B.B. King: The King of the Blues
B.B. King (16 September 1925 – 14 May 2015) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimmering vibrato, and staccato picking that influenced many later electric guitar blues players, earning recognition from AllMusic as “the single most important electric guitarist of the last half of the 20th century.”
Early Life and Education
Riley B. King was born on September 16, 1925, on a cotton plantation called Bear Creek in Leflore County near Itta Bena, Mississippi, the son of sharecroppers Albert and Nora Ella King. When he was four years old, his mother left his father, and he was raised by his maternal grandmother, Elnora Farr, in Kilmichael and later in Lexington, Mississippi. As a teenager, he moved to Indianola, which he referred to as his hometown, and worked at a cotton gin.
King sang in the gospel choir at Elkhorn Baptist Church in Kilmichael and was drawn to the Pentecostal Church of God in Christ for its music. A local minister taught him his first three chords on a Sears Roebuck Silvertone guitar. His employer, Flake Cartledge, purchased his first guitar for fifteen dollars, deducting the cost from King’s wages over two months. In November 1941, King listened to King Biscuit Time, a radio show featuring Mississippi Delta blues broadcast on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas, which inspired him to pursue a career as a radio musician.
In 1943, King left Kilmichael to work as a tractor driver and perform gospel music with the Famous St. John’s Gospel Singers of Inverness, Mississippi. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II but was released after being classified as “essential to the war economy” based on his tractor-driving experience. In 1946, he followed his cousin Bukka White to Memphis, Tennessee, where White provided him shelter for ten months.
Career and Achievements
After returning to West Memphis, Arkansas, King performed on Sonny Boy Williamson’s radio program on KWEM, which built his audience and led to steady engagements at the Sixteenth Avenue Grill. He later secured a ten-minute spot on the Memphis radio station WDIA, which became so popular it expanded into the Sepia Swing Club. At WDIA, he worked as a singer and disc jockey and received the nickname “Beale Street Blues Boy,” eventually shortened to “B.B.” It was there he first met T-Bone Walker, whose electric guitar playing inspired King to pursue the instrument himself.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, King became part of the blues scene on Beale Street, performing with Bobby Bland, Johnny Ace, and Earl Forest in a group called the Beale Streeters. His first recording, “Miss Martha King” (1949), was released on Bullet Records but did not chart well. That session featured Phineas Newborn on piano, his father on drums, and his brother Calvin on guitar, along with Tuff Green on bass and horn players including Ben Branch and Thomas Branch.
In 1949, King began recording under contract with RPM Records, a Los Angeles-based subsidiary of Modern Records. Sam Phillips, who later founded Sun Records, produced many of his early recordings. King assembled the B.B. King Review, led by Millard Lee, with musicians including trumpet players Calvin Owens and Kenneth Sands, saxophonists Lawrence Burdin, George Coleman, and Floyd Newman, pianist Millard Lee, bassist George Joyner, and drummers Earl Forest and Ted Curry. He hired trained musician Onzie Horne as an arranger and composition assistant. King toured extensively across the United States, performing in major theaters in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, and St. Louis, as well as in small clubs and juke joints throughout the South.
King performed tirelessly throughout his career, averaging more than 200 concerts a year into his 70s. In 1956 alone, he appeared at 342 shows. As his fame grew, he toured the world extensively.
Notable Events and Milestones
King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He earned the nickname “The King of the Blues” and is recognized as one of the “Three Kings of the Blues Guitar” alongside Albert King and Freddie King, none of whom are related. AllMusic’s recognition of King as the single most important electric guitarist of the second half of the twentieth century reflects his profound influence on blues and electric guitar music.
Awards and Honors
King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, cementing his status as one of the most influential blues musicians in history.
Additional Resources
For more detailed information about B.B. King’s life, recordings, and lasting impact on blues and American music, readers can consult his full Wikipedia biography and other comprehensive musical archives and historical records.
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