Ben King (guitarist)

Infobox musical artist

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Name = Ben King

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Img_capt = Ben King Basingstoke 2008 By Marc Lacaze
Copyright = Marc Lacaze
Background = guitarist
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Instrument = Guitar
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Genre = Blues, blues-rock, hard rock, psychedelic rock
Occupation = Musician
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Associated_acts = The Yardbirds (2005-)
URL = [http://www.theyardbirds.com/ The Yardbirds official website]
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Ben King is a British-American professional lead guitarist who is currently touring with English blues-rock band The Yardbirds. He has gained popularity [ cite web|url=http://classicrock.about.com/b/2006/06/15/yardbirds-schedule-us-tour.htm |title="About.com's "Dave's Classic Rock Blog" article"|accessdate=2008-01-18] [ cite web|url=http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B000PTYQ8S/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_helpful?%5Fencoding=UTF8&coliid=&showViewpoints=1&colid=&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending |title="Praise following the release of "Live at B.B. King's Blues Club": Amazon.com" |accessdate=2008-01-18] as a musician owing to his extensive technical ability of the guitar coupled with his young age.

Development

Born to a musical family (his father having also been a professional guitarist) in 1984, King spent the majority of his life devoted to the guitar, growing up listening to the vast range of music provided by his parents. King developed an astute understanding of the guitar at a very early stage, garnering both a technical and philosophical approach alongside a head-down work ethic.

Having spent time in various bands and gaining local notoriety for his talent, he moved to Guildford, Surrey where he enrolled at the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) [ cite web|url=http://www.acm.ac.uk/school/Industry.asp|title="ACM - Students in to Industry" |accessdate=2008-01-18] . King received a good amount of attention from the faculty with his talents and, most importantly, gained the interest of ex-Alice Cooper guitarist Pete Friesen and Yardbirds bass guitarist John Idan.

Having completed his vocational studies, King was offered an audition by Idan, founding Yardbirds members Jim McCarty and Chris Dreja. Speaking of Idan's interest in King, McCarty commented: cquote2|Idan met Ben and [he] happened to be best guitar [ist] there. John recommended him. He was great. We were looking for someone who could create some of the sounds we were used to.|Jim McCarty|2006 [cite web|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06201/707026-42.stm|title="Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - 'Pittsburgh Blues Festival Preview: Yardbirds fly with yet another gifted guitarist'" |accessdate=2008-01-18]

King was offered a role within The Yardbirds and replaced Jerry Donahue as lead guitarist in October 2005 [ cite web|url=http://www.theyardbirds.com/press.html|title="Theyarbirds.com announces King's arrival] . The band booked a run of shows across England in that year before beginning to tour internationally in countries such as Germany, France, Sweden, Canada and the United States.cn|date=January 2008

King features on The Yardbirds' recent live release "Live At B.B. King's Blues Club" (2007; Favored Nations) [ cite web|url=http://stores.musictoday.com/store/default.asp?band_id=482&sfid=2|title="Live At B.B. King's Blues Club on Favored Nations" |accessdate=2008-01-18] . A clip of the song "I'm A Man", from this album was used by 20th Century Fox on the first episode of season 19 of "The Simpsons" [ cite web|url=http://us.collect.myspace.cn/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=73722049&blogID=311450422|title="Favored Nations MySpace page confirms The Yardbirds' 'I Am A Man' to appear on The Simpsons" |accessdate=2008-01-18] .

External links

* [http://www.theyardbirds.com/ The Yardbirds Official Site]
* [http://www.yardbirds.us/ The Yardbirds US Fansite]
* [http://www.favorednations.com/artists/yb/yb.html The Yardbirds on Favored Nations]
* Ben King on the Wikipedia List of Guitarists

References