Federal – Sue Records UK

101 | 1 October 2023

Ralph Bass | Kevin Mazur / Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

Talent scout and rhythm and blues record producer, artists and repertoire manager and song writer Ralph Basso Jr. was born on May 1, 1911 in The Bronx, New York. As a boy he showed an interest in music and was given music lessons. He grew up listening to blues, jazz and other forms of music but developed a desire to assemble sounds. In the early 1940s he began work as A&R manager at Black And White Records, including T Bone Walker’s landmark recording of “Stormy Monday”. By 1948 he was working for Savoy Records from 1948 to 1951, then King Records of Cincinatti. Extensively touring the southern states, he realised that R&B music appealed to increasing numbers of listeners across social and racial divides. He set up Federal Records and recorded the classics “Sixty Minute Man” (The Dominoes), “Work with me Annie” (Hank Ballard) and others. He signed James Brown but record company owner Syd Nathan hated the first recording, “Please Please Please” so it was issued on Federal. Chess Records poached him in 1959, where he worked until 1976 when he moved to MCA Records.

Ralph Bass died in New York City on 5 March 1997.

111 | 22 March 2024

Freddy King | David Warner Ellis/Redferns | 14590

Blues guitar singer, guitarist and composer Frederick Christian King was born in Gilmer, Texas on September 3, 1934. His parents taught him to play the guitar. In 1949 the family moved from Dallas, Texas to Chicago. In 1952 King found a job at a steel mill. He formed his first band that year. His first recording was in 1956 for El-Bee Records. In 1959 he was signed to King Records’ subsidiary Federal.

Freddy King had a hectic work schedule which brought on ulcers, and his life style and poor diet did not help, and he died from stomach ulcers and acute pancreatitis in Dallas, Texas on December 28, 1976, aged only 42.