B.B. King (born Riley King)

Instruments: electric guitar "Lucille", vocals

Lifespan: 1925-????

Style synopsis: Style is the word that describes the way that B.B. "makes love to Lucille". He plays a very uncluttered style with liberal use of bends, his signature tremelo and T-Bone Walker influenced jazzy sounding blues runs. Also, as B.B. tells U2, he "don't do no chords". B.B.'s style is best characterized by saying that he knows when to play the right note and he knows when silence is better than a whole string of notes.

Representative Recordings:I've been buying and listening to B.B. for 30 years and here are my faves:
(1) B.B. King Live at the Apollo (1991, GRP) - B.B. is usually his best live
(2) Blues Summit (MCA, 1993) - B.B. and friends, including Buddy Guy, Lohn Lee Hooker, Albert Collins and Katie Webster
(3) B.B. King - King of the Blues (1992, MCA) - Four CD set of the best of B.B., a must have

Contributor: Mike "Mojo" Sutton(msutton@iadfw.net)
Contributor's comments: The "King of the Blues" continues to be my favorite for one burning reason, he has been the one instrumental in bringing blues to the main stream. Because of this he might be better thought of as the ambassodor of the blues. His style is tempered with the main stream audience in mind and therefore many blues afficienados may write him off. I know a lot of people who don't know any blues musicians or heards any blues except B.B. King. Instead of putting down B.B. as "not a real blues man', let's all be glad that he has been the ambassodor for blues music. He continues to be the showman blues music has always needed and will be sorely missed when he is gone.

B.B. KING (The Charlotte Observer, 1992)

by David S. Rotenstein (c) 1992 D.S. Rotenstein

Back in 1951, a young blues guitarist named Riley King had his first hit song titled "3 O'Clock Blues.'' The song was so successful, promoters whisked the young man from his Memphis, Tenn. home to the bright lights and big stages of New York City, where he shortened his stage name from Beale Street Blues Boy to "B.B.''

Boogie woogie pianist Robert "H-Bomb'' Ferguson recalls the first time he met B.B. King before the legendary guitarist's first show at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.

"When I saw B.B., man, I laughed. This cat came out on stage with a purple suit, red shirt and green tie,'' says Ferguson.

King agrees with Ferguson's memory, but notes that the color scheme was different.

"No, [it was] a red suit with a red tie with red shoes. Red and black sock and black shoes,'' notes King. "Yeah, that's true, they just talked about me so much, talked about me so bad that I went and changed it.''

Fortunately for King, his fame comes from being a musical pioneer rather than being a fashion trend setter.

Over the past forty years, King has established himself as the indisputable king of blues guitarists. His innovative style of blending gospel, jazz, and deep Delta blues has influenced two generations of blues and rock guitarists.

Unabashedly, King admits that he's an original: "There's a whole lot of things I don't do as well as other people, but I can do and do do very well being B.B. King.''

King launched his career as a professional musician on the streets of Memphis during the 1940s. He played gospel and blues on street corners for tips. Standing at the crossroads between blues and gospel, King took the path offering the promise of more financial rewards.

"When I used to sit on the street corners and play gospel songs, the people would come by and they would try to cheer me up and they would also pat me on the head and say, 'Son, that was great. You keep it up, you're gonna be great some day.

"But the blues fans would do it differently. You do good, they would all times give you money,'' explains King.

At 66, King remains indefatigable. He does about 300 concert dates annually. Last year he released his first studio album on the heels of two back-to-back live LPs. "There is Always One More Time'' (MCA), was recorded with the Philip Morris Superband.

Few artists who have attained the success that King has continue to drive themselves at such a grueling pace. The force pushing King to stay in front of the spotlight is simple. He wants to be remembered.

"If you're out there, people never forget you. And that is one of the things I believe in today, never being forgotten. I would like to be remembered as a person that loved people and wanted to be loved by them.''

Musically, King has wrought a unique style of blues often imitated, but never duplicated.

"I've never really been accepted by the blues purists as a true blues guitarist because they say I use too many cliches,'' King frets.

On the other hand, he admits "I could never be a real jazz musician because I don't improvise well enough. I know the chord changes, the music, well enough to do the standards. So I'm kind of in-between. I don't sing gospel well enough to be considered a gospel singer''

Despite an unorthodox approach to the music, King has helped to shape the blues by bringing it into the mainstream. He frowns when people label the blues as sad music.

"Blues to me is many things,'' notes the guitarist. "It has to do with people, places and things. And the way of life that we lived in the past, we are living today, and the way I believe we will live tomorrow. It tells you about the world as well; it tells you about yourself as well as the ones you love.''

King writes music with the same determination that drives his performing schedule. He regrets that after 40 years he still hasn't found the perfect sound. But lyrically, he strives for a successful formula that combines honesty with just a little bit of humor.

"Whether I'm talking about something somebody did that I don't like, or what I would like to do to make myself and others better. All of this is simplicity and it's the simple truth.

"I try to portray me in a song, so if I'm telling you a joke, something to make you laugh, then I'll let you know that. I try to do the same thing in song,'' explains King.

Perched at the pinnacle of the music he helped define, King notes that the blues of 1992 are different from the music he started playing as a boy back on the cotton plantation his family worked in Mississippi. He's witnessed the transformation of the blues from African American folksong to popular art form accepted and appreciated across the globe.

"It's changed quite a bit from the way that we've known it to be. You don't find as many straight acoustic guitars as we used to. We find more, today, people playing electric guitars and electric blues. You have today blues superstars,'' says King.