B.B. King a.k.a Riley B King has been one of the greatest and most influential blues singers and guitarists of the post-war music era. He is the big daddy of the blues, and has been instrumental in bringing this genre into the mainstream music scene from the sidelines.
King has reigned as the King Of The Blues for five straight decades, with no signs of relinquishing the title yet. He was ranked #3 on the list of 100 great guitarists of all time by Rolling Stone magazine.
B.B. King is also the most imitated artist in musical history. Guitar stalwarts like Eric Clapton, Steve Ray Vaughan, George Harrison, Jeff Beck and Mick Jagger have gone on record to acknowledge King’s influence in their playing styles.
He has a unique guitar vocabulary of voice-like string bends and a shimmering left hand vibrato. His tone is rich and velvety and to the discerning listener, easily recognizable when heard anywhere, anytime.
King’s instrument of choice is the ES-355 Gibson guitar. Once when King was playing in a nightclub, a brawl between two men over a woman named Lucille, led to a fire that nearly cost him his guitar as well as his life. Since then, King has named every guitar of his as Lucille. Many Lucilles have passed through his hands since. Here’s what he has to say about his much loved “Lucille” – “The minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille.”
“Rock Me Baby” Live – B.B. King/Eric Clapton/Buddy Guy/Jim Vaughn
The Making Of A Blues King
Born on September 16, 1925 on a cotton plantation in tiny Itta Bena in Mississippi, the early years of his childhood were spent working as a sharecropper. At an early age, King was drawn towards music and drew inspiration from blues artists like T-Bone Walker, Lonnie Johnson and jazz artists like Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt.
In King’s own words, “His (T-Bone Walker’s) “Stormy Monday” is what really started me to play the blues.” He developed his musical skills singing Gospel music in church. But his heart was into the blues.
Realizing that Memphis was the hub of a thriving musical scene, and could be his ticket to success as a blues artist, King moved to Memphis in 1946 with just $2.50 in his pocket and stars in his eyes. In Memphis, he shacked up with Bukka White, his first cousin and a successful blues guitarist in his own right. Bukka White spent ten months fine-tuning King’s fledgling guitar technique and taught his protege the intricacies of blues music and lyric writing.
While in Memphis, King got a chance to broadcast his music, live on the radio station WDIA, which was dedicated exclusively to playing all-black music.
Audience appreciation for King’s singing poured in and he became known as the Beale Street Blues Boy which was shortened to Blue Boy and then just B.B. The nickname stuck and King became popular as B.B. King. Thereafter, there was no looking back for him.
The King Of The Blues – Journey To Superstardom
• In 1949, King signed up with recordists Bihari Brothers, and started recording for their RPM, Crown & Kent labels.
• In 1951, King’s first hit – Three O’clock Blues struck no.1 on the R&B charts and stayed there for 5 weeks.
• The 1950s were a turning point in King’s musical career and he belted out hits such as ‘Woke up this Morning’, ‘When my Heart Beats like a Hammer’, ‘Whole Lotta Love’, ‘Sweet Little Angel’, ‘Please Love Me’, ‘Every Day I have the Blues’. These and a whole lot more hits propelled him to the top of the league in R&B music.
• In 1962, his contract with RPM came to an end and he signed up with ABC – Paramount Records.
• 1964 saw the release of the legendary ‘Live at the Regal’ album, recorded at the Regal theatre in Chicago before an enthusiastic crowd, which was a major hit.
• In 1969, B.B. King opened the first eighteen dates for The Rolling Stones on the British group’s U.S Tour. This exposed the blues legend to the rock & roll audience as well.
• In 1970, the King Of The Blues recorded the remake of the Roy Hawkins tune, ‘The Thrill is Gone’, integrating traditional blues music with pop and rock music. This number was a chart-buster on both the Pop and R&B charts thus making King popular with the mainstream market. The 1970s saw King establish himself in the mainstream with hits like ‘To Know you is to Love you’, and ‘I Like to Live the Love’.
• In 1988, King introduced himself to a new generation of music lovers, by appearing alongside Irish band U2 in the hit single When Love Comes to Town, for their album – Rattle and Hum.
• In 2000, King recorded the album ‘Riding with the King’ with guitarist Eric Clapton, which became King’s first platinum album.
With 15 Grammy awards and more than 50 R&B albums in a career spanning five decades, B.B. King has proved to be the most prolific recording artist ever. The king of the blues is known for his relentless touring, clocking in an astonishing 250-300 concerts every year. In 1956, he astounded everyone by having 342 dates booked in that single year. Although his hard work paid off in terms of success, constantly being on the road spelt disaster for his married life, resulting in two failed marriages.
Honors And Awards
King also deserves the title of the most honored musician in history. He was given the Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 1987. He has an impressive 15 Grammies in his kitty. He was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1984, as also the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
He’s been conferred honorary doctorates by…hold your breath – Tougaloo college, Yale university, Berkley college of music, Rhodes college of Memphis, Mississippi Valley state university, Brown university and a National Award of Distinction from University of Mississippi in 1992.
King has received the President’s Medal of Freedom and was presented with the keys to the cities of Portland, Maine and Utica, NY. These are just a few of the honors bestowed on B.B. King, re-enforcing his iconic status in the music world.
Some Facts About B.B. King
• B.B. King has fathered 15 children by 15 different women.
• By his own confession, he lost his virginity before the age of ten.
• Is a non-smoker, a non-drinker and a vegetarian.
• His favorite singer is Frank Sinatra and every night he listens to Sinatra’s music before sleeping.
• B.B. King has been living with Type 2 diabetes for over twenty years now and is a vocal spokesperson for the fight against the disease.
• The first week of June every year, is celebrated as the B.B. King Homecoming Festival in Indianola, Mississippi.
• King has opened Blues clubs in Memphis, New York, Los Angeles and Connecticut.
In a Rolling Stone interview, King stated:
“I was always afraid to say that I was a blues singer. Because it looked like people kind of looked on you a lot of times when you mention the word blues. But I thank God today I can stick out my chest and say, yeah, I’m a blues singer!”
B.B. King continues to rule the hearts of music lovers all around the world like the king that he is – The King Of The Blues.
Scotty Smith
Guitarist Rock ©2008-2009
One of the absolute great guitarists and a guy with a ton of spirit. One of my greatest memories I have is meeting B.B. at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto at a show and actually being able to sit and talk with him after the show.
B.B. King. What a legend. I’ve seen him play live twice.