Hans Lingenfelder, better known by his stage name Ricky King, was given an acoustic guitar by his parents at the age of 12, thus beginning his journey as a self-taught guitarist and later composer, arranger and guitar teacher. Originally training to become a radio technician, he also enrolled at the University of Music, Karlsruhe and completed his guitar teacher training there. He joined his first band The Fellows in 1962, and bought an electric guitar to blend in with the sound the band wished to create.
In 1964, he was a member of another band, The Twenties, and then in the late sixties, he formed The Moonlights with saxophonist Gerd Köthe. The Moonlights spent five years touring and performing in clubs and at dances. In 1973, King became a member of Joy Unlimited which was also known as Hit Kids and began to concentrate more on studio work. He decided to start out as a solo artist, initially using the name Cliff King, but changing to Ricky King following the discovery of a name double. King's formula for his solo albums was to combine tracks containing his own reworked versions of old songs with some of his own compositions. His debut single 'Verde' in 1976 was an immediate success, reaching number three in the German Singles Chart, number four in Austria, number five in Belgium and number one in Switzerland. It was used as the title song of the Italian television documentary 'Quaranta Giorni di Libertà'. His second single 'La Rêve' followed soon after this in 1976 and was successful in reaching the top ten in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
King released his first two albums in 1976. His debut album release 'Ricky King Plays Fantastic Guitar Hits' reached number ten in Germany and his second, 'Ricky King Plays Golden Guitar Hits', reached number eleven. He became the first instrumentalist to win Saarländischen Rundfunk's 'Golden Europa' Award in 1977. His third album, '20 Welthits im Gitarrensound' (1978), was even more successful than the first two, reaching number two, and his fourth, 'Zauber der Gitarre' (1979), reached number four. King went on to release a further six charting albums between 1980 and 1988, and a total of 24 singles.
He also released his own re-workings of classical tracks including Mozart's 'Eine Kleine Nachtmusik' and Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata', country songs including 'High Noon' and 'Bonanza', folk and traditional music including 'Greensleeves', film classics like 'Moon River', pop songs like 'Yesterday', 'Lambada' and 'Spanish Eyes' and rock & roll classics such as 'Shake, Rattle n' Roll' and 'Johnny Be Good'. He has sold over six million records and has achieved gold and platinum sales in several countries.
