Everything about B B King totally explained
B. B. King (born
Riley B. King on
September 16,
1925) is an
American blues guitarist and
singer-songwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most respected blues guitarists of all time, King is possibly the most recognizable name in the blues genre. Rolling Stone magazine named him the 3rd greatest guitarist of "the 100 greatest guitarists of all-time."
Recording years
B. B. King arrived in Memphis for the first time in
1946 to work as a musician, but after a few months of hardship he left, going back to Mississippi. There he decided to prepare himself better for the next visit and returned to Memphis two years later. Initially he worked at the local R&B radio channel WDIA as a singer. In
1949, he began recording songs under contract with
Los Angeles-based
RPM Records. Many of King's early recordings were produced by
Sam Phillips, who later founded
Sun Records. King was also a disc jockey in Memphis, where he gained the nickname "Beale Street Blues Boy", later shortened to "B. B." Before his RPM contract, B. B. had debuted on Bullet Records by issuing the single "Miss Martha King" (1949), which got a bad review in
Billboard magazine and didn't chart well.
In the
1950s, B. B. King became one of the most important names in
R&B music, amassing an impressive list of hits including "You Know I Love You," "Woke Up This Morning," "Please Love Me," "When My Heart Beats like a Hammer," "Whole Lotta Love," "You Upset Me Baby," "Every Day I Have the Blues," "Sneakin' Around," "Ten Long Years," "Bad Luck," "Sweet Little Angel," "On My Word of Honor," and "Please Accept My Love." In
1962,B.B. King signed to
ABC-Paramount Records, which was later absorbed into
MCA Records, and then his current label,
Geffen Records.
In November
1964, King recorded the
Live at the Regal album at the Regal Theater in
Chicago, Illinois.
King's first success outside the blues market was his
1969 remake of
Roy Hawkins' tune "
The Thrill Is Gone." King's version became a hit on both pop and R&B charts, which was rare for an R&B artist. It also gained the number 193 spot in
Rolling Stone's Top 500 Songs Of All Time. He gained further rock visibility as an opening act on
The Rolling Stones much-ballyhooed
1969 American Tour. King's mainstream success continued throughout the
1970s with songs like "To Know You Is to Love You" and "I Like to Live the Love."
Going mainstream
The
1980s,
1990s and
2000s saw King recording less and less. Yet throughout this time he maintained a highly visible and active career, appearing on numerous television shows and performing 300 nights a year. In 1988 King reached a new generation of fans with the single “
When Love Comes To Town”, a collaborative effort between King and the
Irish band
U2 (on their
Rattle and Hum album). In
2000, King teamed up with guitarist
Eric Clapton to record
Riding With the King. In 1998 B. B. King appeared in "The Blues Brothers 2000" playing the part of the lead singer of the Louisiana Gator Boys, along with
Eric Clapton,
Dr. John,
Koko Taylor, and
Bo Diddley.
In
2003, King shared the stage with the rock band
Phish in
New Jersey, performing three of his classics and jamming with the band for over 45 minutes.
In June
2006, King was present at a memorialization of his first radio broadcast at the Three Deuces Building in
Greenwood, Mississippi, where an official marker of the
Mississippi Blues Trail was erected.
B. B. King also made an appearance at the Crossroads Guitar Festival put on by Eric Clapton. On the DVD, he plays "Paying The Cost To Be The Boss" and "Rock Me Baby" with Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughan, and Hubert Sumlin.
In June 2006, a groundbreaking was held for a new
B. B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center
in
Indianola, Mississippi. The museum is scheduled to open September 13, 2008.
Farewell tour
Aged 80 at the time, on
March 29, 2006, King played at the
Sheffield's Hallam Arena. This was the first date of his UK and European farewell tour. He played this tour supported by ex-shredder/rocker turned bluesman
Gary Moore, with whom King has previously toured and recorded, including the song "
Since I Met You Baby". The British leg of the tour ended on
April 4 with a final UK concert at
Wembley Arena.
In July King went back to Europe, playing twice (July 2
nd and 3
rd) in the 40th edition of the world famous
Montreux Jazz Festival and also in
Zürich at the Blues at Sunset on July 14
th. During his show in Montreux at the Stravinski Hall he jammed with
Joe Sample,
Randy Crawford,
David Sanborn,
Gladys Knight, Lella James, Earl Thomas,
Stanley Clarke,
John McLaughlin,
Barbara Hendricks and
George Duke. The European leg of the Farewell tour ended in
Luxembourg on the 19th of September 2006 at the
D'Coque Arena (support act:
Todd Sharpville).
In November and December, King played six times in Brazil.
During a press conference on November 29
th in
São Paulo, a journalist asked King if that would be the actual farewell tour. He answered: "One of my favorite actors is a man from
Scotland named
Sean Connery. Most of you know him as
James Bond,
007. He made a movie called "
Never Say Never Again."
On
July 28, 2007, B. B. King Played at
Eric Clapton's
Crossroads Guitar Festival with 20 other guitarists to raise money for the
Crossroads Center,
Antigua for
addictive disorders.
Legacy
Over 52 years B. B. King played at least 15,000 performances.
He has made guest appearances in numerous popular television shows, including
The Cosby Show,
The Young and the Restless,
General Hospital,
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,
Sesame Street,
Married With Children and
Sanford and Son.
King is the subject of a biography,
B.B. King: There is Always One More Time, by the noted New York-based music writer David McGee.
In the Beatles' song "Dig It" from the Let It Be sessions, John Lennon states "Like the FBI...and the CIA...and the BBC...BB King...and Doris Day...Matt Busby...Dig it..."
Personal life
The son of of Alfred King and Nora Ella King, B. B. King has had two wives to date: Martha Lee Denton, 1946 to 1952, and Sue Carol Hall, 1958 to 1966. Both marriages ended because of the heavy demands made on the marriage by King’s 250 performances a year. It is reported that he's fathered 15 children by different women.
King is a licensed
pilot, a known
gambler, a
vegetarian, non-drinker, and non-smoker. King has lived with
Type II Diabetes for over twenty years and is a visible spokesman in the fight against the disease, appearing in advertisements for diabetes-management products.
On
January 26,
2007, while on tour, King was hospitalized in
Galveston, Texas due to a low-grade (100.4°F) fever after a recent bout of
influenza. He was released on January 27, after an overnight stay. He resumed his touring on
January 30 in
Texas and gave another 30 performances in the US.
His favorite singer is
Frank Sinatra. In his autobiography King speaks about how he was, and is, a "Sinatra nut" and how he went to bed every night listening to Sinatra's classic album
In the Wee Small Hours. King has credited Sinatra for opening doors to black entertainers who weren't given the chance to play in "white dominated" venues. Sinatra got B. B. King into the main showrooms in Vegas during the 1960s.
Each year, during the first week in June, a B. B. King homecoming festival is held in
Indianola, Mississippi.
Famed Delta Blues artist
Bukka White is King's first cousin.
Boxer
Sonny Liston was King's uncle.
By his own admission, he can't play chords very well and always relies on improvisation, never thinking what to play beforehand.
Lucille
One of his trademarks is "
Lucille", his black custom Gibson guitar. During a show in Arkansas in 1949, two men at a performance of B.B.'s got into a fight and knocked over a kerosene stove that set the hall on fire. King, like everyone else ran out of the hall to save himself. King realized he'd left his guitar inside, and ran back to get it, barely escaping with his life. When he found out the fight was over a woman named Lucille, he decided to name his guitar after the woman as a reminder to never again do something as stupid as run into a burning building, and every guitar he's owned and played since then has borne the name.
Discography
Videography
- The Electric B.B. King - His Best (1960)
- Great Moments with B.B. King (1981)
- (1988)
- Got My Mojo Working (1989)
- King of the Blues (Box Set, 1992)
- Why I Sing the Blues (1992)
- ; (2003)
- Ultimate Collection (2005)
- (2008)
Honors and awards
On May 27, 2007, King was awarded an honorary doctorate in music by Brown University.. 30 years earlier, in May 1977, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Yale University.
On December 15, 2006, President George W. Bush awarded King the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
In 2004, he was awarded an honorary Ph.D from the University of Mississippi and the Royal Swedish Academy of Music awarded him the Polar Music Prize, for his "significant contributions to the blues".
King was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1990.
He was officially inducted 1987 into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, becoming one of the first artists to be honored by the museum.
Grammy Awards - King was given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. As of 2006, he's won 14 Grammy Awards, of which nine have been the Grammy award for Best Traditional Blues Album: in 2006 (for B.B. King & Friends: 80), 2003 (for A Christmas Celebration of Hope), 2001 (for Riding with the King), 2000 (for Blues on the Bayou), 1994 (for Blues Summit), 1992 (for Live at the Apollo), 1991 (for Live at San Quentin), 1986 (for My Guitar Sings the Blues) and 1984 (for Blues 'N' Jazz). In 1982, he won the Grammy for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording (for There Must Be a Better World Somewhere). The Grammy for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk was last given in 1986; the Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album was first given in 1983. In 1997, he won a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance (with other artists, for "SRV Shuffle"). In 1971, he won the Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance (for "The Thrill is Gone"). A Grammy Hall of Fame Award was given to "The Thrill is Gone" in 1998, an award given to recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance."
King was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995. This is given to recognize "the lifelong accomplishments and extraordinary talents of our Nation's most prestigious artists."
In 1991, B.B. King was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship from the NEA.
On May 14, 2008, King was presented with the keys to the City of Utica, New York.
On May 18, 2008, the mayor of Portland, Maine, Edward Suslovic, declared the day "B.B. King Day" in the city. Prior to King's performance at the Merrill Auditorium, Suslovic presented King with the keys to the city.
Quotes
"I have 4 people in my life I wanted to be like - would you believe 3 of them was white...and I'm from Mississippi!" Further Information
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