B. B. King

• Born: September 16, 1925
• Birthplace: Itta Bena, Mississippi
• Died: May 14, 2015

Blues musician

With a career spanning eight decades, numerous hit records, awards, and international acclaim, King was among the best-known and most influential blues musicians of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. His inspiring performances coupled with his hardworking and humorous attitude reflected the integrity of the musical genre that he helped introduce to a broad audience.

Early Life

Riley B. King was born September 16, 1925, to Nora Ella and Albert Lee King on a plantation between Indianola and Itta Bena, Mississippi. His parents separated when he was four, and his mother took him east to Kilmichael, Mississippi. He spent most of his time living with his maternal grandmother, Elnora Farr, a sharecropper working for a white dairy farmer. When not working for his grandmother on the Henderson farm, King walked ten miles round trip to school. Although his mother did not always live with him, she was always very affectionate and instilled in him a high moral standard. She died when King was nine years old. Between the influence of his mother and the efforts of his teacher Luthor Hensen, King developed self-respect and self-reliance that remained with him throughout his life and career.

King’s early musical experiences were deeply influenced by his Christian upbringing, exposure to blues music, and the sounds of the field workers around him. He often sang in church and became enamored with the guitar soon after hearing his preacher uncle Archie Fair play. He saved eight dollars to buy his own guitar and soon learned chords to accompany his singing. Initially, he was more interested in pursuing gospel music. At the age of fourteen, he was reunited with his father and moved back to the Mississippi Delta area. It was there that he had the opportunity to meet visiting musicians who came to play in the plantation halls and juke joints.

When World War II commenced, King was inducted into the US Army, but he spent much of his military service as a tractor driver on a large plantation. Now out of the reach of his very religious family, he had more freedom to explore singing the blues. At this time, he was introduced to the sounds of jazz guitarists Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt, and his interest in big bands also influenced the future direction of his music. King also had started making money by traveling to nearby towns and performing on street corners. When King moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1947, he learned a great deal from his cousin Bukka White, a rural blues player.

King began working as a disc jockey and a performer on the black radio station WDIA and became known as “The Beale Street Blues Boy” or “blues boy,” which was then shortened to “B. B.” He recorded his first record in 1949 and had his first hit in 1951 with “Three O’Clock Blues.”

Life’s Work

Over more than seventy years of performing experience, King developed a distinctive sound and style that drew on the influences of his rural southern upbringing and his exposure to an eclectic mix of music through his experience as a disc jockey. King’s early recordings show his progression toward the blues artist he would eventually become. Inspired by T-Bone Walker, these records make use of a small horn section and rhythm section. King often played by ear, and much of his unique sound came from trying to incorporate sounds he liked into his own playing. His distinct guitar style is marked by a "less-is-more" approach and ample use of techniques such as vibrato and string bending.

King did not always follow the traditional twelve-bar form of a blues song, which at times caused frustrations for musicians playing with him. Many continued to work for him anyway because of his fair treatment and compensation. He also was able to establish a consistent group of seasoned band members once he hit the charts in 1951. His success led him to more bookings, tours, and representation by top agencies.

Throughout the 1950s, King continued to have hit records on the Kent (formerly RPM) label, but he switched to ABC Records in 1961 because the label paid better. Many of his recordings for Kent continued to produce hits up until 1970, but King received little compensation for them.

King’s success on the ABC label during the late 1960s and 1970s helped him break through to a wider audience. King had toured for years on the so-called Chitlin’ Circuit, playing in predominantly African American venues throughout the Southeast. During the era of the civil rights movement the popularity of blues music declined as many young African Americans turned their backs on the genre because of its association with oppression. However, when rock guitarists such as Eric Clapton hailed King as a major influence, King found a new audience of young White fans. He played large venues at the Newport Folk Festival and Fillmore West in 1968 and opened for the Rolling Stones on the band’s 1969 tour. In 1970, King’s “The Thrill is Gone” became a top-selling record on both the rhythm-and-blues and pop music charts.

With the help of his manager Sid Seidenberg, King expanded his touring to three hundred days out of the year and performed in more than ninety countries. Some of his most notable concerts came at the White House and at the Vatican for Pope John Paul II. King was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1984 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He received several honorary doctorates, won more than a dozen Grammy Awards, and was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. With more than thirty albums to his credit, including one marking his eightieth birthday in 2005, he collaborated with many notable musicians and groups, such as Clapton and U2.

In 1991, King opened the B. B. King Blues Club on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. He went on to open more clubs in cities such as Los Angeles and New York.

King also remained close to his southern roots in the Mississippi Delta and was a strong advocate for the preservation of the area’s heritage. The B. B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center opened in 2008 in Indianola, Mississippi. It earned acclaim for its interactive exhibits and extensive collection of artifacts dedicated to telling not just King's story but also the broader story of blues music.

King continued to tour extensively throughout the first decade of the twenty-first century. He was finally forced to stop touring in late 2014, however, after suffering severe bouts of dehydration stemming from years of struggling with diabetes. Months later, on May 14, 2015, it was reported that King had passed away at his home in Las Vegas. He was eighty-nine.

Significance

With his unique sound, impeccable stage appearance (he always wore a tuxedo with bowtie, patent leather shoes, and diamond rings), and long career, King inspired not only blues artists but also musicians of many other genres. He is considered an iconic figure in the history of American music and one of the most important guitarists of all time. Although he came from humble beginnings, he moved beyond his circumstances to build a global career through hard work and dedication. King continued to learn and improve, even in the late stages of his career. Although some critics and purists accused him of “selling out” because of his success with mainstream audiences, King maintained that the blues, a genre that is so thoroughly American, is meant for everyone.

Bibliography

B. B. King Museum, bbkingmuseum.org/. Accessed 4 Nov. 2021.

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

De Visé, Daniel. King of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B. B. King. Atlantic, 2021.

Ferris, William. “Looking Back: Willie Dixon; B. B. King.” In Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 2009.

King, B. B., and David Ritz. Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B. B. King. New York: Avon, 1996.

Kostelanetz, Richard, ed. The B. B. King Companion: Five Decades of Commentary. New York: Schirmer, 1997.

Lydon, Michael. “B. B. King in the Deep South, 1968.” In Flashbacks: Eyewitness Accounts of the Rock Revolution, 1964–1974. London: Routledge, 2003.

Sawyer, Charles. The Arrival of B. B. King: The Authorized Biography. New York: Doubleday, 1980.

Weiner, Tim. "B. B. King, Defining Bluesman for Generations, Dies at 89." New York Times. New York Times, 15 May 2015. Web. 23 Dec. 2015.