Albert Collins
Albert Gene Collins (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993 Leona, TX) was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. He was noted for his powerful playing and his use of altered tunings and a capo. His long association with the Fender Telecaster led to the title “The Master of the Telecaster”. Collins took piano lessons when he was young, but when his piano tutor was unavailable his cousin Willow Young would lend Albert his guitar and taught him the altered tuning that he used throughout his career.[4] Collins tuned his guitar to an open F-minor chord (FCFA♭CF), with a capo at the 5th, 6th or 7th fret. At the age of sixteen, he decided to concentrate on learning the guitar after hearing “Boogie Chillen’ ” by John Lee Hooker.
Collins was performing at the Paléo Festival in Nyon, Switzerland, in July 1993 when he was taken ill. He was diagnosed in mid-August with lung cancer, which had metastasized to his liver, with an expected survival time of four months. Tracks for his last album, Live ’92/’93, were recorded at shows that September. Collins died on 24 November 1993 at the age of 61. His final album, Live ’92/’93, was posthumously nominated at the 38th Grammy Awards of 1996 in the category Best Blues Contemporary Album.