B. B. King (born Riley B. King on September 16, 1925) is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter. Named the third-greatest guitarist of "the 100 greatest guitarists of all-time" by Rolling Stone magazine, King is one of the greatest and most respected blues guitarists of all time.
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 did not chart well. King is often labelled as "The King of Blues".
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.
B. B. King in concert in France (1989)
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 183 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."
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.
B. B. King was also the final performer at the 25th annual Chicago Blues Festival on June 8, 2008.
In June 2008, B. B. King was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame alongside Liza Minnelli and Sir James Galway.
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 2nd and 3rd) in the 40th edition of the world famous Montreux Jazz Festival and also in Zürich at the Blues at Sunset on July 14th. 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 19 September 2006 at the D'Coque Arena (support act: Todd Sharpville).
Live at Montreux, July 2006
In November and December, King played six times in Brazil.
During a press conference on November 29th 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 Centre, Antigua for addictive disorders.
In June of 2008, B. B. King played at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, TN.
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..."
B. B. King at Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto, ON, Canada
The son 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 has 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 / 38ºC) 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 was King's first cousin.
Boxer Sonny Liston was King's uncle.
By his own admission, he cannot play chords very well and always relies on improvisation.
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, realized he had 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 never again to do something as stupid as to run into a burning building, and every guitar he has owned and played since then has borne the name.
A commemorative guitar pick honoring "B.B. King Day" in Portland, Maine.
