King of blues

He is not just an ambassador of the blues, which he dreamed of. B.B. King is universally hailed as the reigning king of the blues and the single most important electric guitarist of the last half century. His style of soloing based on fluid string bending and weeping vibrato – together with his staccato picking style – has influenced virtually every blues and rock guitarist that followed. His gritty and confident voice – capable of wringing every nuance from any lyric – provides a worthy match for his passionate playing. He started performing at home in Mississippi in the early 1940s, made his first recordings in Memphis in the late ‘40s and played 250-300 shows a year until his seventies. B.B. King passed away on 14 May 2015 at the age of 89.

In Mississippi

In 1943, at seventeen, Riley left his grandmother in Kilmichael to live in Indianola, Mississippi, where he worked as a tractor driver and played guitar with the Famous St. John’s Gospel Singers of Inverness. They performed at area churches and on WGRM in Greenwood, Mississippi. Country and gospel music, along with the styles of the blues greats, T-Bone Walker and Lonnie Johnson, were young Riley’s influences.

In 1946, at 20, he went to see his mother’s first cousin in Memphis, a rough-edged country blues guitarist named Bukka White, who took him in for ten months and taught him how to play the blues.

Riley returned to Mississippi for a period of hard plantation work, preparing to go back to the city and become a musician. In 1948 he came to West Memphis, Arkansas. He performed on Sonny Boy Williamson’s radio program on KWEM in West Memphis, where he developed a local audience for his sound. It led to steady engagements at the Sixteenth Avenue Grill. Then, he got a ten-minute spot on WDIA in Memphis, Tennessee, that recently had switched over to a pioneering all-black format. He was a singer and a DJ. "King’s spot" became popular and was expanded. He became the “Beale Street Blues Boy”, later shortened to “Blues Boy” and then just B.B.

Fifties & Sixties

During the ‘50s, B.B. King was a consistent record seller and concert attraction. 1956 was a record-breaking year with 342 concerts booked. His guitar attack grew more aggressive as the decade progressed. In 1960 his revival of Joe Turner’s “Sweet Sixteen” was a huge success. In 1962 he switched to ABC-Paramount Records and in 1964 he recorded what is considered one of the definitive blues albums: Live at the Regal at the Regal Theater in Chicago.

The mid ‘60s blues revival introduced B.B. King to white audiences, and by 1966 he was appearing regularly on rock concert circuits and receiving airplay on progressive rock radio.

Live

Many of B.B. King's greatest live performances on film are from the '70s. In 1974 he performed in Kinshasa, Zaire, Africa, in connection with the legendary boxing game between Muhammed Ali and George Foreman.

Blues hall of fame

B.B. King was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. That year he also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He tempered his studio activities somewhat in the ‘80s but was still highly visible. He appeared on numerous television shows and performed almost 300 nights a year through the decade.

He reached a new generation when he collaborated with U2 on their album Rattle and Hum in 1987. In 1993 he returned to form with the duet album Blues Summit featuring friends and guests like John Lee Hooker, Etta James and Fulson. In 2000 he teamed up with guitarist Eric Clapton and recorded "Riding with the King", which is his most commercially successful album ever. He kept performing around 100 shows a year even in his older age.