The Fabulous Thunderbirds were founded in 1974 in Austin, Texas. The original founding member, Kim Wilson, began his career Goleta, California, when he was 17 and a budding harmonica player. He also began singing, influenced strongly by blues artists like Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and Bobby “Blue” Bland. He fell in love with the blues and went to Minneapolis, looking for other musicians who shared his passion. He remained there for 18 months until he relocated to Austin, met Jimmie Vaughan, and launched The Fabulous Thunderbirds.
The group began as a straight-ahead blues band, but gradually incorporated many different styles including soul, rock ‘n roll, Cajun, and R&B. However, it never lost its love of the Blues. Wilson says these influences have made The Fabulous Thunderbirds:
“. . . an American music band [with] . . . much higher energy than we were before.”
The group reached its commercial peak in 1986 when it released the “Tuff Enuff” album. The title track, as well as singles “Look at That” and “Wrap It Up,” all hit the Top 40, and “Tuff Enuff” was used in the Michael Keaton film “Gung Ho.”
A concert review says:
“So how was the show? In a word, awesome!”
The Fabulous Thunderbirds will be at Cincinnati’s Ludlow Garage on August 5 at 8:30 pm. When concert promoters want to advertise events like this, they can use poster printing to create attractive ads.