B.B. King
15 times Grammy Award winning B.B. King was born September 16th, 1925 on a farm in Mississippi. When he was 4 years old, his parents divorced and he moved to his mother's parents in Kilmichael. At 9, his mother died, and he went to live with his father in Lexington for 2 years, before returning to Kilmichael and later moving to Indianola.
Since his early childhood, he sang Gospel and listened to Blue’s greats on his aunt’s shellac records. His favourites were blues guitarist T-Bone Walker and jazz musicians Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt.
In 1946 he moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where Blues musician Bukka White got him a job as a welder. He formed a blues duo with Walter Horton and performed at Juke Joints and in public parks. After just 8 months in Memphos, he returned to Indianola because he doubted his musical skills. 2 years later he’d return to Memphis, where he got to know guitarist, Robert Lockwood, who helped him improve his guitar playing significantly. In 1949 he met Sonny Boy Williamson II. and performed on his radio show, KWEM. Through Bukka White, he heard about WDIA radio, and was offered a 15 minute live show sponsored by Lucky Strike cigarettes.
The same year he made his first recordings for Bullet Records in Nashville, which unfortunately weren't much of a success.
Success did come in 1950, when King was discovered by brothers Jules and Saul Bihari who offered him a record deal. Their first recordings were made at Sam Phillips' new studio. King had his breakthrough in 1951 with the song ‘3 O' Clock Blues’ which was on top of the R & B charts for 5 weeks. Following this success, King went on tour and was celebrated as Blues' new star.
After years of bigger and smaller successes in the United States, King achieved international respect with his 1970 album ‘Indiana Mississippi Seeds’ which he recorded with Rock musicians Carole King and Leon Russel. The album had a softer more gentle sound than his previous recordings.
A year later the album In London, which was recorded with guest musicians Alexis Korner, Peter Green and Steve Winwood, became an international success as well.
Until his death in May 2015, B.B. King remained one of Blues' greatest working artists. Throughout his 50-year career he played on his beloved Gibson guitar ‘Lucille’.
During his time at WDIA radio, he earned the nickname "Beale Street Blues Boy", which was eventually shortened to Blues Boy or, “B.B.”, as he was known thereafter.
He died at the age of 89 as a consequence of his type 2 diabetes.