B.B. King: A Life & Legacy Of Soul
Author: Julianna Cooper, Challenge America Program Coordinator
Riley B. King - known to us as B.B. King - was one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, shaping Blues and R&B music as we know it today. His hits like “The Thrill is Gone,” “3 O’Clock Blues,” and “Don’t Answer the Door” have made their way into our ears time and time again, but how much do we know about the man behind the music?
Born in 1925 to a sharecropping family in Mississippi, King was no stranger to difficulty - enduring his parents’ divorce at age 5, moving with his mother to the hill country of Mississippi, and ultimately losing his mother at age 9, he found solace and musical inspiration in the African American Church. At a young age, B.B. learned basic guitar from his pastor and dreamed of being a gospel musician. While still young, he made an arrangement with his employer to obtain his first real guitar, teaching himself new skills through mail-order lesson books.
Once a teenager, B.B dropped out of school and returned to the Mississippi Delta where he was born; driving a tractor by day and singing on street corners for change during his spare time. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, King hitchhiked to Memphis, Tennessee, where he slowly built up a reputation over the course of a year. He was given an opportunity to perform on blues singer Sonny Boy Williamson’s popular radio program, catapulting him to more opportunities such as playing in local night clubs. Soon after, he was given a regular spot on a black-run radio station. Once a radio personality, he quickly received the nickname "the Beale Street Blues Boy” - a nickname that was quickly shortened to “Blues Boy,” and ultimately "B.B.”
In 1949, the guitarist cut his first record; releasing six singles over the course of the year. As he began touring to promote his new music, King played a show at a dance in Twist, Arkansas. During the evening, a fight broke out and a kerosene lamp was knocked over; igniting a fire that quickly enveloped the building. After initially fleeing the building with other guests, B.B. turned around to save his beloved guitar - ultimately barely making it out of the building alive. When he learned that the fire-causing fight was over a woman named Lucille, King gave this name to his guitar to commemorate the night. Ever since, he named each one of his trademark Gibson guitars “Lucille.”
He quickly became one of the most influential and iconic musicians on the blues circuit. Playing more than 300 shows a year by the time he was in his late 20s, audiences from all over fell in love with his rich, warm voice and reveled in his humor and depth of feeling. As stated by the Grammy Awards Academy of Achievement,
“Aspiring guitarists studied his records to emulate his singing, stinging tone. With his crack horn section, he created a fresh fusion of gospel, jazz, pop and traditional blues that set a new standard.”
After decades of touring, recording, and continually acting as an influence for other burgeoning musicians, King finally achieved pop crossover success with his single ‘The Thrill is Gone,’ No longer a cult hero of musicians and aficionados or the star of a segregated minority, B.B. King had finally become a national institution. His tours now took him to concert halls, universities and amphitheaters. Touring until his mid 80s, B.B. King continued to play between 250 and 300 shows per year around the world.
In his later years, King won countless iconic awards: 18 Grammys, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Kennedy Center Honors. In 1991, he opened B.B. King’s Blues Club in Memphis; and later opened additional clubs in New York, Los Angeles and Connecticut. His autobiography, Blues All Around Me, was published in 1996, and his 2000 release, Riding With the King, paired him with his longtime admirer, Eric Clapton.
B.B. King died in 2015, four months short of his 90th birthday. To this day, he remains the most imitated of blues guitarists, and his influence on music around the world is incalculable.
