{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=little-jimmy-king—the-memphis-soul-survivors-r88991|pure_url=yes}}|title=''Little Jimmy King & the Memphis Soul Survivors'' > Overview |access-date=December 19, 2011 |publisher=Allmusic}}</ref> He joined Albert King's backing band in 1988, and the twosome formed such a friendship that Albert referred to Little Jimmy as his "adopted" grandson.<ref name="Room"/> At the end of this period, the latter formally changed his name to King.<ref name="Oldies"/>
After leaving Albert King's band, Little Jimmy King formed his own ensemble, called Little Jimmy King & the Memphis Soul Survivors, and released his debut album in 1991 on the Bullseye Blues label.<ref>{{cite book | first= Robert | last= Santelli | year= 2001 | title= The Big Book of Blues: A Biographical Encyclopedia | edition= | publisher= Penguin Books | location= London, England | isbn= 0-14-100145-3 | pages= [https://archive.org/details/bigbookofbluesbi00sant/page/277 277–8] | url-access= registration | url= https://archive.org/details/bigbookofbluesbi00sant/page/277 }}</ref> The Allmusic journalist Thom Owens described the disc as "an exciting, promising debut".<ref name="Little"/> In 1993, King had a small cameo role in the film ''The Firm'', playing a street musician on Beale Street, in Memphis.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0455005/ |title=Little Jimmy King |author= |date= |work=Filmography |publisher=IMDb.com |access-date=December 19, 2011}}</ref>
King's next album was ''Something Inside of Me'' (1994). It was produced by Ron Levy.<ref>{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=something-inside-of-me-r197752|pure_url=yes}}|title=''Something Inside of Me'' > Overview |access-date=December 19, 2011 |publisher=Allmusic}}</ref> On the recording King used various musicians, billed as the King James Version Band, and also used Tommy Shannon (bass guitar) and Chris Layton (drums), who were formerly part of Stevie Ray Vaughan's backing ensemble, Double Trouble.<ref name="AMG"/><ref name="Oldies"/> One music journalist noted that the album was "caught between traditional blues and its rock equivalent" and that King was an "uneasy amalgam of both disparate elements, which he struggled to mould into a recognizably individual sound".<ref name="Oldies"/> In 1995, King recorded with his brothers, Eric and Eugene Gales. The resultant album, ''Left Hand Brand'', released on the House of Blues label, was billed as by the Gales Brothers .<ref name="AMG"/><ref>{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=left-hand-brand-r233013|pure_url=yes}}|title=''Left Hand Brand'' > The Gales Brothers > Overview |access-date=December 19, 2011 |publisher=Allmusic}}</ref> In addition, King played guitar on Ann Peebles's 1992 album, ''Full Time Love''. He also backed Otis Clay on his albums ''I'll Treat You Right'' and ''On My Way Home''.<ref name="AMG"/>
In 1997, Willie Mitchell produced King's third Bullseye Blues release, ''Soldier for the Blues''.<ref name="Oldies"/> Cub Koda noted that the collection had a "more pronounced soul blues feeling than his two previous efforts".<ref>{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=soldier-for-the-blues-r277967|pure_url=yes}}|title=''Soldier for the Blues'' > Overview |access-date=December 19, 2011 |publisher=Allmusic}}</ref> In September 2000, at Bobby Bland's receiving of the Blues Ball Pyramid Award, King played at the benefit tribute event.<ref>{{cite book | first= Charles | last= Farley | year= 2011 | title= Soul of the Man: Bobby "Blue" Bland | edition= | publisher= University Press of Mississippi | location= Jackson, Mississippi | isbn= 978-1-60473-919-0 | page= 241}}</ref>
In 2002, the year of his death, Bullseye released ''Live at Monterey'', featuring live tracks from 1999 and some studio tracks from 1994.<ref>{{cite web|title=Live at Monterey - Jimmy King, Little Jimmy King {{!}} Songs, Reviews, Credits {{!}} AllMusic|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/live-at-monterey-mw0000218572|website=AllMusic|language=en|access-date=2021-03-25}}</ref>
King died on July 19, 2002, in Memphis, after suffering a heart attack.<ref name="Dead"/>
==Discography== {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year || Title || Record label |- | 1991 || ''Little Jimmy King & the Memphis Soul Survivors'' || style="text-align:center;"|Bullseye Blues |- | 1994 || ''Something Inside of Me'' || style="text-align:center;"|Bullseye Blues |- | 1997 || ''Soldier for the Blues'' || style="text-align:center;"|Bullseye Blues |- | 2002 || ''Live at Monterey'' || style="text-align:center;"|Bullseye Blues & Jazz |- | 2008 || ''Live at B.B. King's, LA'' || style="text-align:center;"|King James Records |}<ref name="Albums">{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/little-jimmy-king-mn0000263681/discography |title=Little Jimmy King | Discography |website=AllMusic |date= |access-date=2014-01-27}}</ref>
;with Ann Peebles {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year || Title || Record label |- | 1992 || ''Full Time Love'' || style="text-align:center;"|Bullseye Blues |}
;with Otis Clay {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year || Title || Record label |- | 1992 || ''I'll Treat You Right'' || style="text-align:center;"|Bullseye Blues |- | 1993 || ''On My Way Home'' || style="text-align:center;"|Bullseye Blues |}
;with The Gales Brothers {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year || Title || Record label |- | 1996 || ''Left Hand Brand'' || style="text-align:center;"|House of Blues |}
==See also== *List of Memphis blues musicians *List of electric blues musicians *List of soul-blues musicians
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Little Jimmy}} Category:1964 births Category:2002 deaths Category:American blues guitarists Category:American male guitarists Category:American blues singers Category:Songwriters from Tennessee Category:Soul-blues musicians Category:Electric blues musicians Category:Memphis blues musicians Category:Singers from Memphis, Tennessee Category:20th-century American singers Category:20th-century American guitarists Category:Guitarists from Tennessee Category:20th-century American male singers Category:American male songwriters Category:20th-century American songwriters