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KING GEORGE & HARLEM
KIDDIES
Biography
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Harlem Kiddies with King George |
King George Discovery |
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King George &
Harlem Kiddies
Biography |
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1967-68: The Harlem Kiddies: Willie Ray: vcl, Paul Weeden:
gtr, Les Brathwaite: keys, Dave Turnball: sax, Claude Bartee: sax, Grave Hansen:
dms + George Clemons: vcl, Billie Jo Thomas: keys, Jesse Wilkes: sax, Kurt Hansen:
sax, Wordie Jones: keys, Anders Lindskog: sax, James Buchanan: sax
1968-69: King George Discovery: George Clemons: vcl / bs, Anders
Nordh: gtr, Paul "Palle" Sundlin: bs, Lennart "Lily" Bergman:
dms
A black singer George Clemons had created quite a remarkable
career in the USA before moving to Sweden in the last part of the 1960s. "King"
George was born in Virginia but moved to New York in the early 1960s, and started
singing at Harlem night clubs such as Apollo. He worked now and then with Don
Covay & the Goodtimers, and even appeared on Covay's hit single "Mercy
Mercy" in 1964. He was also involved with the King Curtis Band, which got
him to make friends with young Jimi Hendrix. King George's solo career started
with single release "Drive On James", where he was accompanied by
part of the Ray Charles Band including Bernard "Pretty" Purdie on
drums.
The Harlem Kiddies was a group of all-black American musicians
led by the Swedish orchestra leader and drummer Grave Hansen. After a couple
of line-up changes in 1967, George Clemons was offered to come in Europe and
become the group's new lead singer. The Harlem Kiddies arrived in Stockholm
in 1966 for three months but ended up touring around two years instead.
Along with King George, concurrently the Harlem Kiddies' music
style stabilized into a combination of soul, jazz, pop and rhythm 'n' blues.
Their homebase was in Denmark, and almost all their recordings were recorded
and released there. The group toured around Scandinavia until breaking up in
1968. One of their concert highlights was to open for Jimi Hendrix in Copenhagen.
After Harlem Kiddies, Clemons built around him the King George
Discovery, which consisted of an older musician Lennart Bergman and two 20-year
old fellows - Anders Nordh and Paul Sundlin. Discovery took their name from
the Charles Lloyd album, but their music was particularly influenced by Jimi
Hendrix Experience and soul artists. Discovery was a well-celebrated live band,
and they performed for instance at the Sweden's biggest festival of 1968 in
Timrl. Also their self-titled LP released in 1968 got an excellent reception.
Right then when everything seemed to look bright, the bassist
Sundlin left the group because of differing musical opinions, and besides singing,
Clemons began now to play the bass. King George Discovery eventually broke up
in 1969 when the guitarist Nordh left them to join a pop band called Blond.
King George continued as a solo artist, and he also did some recordings in the
early 1970s mostly with his backing group Red White & Blues. During the
years, he has worked with countless musicians both in Europa and America, and
he's also kept on doing new recordings as King George Band and King George Bluesology.
Harlem Kiddies with King George |
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King George Discovery |
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More info available here:
http://koti.mbnet.fi/wdd/kinggeorge.htm
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