B.B. King is known as the King of the Blues, and for a good reason! His talent was unmatched, and his music changed an entire generation! As one of the best blues guitarists of all time, B.B. King is undoubtedly someone to be remembered.
He was born Riley B. King in Mississippi on September 16, 1925. King spent his early life working on his family's cotton plantation and attending his local pentecostal church, where he found his love for music.
He loved the idea of playing the guitar and received his first one from his employer. He practiced whenever he had free time on the plantation. In 1943, with that guitar, he finally left his old life behind to join a singing group that traveled around Mississippi, performing in churches around the state.
Throughout the 40s and 50s, King started appearing on small radio slots, gaining an audience, and really making quite the name for himself in blues music. He was nicknamed "Blues Boy," which later turned into "B.B."
He was in several bands, including the Beale Streeters and the B.B. King Review, and toured around the country performing dozens of shows a year. But in 1952, B.B. released his first number one hit: 3 O'Clock Blues.
From then on, it was smooth sailing! King had his electric guitar and hit after hit, topping the charts, and he quickly became one of the genre's most unique and popular sounds.
When the 1960s rolled around, B.B. King did not lose his place in the spotlight. In fact, he started getting recognized even more widely throughout the world, including in the rock community, when he opened for the Rolling Stones on their 1969 tour.
He won a 1970 Grammy Award for his version of the song "The Thrill Is Gone" and 14 more Grammys over his lifetime!
King loved to perform, and for the next forty years, he was on the road sharing his music with the world. Until his final year in 2014, King was up on stage as much as humanly possible; in fact, sometimes, he put on 300 shows a year!
B.B. King didn't just tour; he was also in the studio at all times and created over 40 albums in his long and incredibly successful career.
If you don't remember all of B.B. King's hits, it's okay; there are many of them! But there is no doubt that you have sung along with one of these fantastic songs or melted by how he played the electric guitar.
