King, "B. B."

September 16, 1925

Born Riley B. King in Itta Bena, Mississippi, blues singer and guitarist B. B. King grew up on a plantation, working as a farmhand. He sang in choirs at school and church before teaching himself to play the guitar. He moved to Memphis in 1947 and began singing blues in bars. Following a radio appearance with Sonny Boy Williamson (Alex Miller), King began working on Memphis radio station WDIA as "the Pepticon Boy," advertising Pepticon tonic. He later became a disc jockey for WDIA, being billed as "the Blues Boy from Beale Street," gradually becoming "B. B." He began recording in 1949 and had a few local hits. His recording of "Three O'Clock Blues" (1952) was a national hit and allowed him to begin touring the country as a blues singer. By the mid-1960s he had become known as one of the country's greatest blues performers and a leading figure in the urban blues scene, thanks to the praise of many "British invasion" rock musicians, including Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger, who cited his influence. He has continued to record and perform, earning many industry awards, including a Grammy for his 1981 album There Must Be a Better World Somewhere and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. In 2004 King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden awarded King with the Polar Music Prize for his contributions to the blues, including a cash prize of over $130,000. King's albums continue to be re-released in the 2000s.

The focus of King's music remains his powerful, commanding voice and guitar playing, through which he maintains an emotional urgency while supporting his performance with a full band. Traditional blues arrangements form the backbone of his songs, featuring prominent call-and-response sequences between the guitar and vocals. His guitar playing is characterized by warm, clear tone and lyrical phrases punctuated by a quick, stinging vibrato.

See also Blues, The

Bibliography

Danchin, Sebastian. Blues Boy: The Life and Music of B. B. King. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1998.

George, Nelson. The Death of Rhythm and Blues. New York: Pantheon Books, 1988, pp. 49–50.

Sawyer, Charles. The Arrival of B. B. King: The Authorized Biography. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1980.

daniel thom (1996)
Updated by publisher 2005