B. B. King
| B. B. King | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Riley B. King |
| Also known as | B.B. King, Beale Street Blues Boy |
| Born | September 16 1925 (age 98) |
| Origin | Itta Bena, Mississippi, USA |
| Genre(s) | Memphis blues, soul-blues, rhythm and blues |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer-songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, piano |
| Years active | 1947 – present |
| Label(s) | Bullet, RPM, ABC-Paramount, MCA, Geffen |
| Website | www.bbking.com |
| Notable instrument(s) | |
| Lucille | |
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, and is possibly the most recognizable name in the blues genre.
Biography
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 worked 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 also worked as a disc jockey, 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 received a bad review in Billboard magazine and did not chart well.
In the 1950s, however, 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," "When My Heart Beats like a Hammer," "You Upset Me Baby," "Every Day I Have the Blues," "Five Long Years," "Sweet Little Angel, and others. 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. In the later 1960s, he began to attract the attention of white blues fans who particularly appreciated his guitar work. Popular rock and blues guitarists like Mike Bloomfield, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendricks and others cited him has a major influence, expanding his album sales to wider audience.
King's first major 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 at the time for a blues artist. The record also gained the number 193 spot in Rolling Stone's Top 500 Songs Of All Time. King gained further rock visibility as an opening act on The Rolling Stones much-ballyhooed 1969 American Tour. His 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, but throughout this time he maintained a highly visible and active performing career, appearing on numerous television shows and performing 300 nights a year. In 1988 he 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 he 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. He also made an appearance at the Crossroads Guitar Festival organized by Eric Clapton. On the DVD version of the event, 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, which was scheduled to open in 2008.
Farewell tour and beyond
On March 29, 2006, King played at Ingland's Sheffield's Hallam Arena, the first date of his UK and European farewell tour. The British leg of the tour ended on April 4 with a final UK concert at Wembley Arena. He returned to Europe in July, playing twice in the fourtieth edition of the s Montreux Jazz Festival. He also appeared in Zürich at the Blues at Sunset on July 14. In November and December, King played six times in Brazil.
During a press conference on November 29 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 again at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival with 20 other guitarists to raise money for the Crossroads Center, Antigua for addictive disorders. As of late 2008, King was still touring energetically in the United Sates.
His album One Kind Favor, released in August 2008 was hailed by Rolling Stone magazine as "B.B. King's best album in years... [and] one of the strongest studio sets of his career."
Personal life
B. B. King is a licensed pilot, a known gambler, a vegetarian, non-drinker, and non-smoker.[1] 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.[2] He resumed his touring on January 30 in Texas and gave another 30 performances in the US.
His favorite singer is Frank Sinatra. 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.[3]
Each year, during the first week in June, a B. B. King homecoming festival is held in Indianola, Mississippi.[4]
Famed Delta Blues artist Bukka White is King's first cousin.
Boxer Sonny Liston was King's uncle.[5]
It is reported that he has fathered 15 children.[6][7]
Lucille
One of his trademarks is "Lucille," the name he has given to his guitars since the 1950s after he escaped a fire at a juke joint he was playing in. The fire was started by two men knocking over a burning barrel while fighting over a girl named "Lucille." When King escaped the building, he realized that he had left his guitar in the burning building. He ran back inside to get it and after learning of what happened, he named his guitar "Lucille" to remind himself not to do it again.
By his own admission, he cannot play chords very well[8] and always relies on improvisation, never thinking what to play beforehand.
Legacy
In a career lasting well over 50 years B. B., King played at least 15,000 performances. His guitar virtuoso stylings have influence subsequent generations of blues and rock guitarists probably more than any other single player.
King 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. He 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.
Honors and awards
- He was officially inducted 1987 into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, becoming one of the first artists to be honored by the museum.
- In 1991, B.B. King was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
- King was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995 in recognition of "the lifelong accomplishments and extraordinary talents of our Nation's most prestigious artists."
- 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."
- On December 15, 2006, President George W. Bush awarded King the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
- King was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1990.
- As of 2006, he had won 14 Grammy Awards, of which nine have been the Grammy award for Best Traditional Blues Album. In 1971, he won the Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance (for "The Thrill is Gone"), which also garnered a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998.
- On May 27, 2007, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in music by Brown University.
Discography
Videography
- The Electric B.B. King - His Best (1960)
- Great Moments with B.B. King (1981)
- The King of the Blues: 1989 (1988)
- Got My Mojo Working (1989)
- King of the Blues (Box Set, 1992)
- Why I Sing the Blues (1992)
- Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: B.B. King; (2003)
- Ultimate Collection (2005)
- B.B. King: Live (2008)
See also
- Chicago Blues Festival
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- ↑ http://www.guitarworld.com/allaccess/interviews/bb-king.html
- ↑ Associated Press. "B.B. King released from Texas hospital", Houston Chronicle, January 27, 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-28.
- ↑ Blue All Around Me, 1999, BB King and Daniel Ritz. BB King also practiced late night with Don W. of truck 411.
- ↑ "The Blues Heritage" Indianola, Mississippi Chamber of Commerce
- ↑ The Devil and Sonny Liston by Nick Tosches, 2000, ISBN 0316897752
- ↑ [http://www.jazzandbluesmasters.com/bbking.htm BB King
- ↑ http://www.guitarworld.com/allaccess/interviews/bb-king.html
- ↑ U2 Rattle and Hum DVD, 1988
External links
- Official B. B. King-website
- Video: The Thrill Is Gone (Live in Toronto)
- The official signature B. B. King guitar, by Gibson
- World Blues-One of the oldest B. B. King websites on the net
- B. B. King UK Fan Site
- Live in Wembley 2006
- B.B. King at the Internet Movie Database
- B.B. King discography at MusicBrainz
- 1980 Blues Foundation Hall of Fame induction
- Live Photos 1 2
- B.B. King biographer Charlie Sawyer writes about returning to the Delta and a "charette" on the B. B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, Mississippi.
- B.B. King on Velvetpanda
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