Saunders King

Pioneering R&B guitarist Saunders Ruler had his initial strike in 1942 with “S.K. Blues.” Ruler was a preacher’s kid who sang gospel in his father’s cathedral in Oakland. He discovered piano, banjo and ukulele. In 1938 he started playing electric guitar and finished up singing using the Southern Tranquility Four for an NBC radio place in SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA. He soon created his interest for blues and “S.K. Blues” was a massive hit. In addition, it features among the earliest types of electrical blues electric guitar, the style that T-Bone Walker would shortly be famous. Ruler documented for the Aladdin, Contemporary, and Rhythm brands. He may have got made a larger impact within the burgeoning Western world Coast blues picture from the ’40s but was saddled with many personal problems like the suicide of his wife in 1942, a significant wound from a .45-caliber pistol fired by his landlord in 1946, and his portion time in San Quentin prison for heroin possession. Ruler retired from music in 1961 and devoted time and energy to the cathedral. In 1979, he briefly arrived of retirement to try out on his son-in-law Carlos Santana’s Oneness record. By 1999 he previously suffered a heart stroke that partly paralyzed him. He passed on on August 31, 2000 at his Oakland house. He was 91.