Riley King

B.B. King has had a profound effect on rock & roll. Rock performers such as The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Stevie Ray Vaughan were all influenced in some way by King. King is tireless in his efforts to bring blues music to the people. He performs over 300 concert a year and records new songs regularly.

Born in Mississippi, King's earliest interest in music, like many other bluesmen, came from the church, where he learned to sing gospel music. After learning a few chords on the guitar, he started listening to guitar-playing bluesmen. In 1947, King moved to Memphis. He asked harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson, who was working at West Memphis radio station KWEM, for a job. King started his radio career by selling an alcohol-based tonic called Pepticon and playing and singing blues songs for ten minutes every day. In 1949, he became a full-time disc jockey on WDIA. King's on-air name was the Beale Street Blues Boy, later shortened to B.B. Hislocal fame got gigs in Beale Street blues clubs.

King's recording career began in 1949 when he cut four sides for the Nashville-based Bullet label. In 1951 he recorded at Sam Phillips's Sun studio for Modern RPM and then, later in the year, at the Memphis YMCA. One of the songs from the latter session, "Three O'Clock Blues" launched King's career. The record lodged itself in the number 1 slot on the R&B charts and stayed there for seventeen weeks. There were three more number 1 hits: "You Know I Love You" in 1952, "Please Love Me" in 1953, and "You Upset Me Baby" in 1954, all on the RPM label.

For the next 40 years King continued to tour extensively and record prolifically. He almost single-handedly kept the blues alive when people seemed to lose interest in the late '50s and early '60s. In 1988 King appeared on Rattle and Hum by U2. His guitar and vocal performance on the song "When Love Comes To Town" proved that King could still belt out the blues like no one's business. King now suffers from diabetes but his concert schedule is packed solid and he still manages to make new records.

King was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

Something to listen to:

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