Artist Bios
B.B. King

At age 76 B.B. King is as
alive as the music he plays, and a grateful world can't get
enough of him. For more than half a century, Riley B. King -
better known as B.B. King - has defined the blues for a
worldwide audience. Since he started recording in the 1940s,
he has released over fifty albums, many of them classics. He
was born September 16, 1925, on a plantation in Itta Bene,
Mississippi, near Indianola. In his youth, he played on
street corners for dimes, and would sometimes play in as
many as four towns a night. In 1947, he hitchhiked to
Memphis, TN, to pursue his music career. Memphis was where
every important musician of the South gravitated, and which
supported a large musical community where every style of
African American music could be found. B.B. stayed with his
cousin Bukka White, one of the most celebrated blues
performers of his time, who schooled B.B. further in the art
of the blues.
B.B.'s first big break came in 1948 when he performed on
Sonny Boy Williamson's radio program on KWEM out of West
Memphis. This led to steady engagements at the Sixteenth
Avenue Grill in West Memphis, and later to a ten-minute spot
on black-staffed and managed Memphis radio station WDIA.
"King's Spot," became so popular, it was expanded and became
the "Sepia Swing Club." Soon B.B. needed a catchy radio
name. What started out as Beale Street Blues Boy was
shortened to Blues Boy King, and eventually B.B. King.
In the mid-1950s, while B.B. was performing at a dance in
Twist, Arkansas, a few fans became unruly. Two men got into
a fight and knocked over a kerosene stove, setting fire to
the hall. B.B. raced outdoors to safety with everyone else,
then realized that he left his beloved $30 acoustic guitar
inside, so he rushed back inside the burning building to
retrieve it, narrowly escaping death. When he later found
out that the fight had been over a woman named Lucille, he
decided to give the name to his guitar to remind him never
to do a crazy thing like fight over a woman. Ever since,
each one of B.B.'s trademark Gibson guitars has been called
Lucille.
Soon after his number one hit, "Three O'Clock Blues," B.B.
began touring nationally. In 1956, B.B. and his band played
an astonishing 342 one-night stands. From the chitlin
circuit with its small-town cafes, juke joints, and country
dance halls to rock palaces, symphony concert halls,
universities, resort hotels and amphitheaters, nationally
and internationally, B.B. has become the most renowned blues
musician of the past 40 years.
Over the years, B.B. has developed one of the world's most
identifiable guitar styles. He borrowed from Blind Lemon
Jefferson, T-Bone Walker and others, integrating his precise
and complex vocal-like string bends and his left hand
vibrato, both of which have become indispensable components
of rock guitarist's vocabulary. His economy, his
every-note-counts phrasing, has been a model for thousands
of players, from Eric Clapton and George Harrison to Jeff
Beck. B.B. has mixed traditional blues, jazz, swing,
mainstream pop and jump into a unique sound. In B.B.'s
words, "When I sing, I play in my mind; the minute I stop
singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille."
In 1968, B.B. played at the Newport Folk Festival and at
Bill Graham's Fillmore West on bills with the hottest
contemporary rock artists of the day who idolized B.B. and
helped to introduce him to a young white audience. In 11969,
B.B. was chosen by the Rolling Stones to open 18 American
concerts for them; Ike and Tina Turner also played on 18
shows.
B.B. was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in
1984 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He
received NARAS' Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 1987,
and has received honorary doctorates from Tougaloo(MS)
College in 1973; Yale University in 1977; Berklee College of
Music in 1982; Rhodes College of Memphis in 1990 and
Mississippi Valley State University in 2002. In 1992, he
received the National Award of Distinction from the
University of Mississippi.
In 1991, B.B. King's Blues Club opened on Beale Street in
Memphis, and in 1994, a second club was launched at
Universal CityWalk in Los Angeles. A third club in New York
City's Times Square opened in June 2000 and most recently
two clubs opened at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut in
January 2002. In 1996, the CD-Rom On The Road With B.B.
King: An Interactive Autobiography was released to rave
reviews. Also in 1996, B.B.'s autobiography, "Blues All
Around Me" (written with David Ritz for Avon Books) was
published. In a similar vein, Doubleday published "The
Arrival of B.B. King" by Charles Sawyer, in 1980.
B.B. continues to tour extensively, averaging over 250
concerts per year around the world. Classics such as "Payin'
The Cost To Be The Boss," "The Thrill Is Gone," How Blue Can
You Get," "Everyday I Have The Blues," and "Why I Sing The
Blues" are concert (and fan) staples. Over the years, the
Grammy Award-winner has had two #1 R&B hits, 1951's "Three
O'Clock Blues," and 1952's "You Don't Know Me," and four #2
R&B hits, 1953's "Please Love Me," 1954's "You Upset Me
Baby," 1960's "Sweet Sixteen, Part I," and 1966's "Don't
Answer The Door, Part I." B.B.'s most popular crossover hit,
1970's "The Thrill Is Gone," went to #15 pop.
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From B.B.
King. COM--The Official Fan Website
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