King Ernest Baker

Coming from a large family, he was the third born of 11 children. Ernest was born in Natchez, Mississippi on May 30, 1939. His great-grandfather was an Italian violinist from Milan who lived to be 109. According to Baker, all of his Southern State children (referred to as half-Mulatto in those times) were violinists and guitar players. His grandfather was part of a Baker Band Revue, which played around and in Louisiana and Mississippi. His father was a guitarist who would play at the Honky-tonk places in the south. He recalled sitting on his fathers knee at around seven years old and listening to his father signing and playing his slide guitar. He would also hold out a cup for the listeners to put money in to. ==Career==

His first professional outing was in 1958 with Byther Smith at Wynn's Lounge in Chicago, Illinois. Baker credited Smith with giving him his start as a professional. He became a popular Chicago club attraction, and performed variously with Tyrone Davis, Buddy Guy and Howlin' Wolf. Being a tall man standing at 6 ft 3in, The labels he recorded for were, Barry in New York and in Chicago, Sonic, Funk, Mercury and Blue Soul. Due to the disappointments in his career he got a job with the Sheriffs department. He stayed there for 14 years as a supervisor until retiring at 55. Via the classified ads in local papers, Baker recruited his band. With their mix of R&B, funk, gospel and blues, they began playing in clubs in Los Angeles black areas. Baker was hired by Randy Chortkoff as the featured singer in his blues revue, backed by some of Los Angeles' best blues musicians. He started booking King Ernest & the Wild Knights at venues up and down the West Coast. Later Baker got a recording contract and his first CD album King of Hearts was released in January 1997 on the Evidence label. In May 1999 Baker undetook a short tour of shows in Israel – eight shows in Tel Aviv and in Eilat, backed by local band "The Daily Blues" (led by harmonica player Dov Hammer). In 2000, Baker had just finished recording his second album, Blues Got Soul which would end up being his last recording. He had a listen to the CD on March 2. ==Accident and death==

A few days after listening to his new album, and while on his way back to Los Angeles he was killed in a car crash, near to Santa Maria, California on Highway 101. Baker and his band had done a show at Mothers Tavern, in San Luis Obispo, California. The van containing Baker apparently left the road, rolled over and hit a tree. Baker who was apparently sleeping in the back of the van was killed when he was thrown from it. ==Discography==