Talk:B. B. King

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I've heard that he is not in good health, but continues to play small venues and greet fans. Is he in a wheelchair now? He does not use a wheel chair but does use a folding metal chair as he is 82 and probably close to 300 pounds --Pbh444 (talk) 13:23, 23 May 2008 (UTC)


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"Riley B. King aka B. B. King " what does the three B mean?

Contents

[edit] This article is sorely lacking any early information

His life, where he was born, where he grew up...

I agree. King was born in Indianola, Mississippi, which, interestingly enough, was the same birthplace as guitarist Albert King, but neither are related. B.B., however, is related to bluesman Bukka White.--Susan Nunes 26 October 2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.228.60.161 (talk) 05:38, 27 October 2007 (UTC)


Also, reference #12 to his early sexual life is fraudulent. There is no reference to any such activity in that article.

[edit] I have read some of the stuff in the "early years" section on another page

i suspect plagiarism on the kerosene barrel and such fight stuff in the "early years" section i need to make sure but i am doing a project on BB King and i swear i just read that part in another article and it seems like the EXACT wording of that other article.

I've read this years ago and I don't think it was from Wikipidia. Also, B.B. stands for Blues Boy.

I believe B.B. King stands for Blues Boy King and what I know is yes king started as a radio man and he used to do a corny add on radio for a drink. I've heard king telling the twist Arkansas story many times honestly I dont know if its right or wrong.

whether its or not . B.B. is the king!

[edit] I think there's something wrong with some of the dates...

I'm reading some stuff from the official B.B. King site, and it seems there's some date-skewing going on. It says that he went on the radio BEFORE the dance hall fire in Twist, Arkansas. I don't know what to believe.

[edit] Confusion on birth location/location moved to

The top of this article says that B.B. King was born in Indianola, Mississippi, and it also says that he moved to Indianola in 1943. It gives no indication that he lived anywhere else in between these two time periods. Would someone, who knows more about him than I do, please clarify? Kitambi 23:35, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Last live concert outside US?

The article reads that his last live concert outside the US took place in July, 2006. I went to see him live just last night in Helsinki, Finland, on the 31st of August. -LadyDee

[edit] Did someone just make this up?

Now this entry says BBKing grew up in Chicago. That's totally wrong. B.B.King is from Mississippi, and that's where he grew up. He went to Memphis when he got a little older. B.B. King was born on a plantation and picked cotton in his youth.

The last fact in the "Trivia" section says that he claims to have had sex before the age of 10, and talks about fathering several children with different mothers. Wikipedia has graffiti every once in a while, so I'm just wondering who got this and where they got it from.

I don't know anything about the sex at age 10, but in an interview with the NYT a few years ago, King DID admit to fathering 15 kids by 15 women. He is on good terms with all of his children.--Susan Nunes 26 October 2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.228.60.161 (talk) 05:40, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Django Reinhardt as an influence

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/reference/articles/bb_king.html

This ref should have been added to the main article has a citation. I have copied it into the section where it mentions BB King's influences. Anger22 23:59, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

Question:

Is there a duet version of "how blue can you get?" I have heard a version where bb king sings part of the song, and then another singer sings? Who is that other singer?

[edit] Grammy Award Albums

I notice in the 'Honors and Awards' section, that there are two albums for which King won a Grammy (ie. My Guitar Sings the Blues and Blues 'N' Jazz) which are not mentioned at all in the 'Discography' section. Surely if the discography is incomplete it should say so, alternatively can someone (with more knowledge than I) quickly fill in the gaps. Thank you,

Derek R Bullamore 11:09, 26 January 2007 (UTC)


[edit] The Lucilles

"but they are usually Gibson ES-355s custom made to King's required specifications." Nowadays they're always his custom/signature model, which is based upon his original favourite the 355, but to say 'usually' is completely wrong. In the early days King was neither well known nor rich enough to have custom made guitars. He bought them off the peg, bog standard just like everyone else, which was why he sometimes had to use something else. --Deke42 01:29, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sings or plays, not both

I read years ago that BBK cannot sing and play at the same time, nor does he ever play rhythm. This has always been borne out by his performances on television, so I shall put it in. Rothorpe 19:05, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

I did put it in - but it didn't last very long. Comments, anyone? Rothorpe 15:43, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
It has to be referenced i.e. if you've seen it on TV it would be original research and not acceptable unless you post the specific reference (from printed source?).--Technopat 16:01, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

'By his own admission, he cannot play chords very well,' which is in the Lucille section, could be said to cover it, just about. Rothorpe 16:28, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Article Cleanup Co-Ordination Point

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[edit] Discussion

[edit] Birthplace

This biography, and even the one on the official B.B. King website, list his birthplace as Itta Bena, Mississippi. The "album art" for Indianola Mississippi Seeds, however, shows a copy of King's birth certificate with "Official Registration at Indianola, Mississippi." This may not be an actual descrepancy. The two towns are just over 20 miles appart, and Indianola is the seat of Sunflower County. Anyone know the details? -MrFizyx 19:09, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

I found this interesting, could be a good source:
"Even though he was born on a plantation between Itta Bena and Berclair, two small towns geographically closer to Greenwood, King has always considered Indianola his hometown, even calling his album of 1970 Indianola Mississippi Seeds." - Sebastian Danchin, Blues Boy: The Life and Music of B.B. King, University Press of Mississippi, 1998, p. 1 (ISBN 1578060176)
-MrFizyx 21:20, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Trivia

I have removed unsourced trivia here in accordance with the Wikipedia:Verifiability policy. If/When it is properly sourced, it may be added back into the article. --Bejnar 16:22, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

I added a refernce for Sonny Liston being his uncle. Anson2995 17:07, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] More deleted trivia

I have deleted the following unsourced trivia:

It is reported that King had sexual relationships prior to age 10, ...

The supposed source makes no mention of this "fact". --Technopat 16:51, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

The referenced source has again been used to "back" unsourced information. Please help check that sources correspond to what they purport to. --Technopat 20:54, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lucille

On 17 April an IP editor added the following section without sourcing. Can anyone substantiate this story, and does it belong in Wikipedia? --Bejnar 23:29, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

Back in the late 1940's when B.B.'s career was in its infancy, one of his stops on the road was in Twist, Arkansas. It used to get quite cold in Twist in the evenings, and in order to keep the dance hall warm, kerosene was used for heat. A large barrel was placed in the center of the room and was filled about half way up with the fuel. The kerosene was then lighted to heat the room, a practice which was not uncommon in those days.
One cold night in 1949, two men started fighting and knocked over the barrel of burning kerosene. The burning fuel spilled over the floor like a river of fire. Every one, including B.B., ran out the front door. Once outside, B.B. realized that he left his guitar, a Gibson acoustic, inside the inferno. He went back inside the collapsing building to save his guitar, almost losing his life in the process. The blaze that night claimed two fatalities.
The next morning, B.B. discovered why the two men were fighting the night before. It seems as though they were fighting over a lady, and although he never met the woman, B.B. learned her name was Lucille. B.B. named that guitar Lucille, and also every guitar he has owned since that night, "to remind me never to do a thing like that again."
  • I removed it again today, 6 May 2007. Anyone find a source? Does it belong in an encyclopedic article on B.B. King? --Bejnar 23:59, 6 May 2007 (UTC)


So, in other words, it is a copyright violation, as that source is "Text copyright ©, 1996 Jim Kerekes & Dennis O'Neill". Therefore Wikipedia cannot use that text. The question still remains does that story (assuming that it is appropriately rewritten) belong in this article, or is it beyond the scope of an encyclopedia article? If it does belong here, would a simple three sentences encapsulate the essence of the story? --Bejnar 13:47, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
  • I tend to think the story merits inclusion. Lucille is one of King's best-known trademarks, and so a brief explanation of how the guitar got its name is deserved. I agree that it could be much shorter. My suggestion would be to pull the story out of the page header, and create a Lucille section later in the article, along the lines as follows:
One of King's best-known trademarks is his guitar, "Lucille." While different types of guitars bore the name early in his career, in 1982, King made an arrangement with Gibson[1], and has used a customized Gibson ES-335 guitar since that time. His customizations include a fine-tuner tailpiece and a semi-hollow body with no soundholes.
The guitar's name stems from an incident in 1949, during which King had to evacuate a venue he was playing when it caught fire. Realizing he had left his guitar inside, King went back into the burning building to retrieve it. The building began to collapse around him, and King says he almost lost his life in the blaze. (Two men died in the fire.) King later learned that the fire was caused by two men fighting over a woman named Lucille, and he gave the guitar the woman's name "to remind me never to do a thing like that again."[2]
Of course, this means the Lucille page also needs real help.
AllTheseWorlds 18:05, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
  • I like it. I think we should put that in to the article. Ncix 22:35, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

I think that's appropriate as well, but does rewording something constitute copyright or is it ok so long as you source it?--Mikeoman 20:36, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

  • Actually, I'm not sure about the copyright issue, he tells this story in one of his concerts, I have the track, if anyone want's to listen, couldnt that be simply used as the source, I mean that would be first hand information on how his guitar got the name etc.123.255.54.111 05:50, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Musical Style

One major thing this article lacks is an article on BB's musical style, BB is famous for his solos and he uses a special extended version of the minor pentatonic scale using more treble strings than bass, i'm going to master it myself then i'm going to write about it. What we need to establish is- does BB play rhythm? I read that he's not good a chords but I can't say for sure, What I think would be accurate to say is that the drums and the other instruments comp whilst BB remains as the frontman and provides melody by singing or his solos, I think that's right, but if someone would confirm. What we must also speak about is the content of his lyrics and going against what is popular for example in the song- 'the cost to be the boss' and 'don't answer the door' would be historially controversial as it was at the time of American feminism. Finally we need to speak about the masses of bluesmen BB has inspired, I can name, clapton, Jeff Beck there are others but none come to mind. Bobby Bland, Robert Cray, Gary Moore and U2 played with BB King, some shared the solos, some just played rhythm with him and some sung with him, are there any other examples? I can include this in the article soon but I need some more contributions.--Mikeoman 13:16, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

If we answer these 7 questions we can get a good musical style section. If you can answer these questions write the number underneath and say what info you have, please sign your posts

1) talk about his voice- is he baritone, bass etc. and couple that with his lyrics- from what i've heard of him he sings about his bad love life, but he has happier songs like 'playing with my friends', maybe some info about his songwriting process.

2) talk about his band- he has drums, wind instruments etc. and the role of his backing singers. what does he have?

3) what kinds of guitar, amps and effects does he use?

4) who inspired BB king?

5) who did BB inspire- I can name Jeff Beck, Bobby Bland. who else?

6) theory- Is there anything special about the way he solos? to me it's a lot more 'trebley' sounding, he's famous for his solos.

7) Who did BB king do duets with I can name Bobby Bland, U2, who else? we need names of tracks.--Mikeoman 12:52, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] instruments

I have just added piano (he plays solo on "Nobody Loves Me ..." on Indianola Mississippi Seeds) to the infobox, but some mention should also be made in the body of the text - just can't find where to include it. Any ideas? Thanx.--Technopat 14:15, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Adding copyright stuff?

To those of you out there who know about such things: I just came across a great interview wherein B. B. makes what I consider an important reference to his use of a brass section. Is there any way it can be included in the article using the "insert block of quoted text" icon without it infringing copyright? Here's the paragraph and the website URL and date accessed etc. which might be useful to add:

My very first recordings [in 1949] were for a company out of Nashville called Bullet, the Bullet Record Transcription company," King recalls. "I had horns that very first session. I had Phineas Newborn on piano; his father played drums, and his brother, Calvin, played guitar with me. I had Tuff Green on bass, Ben Branch on tenor sax, his brother, Thomas Branch, on trumpet, and a lady trombone player.

http://www.bluesaccess.com/No_37/bb_talk.html

A BLUES ACCESS Interview by Wayne Robins (Spring 1999) – Accessed April 29th 2008

Hope someone can fit it in somehow, Regards, --Technopat (talk) 22:49, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Questionable Quote

The quote "I have 4 people in my life I wanted to be like - would you believe 3 of them was white...and I'm from Mississippi!" and the footnote simply refers to "see external links."

This quote was added on March 17, 2008 by 65.93.138.38. who, when he/she added it deleted 3 King "citation needed" quotes. I have changed the reference to "citation needed". --Pbh444 --Pbh444 (talk) 15:34, 23 May 2008 (UTC) Update I now completely question the validity of the quote as he is supposed to have said: "and I am from Mississippi." Those words make no sense. It would have made sense if he had said something "and look what color I am." --Pbh444 (talk) 19:36, 30 May 2008 (UTC)