B. B. King

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B. B. King

Born September 16, 1925
Itta Bena, Mississippi, USA
Genre(s) Blues
Label(s) Geffen Records
Notable guitars Lucille
Years active 1949 - Present
Official site Official website

Riley B. King aka B. B. King (born September 16, 1925) is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is widely considered one of the best (and most respected) blues musicians in the world. One of his trademarks is "Lucille", a custom guitar he began using in the 1950s. There have been many incarnations of Lucille (King has had a number of guitars over his career, but calls them all Lucille) but they are usually Gibson ES-335s custom made to King's required specifications.

Contents

[edit] Recording years

In 1949, King 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 the legendary Sun Records.

In the 1950s, King became one of the most important names in R&B music, collecting an impressive list of hits under his belt that included songs like "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, King signed to ABC-Paramount Records.

In November of 1964, King recorded the legendary Live at the Regal album at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois.

King first found success outside of the blues market with the 1969 remake of the Roy Hawkins tune, "The Thrill Is Gone," which became a hit on both pop and R&B charts, which was rare for an R&B artist. 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." From 1951 to 1985, King appeared on Billboard's R&B charts an amazing 74 times.

[edit] Going mainstream

The 1980s, 1990s and 2000s saw King recording less and less, but maintaining a highly visible and active career appearing on numerous television shows, major motion pictures and performing 300 nights a year. In 1988 he reached a new generation of fans via the single "When Love Comes To Town", together with 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 2003, he shared the stage with the rock band Phish in New Jersey, performing three of his classics and jamming with the band for over 30 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.

Over the years more than 100 BB King concerts have been broadcast, at least partly, on radio and TV in many countries.

At 81, King has lived a very full and active life. He has been a licensed pilot, a known gambler and is also a vegetarian, non-drinker and non-smoker.[citation needed] King has lived with diabetes for over ten years and has been a visible spokesman in the fight against diabetes, appearing in advertisements for diabetes-management products.

[edit] Honors and awards

King was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1990 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006. 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 had also donated his extensive blues collection to the Ole Miss Center for Southern Studies.

[edit] Passing The Crown

Aged 80 at the time, on the 29 March 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 toured alongside before and recorded songs, for example "Since I Met You Baby". This tour ended on the 4 April with a final concert at Wembley Arena.

[edit] Trivia

  • According to a 2003 listing in Rolling Stone magazine, King is the greatest living guitarist, and ranked 3rd among the "100 greatest guitarists of all time" (behind late Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman). [1]
  • On "Sanford and Son," it was said that Aunt Ester was his love and when she dumped him to marry Woody he left for Los Angeles and started his career. Ester refers to him as "Reiley" on the show.
  • For much of his early career, he was usually seen playing a Gibson ES-355TD-SV guitar. This model was discontinued in 1980, being replaced by a Gibson BB King (Lucille) model, which is still available today.
  • April 2006: Playing his 10,000th show at his namesake B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in New York City, King's triumph was marked as bitter sweet, having in the previous week experienced the deaths of his son to cancer and 18 year-old great-grandson in a store shooting.
  • Each year, during the first week in June, a B.B. King homecoming festival is held in Indianola.
  • Although Live at the Regal is considered to be one of King's best albums, he himself regards My Kind of Blues as his best work.
  • It is reported that King had sex before age 10, and fathered fifteen children, to several different mothers.[2] [3]

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

  1. King of the Blues (1960)
  2. My Kind of Blues (1960)
  3. Live at the Regal (Live, 1965)
  4. Lucille (1968)
  5. Live and Well (1969)
  6. Completely Well (1969)
  7. Indianola Mississippi Seeds (1970)
  8. B.B. King In London (1971)
  9. Live in Cook County Jail (1971)
  10. Lucille Talks Back (1975)
  11. Midnight Believer (1978)
  12. Live "Now Appearing" at Ole Miss (1980)
  13. There Must Be a Better World Somewhere (1981)
  14. Love Me Tender (1982)
  15. Why I Sing the Blues (1983)
  16. B.B. King and Sons Live (Live, 1990)
  17. Live at San Quentin (1991)
  18. Live at the Apollo (Live, 1991)
  19. There is Always One More Time (1991)
  20. Deuces Wild (1997)
  21. Riding with the King (2000)
  22. Reflections (2003)
  23. The Ultimate Collection (2005)
  24. B.B. King & Friends: 80 (2005)

[edit] Singles

  • "Miss Martha King" (1949, Bullet)
  • "Got the Blues" (1949)
  • "Mistreated Woman" (1950, RPM)
  • "The Other Night Blues" (1950)
  • "I Am" (1950)
  • "My Baby's Gone" (1950)
  • "B.B. Blues" (1951)
  • "She's a Mean Woman" (1951)
  • "Three O'Clock Blues" (1951)
  • "Fine-Looking Woman" (1952)
  • "Shake It Up and Go" (1952)
  • "Someday, Somewhere" (1952)
  • "You Didn't Want Me" (1952)
  • "Story from My Heart and Soul" (1952)
  • "Woke Up This Morning With A Bellyache" (1953)
  • "Please Love Me" (1953)
  • "Neighborhood Affair" (1953)
  • "Why Did You Leave Me" (1953)
  • "Praying to the Lord" (1953)
  • "Love Me Baby" (1954)
  • "Everything I Do Is Wrong" (1954)
  • "When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer" (1954)
  • "You Upset Me Baby" (1954)
  • "Sneaking Around" (1955) R&B: #14
  • "Every Day I Have the Blues" (1955) R&B: #8 1
  • "Lonely and Blue" (1955)
  • "Shut Your Mouth" (1955)
  • "Talkin' the Blues" (1955)
  • "What Can I Do (Just Sing the Blues)" (1955)
  • "Ten Long Years" (1955) R&B: #9 2
  • "I'm Cracking Up Over You" (1956)
  • "Crying Won't Help You" (1956) R&B: #15
  • "Did You Ever Love a Woman?" (1956)
  • "Dark Is the Night, Pts. I & II" (1956)
  • "Sweet Little Angel" (1956) R&B: #6
  • "Bad Luck" (1956) R&B: #3 3
  • "On My Word of Honor" (1956) R&B: #3
  • "Early in the Morning" (1957)
  • "How Do I Love You" (1957)
  • "I Want to Get Married" (1957) R&B: #14
  • "Twoubles, Twoubles, Twoubles" (1957) R&B: #13 4
  • "(I'm Gonna) Quit My Baby" (1957)
  • "Be Careful with a Fool" (1957) Pop: #95 5
  • "The Keyblade to My Kingdom" (1957)
  • "Why Do Everything Happen to Me" (1958, Kent)
  • "Don't Look Now, But You Got the Blues" (1958)
  • "Please Accept My Love" (1958) R&B: #9
  • "You've Been an Angel" (1958) R&B: #16 6
  • "The Fool" (1958)
  • "A Lonely Lover's Plea" (1959)
  • "Time to Say Goodbye" (1959)
  • "Sugar Mama" (1959)
  • "Sweet Sixteen, Pt. I" (1960) R&B: #2
  • "You Done Lost Your Good Thing" (1960)
  • "Things Are Not the Same" (1960)
  • "Bad Luck Soul" (1960)
  • "Hold That Train" (1960)
  • "Someday Baby" (1961)
  • "Peace of Mind" (1961) R&B: #7 7
  • "Bad Case of Love" (1961)
  • "Lonely" (1962)
  • "I'm Gonna Sit Till You Give In" (1962, ABC)
  • "Down Now" (1962, Kent)
  • "The Road I Travel" (1963)
  • "The Letter" (1963)
  • "Precious Lord" (1963)
  • "How Blue Can You Get" (1964, ABC) Pop: #97 8
  • "You're Gonna Miss Me" (1964, Kent)
  • "Beautician Blues" (1964)
  • "Help the Poor" (1964, ABC) Pop: #98 8
  • "The Worst Thing in My Life" (1964, Kent)
  • "Rockabye Baby" (1964) Pop: #34 8
  • "The Hurt" (1964, ABC)
  • "Never Trust a Woman" (1964) Pop: #90 8
  • "Please Send Me Someone to Love" (1964)
  • "Night Owl" (1964)
  • "I Need You" (1965)
  • "All Over Again" (1965)
  • "I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water" (1965)
  • "Blue Shadows" (1965, Kent)
  • "Just a Dream" (1965)
  • "You're Still a Parallelogram" (1965, ABC)
  • "Broken Promise" (1965, Kent)
  • "Eyesight to the Blind" (1966)
  • "Five Long Years" (1966)
  • "Ain't Nobody's Business" (1966)
  • "Don't Answer the Door, Pt. I" (1966, ABC) R&B: #2 Pop: #72
  • "I Say in the Mood" (1966, Kent) R&B: #45
  • "Waitin' for You" (1966, ABC)
  • "Blues Stay Away" (1967, Kent)
  • "The Jungle" (1967)
  • "Growing Old" (1967)
  • "Blues for Me" (1968)
  • "I Don't Want You Cuttin' Off Your Hair" (1967, Bluesway)
  • "Shoutin' the Blues" (1968, Kent)
  • "Paying the Cost to Be the Boss" (1968, Bluesway) R&B: #10 Pop: #39
  • "I'm Gonna Do What They Do to Me" (1968) R&B: #26 Pop: #74
  • "The B. B. Jones" (1968) Pop: #98
  • "You Put It on Me" (1968) R&B: #25 Pop: #82 9
  • "The Woman I Love" (1968) R&B: #31 Pop: #94
  • "Get Myself Somebody" (1969)
  • "I Want You So Bad" (1969)
  • "Get Off My Back Woman" (1969) R&B: #32 Pop: #74 10
  • "Why I Sing the Blues" (1969) R&B: #13 Pop: #61
  • "Just a Little Love" (1969) R&B: #15 Pop: #76
  • "I Want You So Bad" (1969) R&B: #34
  • "The Thrill Is Gone" (1970) R&B: #3 Pop: #15
  • "So Excited" (1970) R&B: #14 Pop: #54
  • "Hummingbird" (1970) R&B: #25 Pop: #48
  • "Worried Life" (1970) R&B: #48
  • "Ask Me No Questions" (1970, ABC) R&B: #18 Pop: #40
  • "Chains and Things" (1970) R&B: #6 Pop: #45
  • "Nobody Loves Me But My Mother" (1971)
  • "Help the Poor" (1971, re-recording) R&B: #36 Pop: #90
  • "Ghetto Woman" (1971) R&B: #18 Pop: #40
  • "The Evil Child" (1971) R&B: #34 Pop: #97
  • "Sweet Sixteen" (1972, re-recording) R&B: #37 Pop: #93
  • "I Got Some Help I Don't Need" (1972) R&B: #28 Pop: #92
  • "Ain't Nobody Home" (1972) R&B: #28 Pop: #46
  • "Guess Who" (1972) R&B: #21 Pop: #62
  • "To Know You Is to Love You" (1973) R&B: #12 Pop: #38
  • "I Like to Live the Love" (1974) R&B: #6 Pop: #28
  • "Who Are You" (1974) R&B: #27 Pop: #78
  • "Philadelphia" (1974) R&B: #19 Pop: #64
  • "My Song" (1975)
  • "Friends" (1975) R&B: #34 11
  • "Let the Good Times Roll" (1976) R&B: #20
  • "Slow and Easy" (1977) R&B: #88
  • "Never Make a Move Too Soon" (1978) R&B: #19
  • "I Just Can't Leave Your Love Alone" (1978) R&B: #90
  • "Better Not Look Down" (1979) R&B: #30
  • "There Must Be a Better World Somewhere" (1981) R&B: #91
  • "Into the Night" (1985) R&B: #15
  • "Big Boss Man" (1985) R&B: #62
  • "When Love Comes to Town" (1988, with U2) Rock: #2 Pop: #68 12
  • "The Blues Come Over Me" (1992) R&B: #63
  • "Riding with the King" (2000, with Eric Clapton) Rock: #26

Notes:

  1. "Everyday I Have the Blues" was the b-side to "Sneaking Around."
  2. "Ten Long Years" was the b-side to "What Can I Do (Just Sing the Blues)."
  3. "Bad Luck" was the b-side to "Sweet Little Angel."
  4. "Troubles, Troubles, Troubles" was the b-side to "I Want to Get Married."
  5. "Be Careful with a Fool" was the b-side to "(I'm Gonna) Quit My Baby."
  6. "You've Been an Angel" was the b-side to "Please Accept My Love."
  7. "Peace of Mind" was the b-side of "Someday Baby."
  8. Billboard Magazine did not publish an R&B Singles chart between November 1963 and January 1965.
  9. "You Put It On Me" was the b-side of "The B.B. Jones."
  10. "Get Off My Back Woman" was the b-side of "I Want You So Bad."
  11. "Friends" was the b-side of "My Song."
  12. "When Love Comes to Town" was the first B.B. King single to chart on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

[edit] As-yet uncategorised recordings

  1. Blues Summit; 1993
  2. How Blue Can You Get? Live Performances; 1996
  3. Deuces Wild; 1997
  4. Take it Home; 1998
  5. His Best - The Electric B.B. King; 1998
  6. Completely Well; 1998
  7. Greatest Hits; 1998
  8. Blues on the Bayou; 1998
  9. Millennium Collection - 20th Century Masters; 1999
  10. His Definitive Greatest Hits; app. 1999
  11. Live in Japan; 1999
  12. Let the Good Times Roll; 1999
  13. Makin' Love is Good for You; 2000
  14. Anthology; 2000
  15. Live at San Quentin (Remastered); 2001
  16. Here & There - The Uncollected B.B. King; 2001
  17. A Christmas Collection of Hope; 2001
  18. Blues is King; 2002
  19. Christmas Collection - 20th Century Masters; 2003
  20. Reflections; 2003

[edit] Videos

[edit] Compilations

  1. The Electric B.B. King - His Best (1960)
  2. Great Moments with B.B. King (1981)
  3. The King of the Blues: 1989 (1988)
  4. Got My Mojo Working (1989)
  5. King of the Blues (Box Set, 1992)
  6. Why I Sing the Blues (1992)
  7. Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: B.B. King; (2003)
  8. Ultimate Collection (2005)

[edit] References

This article or section does not cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations. (help, get involved!) This article has been tagged since October 2006.

[edit] Quotes

  • "You have a soul, you have a heart, you have a feeling your music is life. Life as we've lived in the past, life as we're living it today and life as I believe we'll live tomorrow."
  • "I think that there's a place for playing the guitar. There's a place for singing the blues."

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[edit] Notes

    Blues | Blues genres
    Jug band - Classic female blues - Country blues - Delta blues - Jump blues - Piano blues - Fife and drum blues
    Jazz blues - Blues-rock - Soul blues- Punk blues
    African blues - British blues - Chicago blues - Detroit blues - Kansas City blues - Louisiana blues - Memphis blues - Piedmont blues - St. Louis blues - Swamp blues - Texas blues - West Coast blues
    Musicians

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