King Ernest swings out of retirement to rejoin the blues game.

King Ernest, who’s performing at B.B. King’s Blues Club on Friday, reminds me of Dick Vermeil, the new coach of the St. Louis Rams.

Both have come out of early retirement to return to a game they love. For Vermeil it’s football, and for King Ernest, it’s music.

Mississippi-born Ernest Baker started working as a singer while he was still going to high school.

As much as he enjoyed it, he had a different career goal.

“Everybody thought I’d be a professor in math,” says Baker. He eventually got the math degree, but by that time he had already made a name for himself in Chicago night spots as Good Rockin’ Ernie.

“I was always a James Brown-, Jackie Wilson-style soul singer,” Baker says. “But people would always ask me, ‘Why don’t you sing the blues?’ ”

In 1964, Good Rockin’ Ernie moved to New York, where he picked up a new nom de guerre, King Ernest, released his first single and became a regular on the East Coast soul/R&B; circuit.

He went back to Chicago in the late 1960s and performed in clubs and made records as King Ernest. Then in 1980, after moving to L.A. in anticipation of a major recording breakthrough that didn’t happen, he abruptly retired.

Frustrated with the music business, Baker got a job in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and stayed for 14 years.

“The urge came back to me,” Baker says. But this time he wanted to sing the blues.

After retiring from the Sheriff’s Department, Baker started playing locally. He’s just released his very first album, “King of Hearts,” on the Evidence Music label of Philadelphia.

Each song on the album is like a fine classic automobile that King Ernest pulls out of the garage and takes for a Sunday spin. But Baker is at his best in two taut swing blues numbers, where his vocals stand out nicely.

With a new album and new popularity, the 57-year-old entertainer feels like a rookie.

“People say, ‘You look preserved,’ and I believe I’ve been preserved for a reason.”

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BE THERE

King Ernest has a record-release party Friday night at B.B. King’s, Universal CityWalk. $12 cover. Information: (818) 622-5464.