Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B. B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He developed a special way of playing solos using smoothly bending guitar strings, a shaking sound called vibrato, and short, quick picking. These techniques influenced many later electric guitar blues players. AllMusic recognized King as "the single most important electric guitarist of the last half of the 20th century."

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and is considered one of the most influential blues musicians in history. He earned the nickname "The King of the Blues" and is referred to as one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with Albert King and Freddie King, none of whom are related). King performed at many concerts throughout his career, often appearing at more than 200 shows each year even in his 70s. In 1956 alone, he performed at 342 shows.

Born and raised in the Mississippi Delta, he was drawn to music and taught himself to play the guitar. He began his career in small, lively music venues and on local radio. Later, he lived and performed in Memphis and Chicago. As his fame grew, he traveled around the world to perform.

Early life

Riley B. King was born on September 16, 1925, on a cotton plantation in Berclair, named Bear Creek, in Leflore County near Itta Bena, Mississippi. He was the son of sharecroppers Albert and Nora Ella King. When he was four years old, his mother left his father for another man, so he was raised by his maternal grandmother, Elnora Farr, in Kilmichael, Mississippi, and later in Lexington. As a teenager, he moved to Indianola, which he called his hometown, and later worked at a cotton gin.

As a young boy, King sang in the gospel choir at Elkhorn Baptist Church in Kilmichael. He became interested in the Pentecostal Church of God in Christ because of its music. A local minister used a Sears Roebuck Silvertone guitar during church services and taught King his first three chords. Flake Cartledge, King’s employer in Kilmichael, bought him his first guitar for $15. Cartledge withheld money from King’s salary for two months until he repaid the debt.

In November 1941, the radio show King Biscuit Time first aired on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas. It played Mississippi Delta blues music. King listened to it while working at the plantation. A self-taught guitarist, he then wanted to become a radio musician.

In 1943, King left Kilmichael to work as a tractor driver and play guitar with the Famous St. John’s Gospel Singers of Inverness, Mississippi. He performed at churches and on WGRM in Greenwood. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II but was released because he was considered “essential to the war economy” due to his tractor driving experience.

In 1946, King followed his cousin Bukka White to Memphis, Tennessee. White cared for him for ten months. King returned to Mississippi shortly after and prepared for his next move. Two years later, he returned to West Memphis, Arkansas. He performed on Sonny Boy Williamson’s radio program on KWEM in West Memphis, where he began gaining an audience. His appearances led to regular performances at the Sixteenth Avenue Grill in West Memphis and later to a ten-minute spot on the Memphis radio station WDIA. The radio segment became so popular that it was expanded and became the Sepia Swing Club.

At WDIA, King worked as a singer and disc jockey. He earned the nickname “Beale Street Blues Boy,” which was later shortened to “Blues Boy” and finally to “B.B.” It was there that he first met T-Bone Walker. King said, “Once I’d heard him for the first time, I knew I’d have to have [an electric guitar] myself. ‘Had’ to have one, short of stealing!”

Career

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, B.B. King was part of the blues scene on Beale Street. "Beale Street was where it all started for me," he said. He performed with Bobby Bland, Johnny Ace, and Earl Forest in a group called the Beale Streeters.

According to King and Joe Bihari, one of the founders of Modern Records and its branches, Ike Turner introduced King to the Bihari brothers while working as a talent scout for them. Before signing with RPM Records, King first recorded for Bullet Records with the single "Miss Martha King" (1949), which did not sell well. "My very first recordings [in 1949] were for a company in Nashville called Bullet," King recalled. "I had horns on that first session. Phineas Newborn played piano; his father played drums, and his brother, Calvin, played guitar with me. Tuff Green played bass, Ben Branch played tenor sax, his brother, Thomas, played trumpet, and a lady played trombone. The Newborn family were the house band at the famous Plantation Inn in West Memphis." In 1949, King began recording songs for RPM Records, a subsidiary of Modern based in Los Angeles. Sam Phillips, who later founded Sun Records, produced many of King's early recordings.

King formed his band, the B.B. King Review, led by Millard Lee. The band included Calvin Owens and Kenneth Sands (trumpet), Lawrence Burdin (alto sax), George Coleman (tenor sax), Floyd Newman (baritone sax), Millard Lee (piano), George Joyner (bass), Earl Forest and Ted Curry (drums). King hired Onzie Horne, a trained musician, to help with arrangements and compositions. King admitted he could not play chords well and relied on improvisation.

King promoted his music by touring the United States, performing in major theaters in cities like Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, and St. Louis, as well as in small clubs and juke joints in the southern United States. During a show in Twist, Arkansas, a fight broke out between two men, causing a fire. He left the building with the crowd but returned to save his guitar. He later learned the men were fighting over a woman named Lucille. He named his guitar Lucille to remind himself not to fight over women or enter burning buildings again.

After his first Billboard Rhythm and Blues number one hit, "3 O'Clock Blues" (February 1952), King became one of the most important names in R&B music in the 1950s. He had many hits, including "You Know I Love You," "Woke Up This Morning," "Please Love Me," "When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer," "Whole Lotta' Love," "You Upset Me Baby," "Every Day I Have the Blues," "Sneakin' Around," "Ten Long Years," "Bad Luck," "Sweet Little Angel," "On My Word of Honor," and "Please Accept My Love." His weekly earnings increased from about $85 to $2,500, and he performed at venues like the Howard Theater in Washington and the Apollo in New York, as well as on the Chitlin' Circuit. In 1956, he booked 342 concerts and had three recording sessions. That year, he founded his own record label, Blues Boys Kingdom, based in Memphis. He also produced artists like Millard Lee and Levi Seabury. In 1962, King signed with ABC-Paramount Records, which later became part of MCA Records and then Geffen Records. In November 1964, he recorded the Live at the Regal album at the Regal Theater. He later said the album was "considered by some the best recording I've ever had… that day in Chicago everything came together."

From the late 1960s, his new manager, Sid Seidenberg, helped him perform in different types of venues as blues-rock musicians like Eric Clapton and Paul Butterfield brought blues to white audiences. King gained more attention when he opened for the Rolling Stones on their 1969 American Tour. He won a Grammy Award in 1970 for "The Thrill Is Gone," which was a hit on both the Pop and R&B charts. Rolling Stone magazine listed the song as number 183 in their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

King was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2004, he received the international Polar Music Prize for exceptional achievements in music.

From the 1980s until his death in 2015, King remained active, appearing on television and performing up to 300 nights a year. In 1988, he reached a new audience with the single "When Love Comes to Town," recorded with the Irish band U2. In 1997, he performed at the Vatican's Christmas concert and gave his guitar Lucille to Pope John Paul II. In 1998, he appeared in The Blues Brothers 2000, playing the lead singer of the Louisiana Gator Boys alongside Eric Clapton, Dr. John, Koko Taylor, and Bo Diddley. In 2000, he and Clapton recorded Riding With the King, which won a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album.

King said the blues belonged everywhere beautiful music belonged, from small clubs to grand concert halls. He balanced sophisticated recordings with energetic live performances.

In 2006, King went on a farewell world tour, supported by guitarist Gary Moore. The tour included performances in the UK, at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and in Zürich. During a show in Montreux, he jammed with Joe Sample, Randy Crawford, David Sanborn, Gladys Knight, Leela James, Andre Beeka, Earl Thomas, Stanley Clarke, John McLaughlin, Barbara Hendricks, and George Duke.

In June 2006, King attended a memorial at the Three Deuces Building in Greenwood, Mississippi, where the Mississippi Blues Commission placed a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail. That same month, a museum dedicated to him opened in Indianola, Mississippi. The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center opened in September 2008.

In late October 2006, King recorded a concert album and video titled B.B. King: Live at his B.B. King Blues Clubs in Nashville and Memphis. The video, released in 2008, was his first live album in over a decade.

In 2007, King performed at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival and contributed songs to tributes and children's albums. In 2008, he played at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Tennessee, where he received a key to the city, and was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame.

Equipment

When he sings, he imagines playing in his mind; the moment he stops singing aloud, he begins to sing by playing Lucille.

King used instruments typical of the different time periods he played in. Early in his career, he used guitars made by various companies. He played a Fender Esquire on most of his recordings with RPM Records. Later, he became well known for playing different versions of the Gibson ES-355.

In the September 1995 issue of Vintage Guitar magazine, early photographs show him playing a Gibson ES-5 through a Fender tweed amplifier. Referring to the photo, King said, "Yes; the old Fender amplifiers were the best ever made, in my opinion. They had a good sound and were strong; people would put them in a truck, and they would last. They had tubes, and they would get very hot, but they had a sound that is hard to describe. The Fender Twin was great, but I have an old Lab Series amplifier that is no longer made. I fell in love with it because its sound is between the old Fender amps we used and the Fender Twin. It's what I'm using tonight."

He moved away from larger Gibson hollow-bodied guitars, which were prone to feedback when played at high volumes, to various semi-hollow models. He first used the ES-335 and later a deluxe version called the ES-355, which had a stereo option. In 1980, Gibson Guitar Corporation released the B.B. King Lucille model, an ES-355 with stereo options, a varitone selector, and fine tuners (which he did not use). At his request, the model had no f-holes to reduce feedback further. In 2005, Gibson made a special batch of 80 Gibson Lucilles, called the "80th Birthday Lucille." The first prototype was given to him as a birthday gift, and he used it afterward.

He used a Lab Series L5 2×12" combo amplifier for a long time. Norlin Industries produced these amplifiers for Gibson in the 1970s and 1980s. Other well-known L5 users include Allan Holdsworth and Ty Tabor of King's X. The L5 has an onboard compressor, parametric equalization, and four inputs. King also used a Fender Twin Reverb.

He used his signature model strings, "Gibson SEG-BBS B.B. King Signature Electric Guitar Strings," with gauges: 10–13–17p–32w–45w–54w, and D'Andrea 351 MD SHL CX (medium 0.71mm, tortoiseshell, celluloid) picks.

Blues clubs

In 1991, Beale Street developer John Elkington hired King to open the first B.B. King's Blues Club in Memphis. In 1994, a second club was opened at Universal Citywalk in Los Angeles. A third club in New York City's Times Square opened in June 2000 but closed on April 29, 2018. The management is searching for a new place in New York City. Two more clubs opened later: one at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut in January 2002, and another in Nashville in 2003. A club in Orlando opened in 2007. A club in West Palm Beach opened in the fall of 2009, and another, located in the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, opened in the winter of 2009. A club in the New Orleans French Quarter opened in 2016.

Television and other appearances

King appeared on many popular television shows, such as The Cosby Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Young and the Restless, General Hospital, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Sesame Street, Married… with Children, Sanford and Son, and Touched by an Angel.

Between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s, he appeared in many advertisements for McDonald's. In the early 2000s, he also appeared in a campaign for Burger King.

In 2000, the children's show Between the Lions introduced a singing character named "B.B. the King of Beasts," inspired by him.

A feature documentary titled B.B. King: The Life of Riley, narrated by Morgan Freeman and directed by Jon Brewer, was released on October 15, 2012.

His performance at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival is included in the 2021 music documentary Summer of Soul.

Personal life

King married two women. His first wife was Martha Lee Denton, and they were married from November 1946 until 1952. His second wife was Sue Carol Hall, and they were married from 1958 until 1966. He said the marriages ended because he had to perform in 250 concerts each year, which was very demanding. It is reported that he had 15 children with different women. After his death, three more people claimed to be his children. Neither of his marriages had children. A biographer named Charles Sawyer wrote that doctors found King’s sperm count was too low to have children, but King never argued with any of the 15 people who said he was their father. He also helped pay for college and created trust funds for them. In May 2016, 11 of his surviving children started legal action against the person who managed his estate, which was worth about $30 million to $40 million. Some of them also said that King’s business manager, LaVerne Toney, and his assistant, Myron Johnson, poisoned him. An autopsy found no evidence of poisoning. A lawsuit filed by Johnson against the children (including his sister, Karen Williams) is still being considered. Other children have also filed lawsuits about King’s music estate, which is still being debated.

King had a pilot license from the FAA and often flew to his performances. He learned to fly in 1963 at what was then called Chicago Hammond Airport in Lansing, Illinois. In 1995, his insurance company and manager asked him, when he was about 70 years old, to only fly with another licensed pilot. Because of this, he stopped flying.

King’s favorite singer was Frank Sinatra. In his autobiography, he said he was a big fan of Sinatra and listened to Sinatra’s album In the Wee Small Hours every night. In the 1960s, Sinatra helped King perform at major clubs in Las Vegas. King said Sinatra helped black entertainers get opportunities in venues that were mostly for white performers.

In September 1970, King recorded Live in Cook County Jail, a time when racism and class issues in prisons were important topics in politics. He helped start the Foundation for the Advancement of Inmate Rehabilitation and Recreation, which supported prisoners and prison reform. He also wanted to use prison performances to preserve music, like how Alan Lomax did.

In 2002, King became an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a group that gives free musical instruments and lessons to children in schools with few resources. He was on the group’s honorary board of directors.

King was diagnosed with diabetes in 1990 and spoke publicly about fighting the disease. He appeared in television ads for OneTouch Ultra, a blood glucose monitoring device, starting in the early 2000s. American Idol contestant Crystal Bowersox, who was diagnosed with diabetes at age six, appeared with King in later ads.

Death and funeral

In 2014, the last eight shows of his tour were canceled because of health problems caused by high blood pressure and diabetes. On May 14, 2015, at the age of 89, King passed away in his sleep due to vascular dementia, which was caused by a series of small strokes linked to his type 2 diabetes. Two of his daughters said that he might have been poisoned by two people to cause diabetic shock, but an autopsy found no proof of this.

King’s body was flown to Memphis on May 27, 2015. A funeral procession traveled down Beale Street, with a brass band playing "When the Saints Go Marching In" in front of the hearse. Thousands of people lined the streets to honor him. His body was then taken along Route 61 to his hometown of Indianola, Mississippi. King’s body was placed on display at the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola so people could see him. The funeral occurred on May 30 at the Bell Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Indianola. He was buried at the B.B. King Museum.

Accolades

Years show the year the Grammy was given, for music released the year before.

• Received an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Tougaloo College (1973)
• Received an Honorary Doctor of Music from Yale University (1977)
• Added to the Blues Hall of Fame (1980)
• Received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music (1985)
• Added to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (1987)
• Received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1987)
• Received the National Medal of Arts (1990)
• Received the National Heritage Fellowship from the NEA (1991)

• The Kennedy Center Honors – given to honor "the long-term achievements and special talents of our nation's most respected artists" (1995)
• Grammy Hall of Fame Award for "The Thrill is Gone" – given to songs that are 25 years old or older and are important in history or quality (1998)
• Received the Living Legend Medal from the Library of Congress for lifetime contributions to America's cultural heritage (2000)
• Received the Polar Music Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music for "significant contributions to the blues" (2004)
• Received the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement (2004)
• Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush on December 15 (2006)
• Received an honorary doctorate in music from Brown University (2007)
• Received the keys to the city of Portland, Maine (2008)
• A Mississippi Blues Trail marker was added to honor King's birthplace (2008)
• Named No. 3 on Time's list of the 10 best electric guitarists (2009)
• Received the MMP Music Award and was added to the MMP Hall of Fame by the Mississippi Music Project (2018)
• A Google Doodle celebrated what would have been King's 94th birthday (2019)
• A King Homecoming Festival is held in Indianola, Mississippi during the first week in June every year
• Named the 8th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone in 2023
• Featured as one of the musicians in Mississippi's Rose Parade float for 2025.