Young Australian guitarist V.J. King, Jr. burst onto the instrumental music scene with the endorsement of that country's electric guitar great Phil Emmanuel. His debut album, Shadow of a Dream, was released in 2001 when he was just 10 years old.
There was a flurry of publicity, appearances with Phil Emmanuel and his brother Tommy and a subsequent EP, Slipstream. Then it all collapsed because of what his website called "a major family disruption, one that caused his world to fall apart and his confidence to crumble."
There were appearances in Australia in 2005 and some European dates the following year. But a proposed 2007 gig headlining a blues festival in the U.S. didn't happen and a third album, Ignition, first promised in '07, then in 2010, never appeared.
Basically King's career seems to have stopped at age 15, despite so much promise in those first recordings and spotlight appearances.
He was obviously heavily influenced by Hank Marvin, lead guitarist of the British instrumental group The Shadows, on his two privately-released CDs. Below you can listen to and download Aubrey, from the Slipstream EP. As far as I know, this recording is not commercially available.
Aubrey
It seems doubtful that we'll hear more from V.J. King, Jr. in the near future. His website hasn't been touched since late 2010 and there hasn't been any real news since 2006.
From YouTube comes an appearance at the Schools Spectacular at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on Nov. 17, 2000. V.J. King, Jr. was nine years old. The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt was a hit by The Shadows.
There a couple of other excellent V.J. King videos on YouTube in which he plays in a blues-rock style during appearances in 2006. Look them up.
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