Collins, Albert

▪ 1994

      U.S. blues musician (b. Oct. 1, 1932, Leona, Texas—d. Nov. 24, 1993, Las Vegas, Nev.), was a passionate instrumentalist and singer who became known as the "Master of the Telecaster" for the distinctively pure "icy" tone he produced from his Fender Telecaster electric guitar. Collins learned piano and guitar as a teenager in Houston, Texas, and played in local clubs as a band musician and pickup guitarist for other performers. On his first record, "The Freeze" (1958), he introduced the bare-finger plucking style and D-minor open-chord tuning that became his trademarks. He followed up with successful instrumentals, including "Defrost," "Frosty," and "Sno-Cone." In the late 1960s he moved to Los Angeles, where the blues/rock group Canned Heat helped him sign with a major record label and broaden his appeal to a young white audience. Collins added vocals in the 1970s. He won the W. C. Handy Award for best blues album for Don't Lose Your Cool (1983) and Cold Snap (1986) and captured a Grammy for Showdown (1987), recorded with Johnny Copeland and Robert Cray. Collins' other albums include Ice Pickin' (1978), Frostbite (1980), and Molten Ice (1992).

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