Kim Wilson
Encyclopedia
Kim Wilson is an American
blues
singer and harmonica
player. He is best known as the lead vocalist
and frontman for The Fabulous Thunderbirds
on two hit
song
s of the 1980s; "Tuff Enuff", and "Wrap It Up."
, Michigan
in 1951, but he grew up in Goleta
, California
, where he sometimes went by the stage name of "Goleta Slim." He started with the blues
in the late 1960s and was tutored by people like Muddy Waters
, Jimmie Rogers, Eddie Taylor
, Albert Collins
, George "Harmonica" Smith, Luther Tucker
and Pee Wee Crayton
and was influenced by harmonica players like Little Walter
, James Cotton
, Big Walter Horton
, Slim Harpo
and Lazy Lester
. Before he moved to Austin
, Texas
in 1974, he was the leader of the band Aces, Straights and Shuffles in Minneapolis
, Minnesota
; this band released one single. In Austin he formed The Fabulous Thunderbirds with guitarist
Jimmie Vaughan
, and they became the house band at the blues club, Antone's, owned by Clifford Antone
. Muddy Waters
called Wilson, "The greatest harmonica player since Little Walter
".
Wilson continues to perform up to 300 concert dates per year at blues music festival
s and clubs all over the world, both as leader of The Fabulous Thunderbirds and with the Kim Wilson Blues Allstars.
His powerful style of blues harp playing has been described as "loaded with the textures of a full-blown horn section."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
singer and harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
player. He is best known as the lead vocalist
Lead vocalist
The lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...
and frontman for The Fabulous Thunderbirds
The Fabulous Thunderbirds
The Fabulous Thunderbirds are an American, Grammy-nominated Blues rock band, formed in 1974.-Career:After performing for several years in the Austin, Texas blues scene, the band won a recording contract with Takoma/Chrysalis Records, and later on signed with Epic Records.Their first two albums,...
on two hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
s of the 1980s; "Tuff Enuff", and "Wrap It Up."
Career
Wilson was born in DetroitDetroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
in 1951, but he grew up in Goleta
Goleta, California
Goleta is a city in southern Santa Barbara County, California, USA. It was incorporated as a city in 2002, after a long period as the largest unincorporated, populated area in the county. As of the 2000 census, the Census-designated place had a total population of 55,204, however, a significant...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, where he sometimes went by the stage name of "Goleta Slim." He started with the blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
in the late 1960s and was tutored by people like Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
, Jimmie Rogers, Eddie Taylor
Eddie Taylor
Eddie Taylor was an American electric blues guitarist and singer.-Biography:Born Edward Taylor in Benoit, Mississippi, United States, as a boy Taylor taught himself to play the guitar. He spent his early years playing at venues around Leland, Mississippi, where he taught his friend Jimmy Reed to...
, Albert Collins
Albert Collins
Albert Collins was an American electric blues guitarist and singer whose recording career began in the 1960s in Houston and whose fame eventually took him to stages across the US, Europe, Japan and Australia...
, George "Harmonica" Smith, Luther Tucker
Luther Tucker
For the publisher see The Genesee FarmerLuther Tucker was an American blues guitarist.While soft spoken and shy, Tucker made his presence known through his unique and clearly recognizable guitar style. Tucker helped to define the music known as Chicago Blues, but played everything from blues to...
and Pee Wee Crayton
Pee Wee Crayton
Connie Curtis Crayton , known as Pee Wee Crayton, was an American R&B and blues guitarist and singer.-Career:...
and was influenced by harmonica players like Little Walter
Little Walter
Little Walter, born Marion Walter Jacobs , was an American blues harmonica player, whose revolutionary approach to his instrument has earned him comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix, for innovation and impact on succeeding generations...
, James Cotton
James Cotton
James Cotton is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who has performed and recorded with many of the great blues artists of his time as well as with his own band.-Career:...
, Big Walter Horton
Big Walter Horton
Walter Horton, better known as Big Walter Horton or Walter "Shakey" Horton, was an American blues harmonica player. A quiet, unassuming and essentially shy man, Horton is remembered as one of the premier harmonica players in the history of blues...
, Slim Harpo
Slim Harpo
Slim Harpo was an American blues musician. He was known as a master of the blues harmonica; the name "Slim Harpo" was derived from "harp," the popular nickname for the harmonica in blues circles.-Early life:...
and Lazy Lester
Lazy Lester
Lazy Lester is an American blues harmonica player, whose career spans the 1950s to the 2000s....
. Before he moved to Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
in 1974, he was the leader of the band Aces, Straights and Shuffles in Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
; this band released one single. In Austin he formed The Fabulous Thunderbirds with guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Jimmie Vaughan
Jimmie Vaughan
James Lawrence "Jimmie" Vaughan is an American blues rock guitarist and singer from Dallas, Texas, United States. He is the older brother of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan....
, and they became the house band at the blues club, Antone's, owned by Clifford Antone
Clifford Antone
Clifford Antone was the founder of a well-known Austin blues club, record label, and a mentor to Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmie Vaughan and numerous other musicians....
. Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
called Wilson, "The greatest harmonica player since Little Walter
Little Walter
Little Walter, born Marion Walter Jacobs , was an American blues harmonica player, whose revolutionary approach to his instrument has earned him comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix, for innovation and impact on succeeding generations...
".
Wilson continues to perform up to 300 concert dates per year at blues music festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
s and clubs all over the world, both as leader of The Fabulous Thunderbirds and with the Kim Wilson Blues Allstars.
His powerful style of blues harp playing has been described as "loaded with the textures of a full-blown horn section."
Solo
- Tigerman (1993)
- That's Life (1994)
- My Blues (1997)
- Smokin' Joint (2001)
- Looking for Trouble (2003)
- My Blues Sessions: Kim's Mix, Volume I (2006)
Guest
- Kid RamosKid RamosKid Ramos is an American electric blues and blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. Thompson has released four solo albums since 1995 on Black Top and Evidence Records...
- Kid Ramos - 1999 - James CottonJames CottonJames Cotton is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who has performed and recorded with many of the great blues artists of his time as well as with his own band.-Career:...
- & Friends - Bonnie RaittBonnie RaittBonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
- Road TestedRoad TestedRoad Tested is a live album by Bonnie Raitt, released in 1995 .-Track listing:#"Thing Called Love" – 4:48#"Three Time Loser" – 3:39#"Love Letter" – 4:37...
- 1995 - Wentus Blues Band - Family Album - 2004, Bluelight Records
- JW-JonesJW-JonesJW-Jones is a Canadian blues guitarist, singer and band leader. Jones is signed to the NorthernBlues Music label in Toronto, Canada, CrossCut Records in Europe, and Ruf Records in USA. In the last decade, he has released six albums and played in 17 countries, 4 continents, over 260 cities and...
- Bogart's Bounce (guest) 2002 / My Kind of Evil (producer/guest) 2004 - Barrelhouse Chuck - Got My Eyes On You - 2007
- Omar Kent DykesOmar Kent DykesOmar Kent Dykes is an American blues guitarist and singer, living in Austin, Texas. In 1973 he formed the band, Omar & the Howlers. The band plays electric Texas blues, rock and roll and blues-rock...
& Jimmy Vaughan - Jimmy Reed Highway - 2007 - Louisiana RedLouisiana RedLouisiana Red is an African American blues guitarist, harmonica player, and singer, who has recorded more than 50 albums...
- Back to the Black Bayou - 2008, Ruf RecordsRuf RecordsThe motto of the blues label is "Where Blues Crosses Over". The company's office is located in Lindewerra, Germany. As of 2008 Ruf has produced 120 releases, sold over 1 million albums, received two Grammy nominations and ten Blues Music Award nominations.... - ClaptonClapton (2010 album)According to review aggregator Metacritic, Clapton received an average of 72 out of 100 indicating generally favorable reviews from music critics, based on ten critiques...
- 2010, RepriseReprise RecordsReprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
External links
- 2009 Interview Bluesinlondon Magazine
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-98mGt960vk&feature=related Example of Kim Wilson's harp-work, accompanied by Gene TaylorGene Taylor (musician)Gene Taylor is an American blues rock and boogie-woogie pianist.-Biography:Taylor began his musical training as a drummer at age eight but two years later he had picked up both the guitar and his initial piano skills from boogie-woogie pianist-neighbours...
] - Wilson's biography on the Fabulous Thunderbirds website