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bb king B.B. King Back in 1951, a young blues guitarist named Riley King had his first hit song titled "3 O'clock Blues.' The song was so great, promoters whisked
Renaissance that sparked jazz music. A modern figure that resembles Coleman Hawkins is BB King, who continues to promote black culture. BB King is still alive and
out playing backup for smalltime R&B groups. Soon some of the best known artists, such as BB king, Ike and Turner, and Little Richard wanted him. After a few months
musicians to be influenced by diverse types of music. If a rock band listened to both BB King and the Sex Pistols, one will most probably hear both blues and punk
from the "African Woodstock" of superstars of the music of the day - James Brown, and BB King - I found particularly effective in portraying the importance of a culture
Submitted by allstarguard on May 15, 2008
Category: Biographies
Words: 430 | Pages: 2
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B.B. King was a blues singer and guitarist. His full name is Riley B. King. He was born September 16, 1925, near Indianola, Mississippi. An important aspect in King's life was, of course, when he was first exposed to the blues. 'I guess the earliest sound of the blues that I can rremember was in the fields while people would be pickin' cotton or choppin' or somethin,' " he told Living Blues . " When I sing and play now I can hear those same sounds that I used to hear then as a kid."
B.B. King's first musical influence came through religion. He was a member of the Church of God In Christ. He was forbidden to play blues at home. He sang in spiritual groups like the Elkhorn Singers and the Saint John's Gospel Singers. A relative who was a guitarist and a preacher showed King his first chords on the instrument. As a teenager he began playing streetcorners for coins, combining gospel songs with the blues. When he started making more money playing in one night then he would in a week on the farm, he decided to head to Memphis. After a few years, King went back to Indianola to work and repay some debts, eventually returning to Memphis to stay. King's trademark is the trilling vibrato he developed in an attempt to duplicate the stinging sound of the steel slide. With the help of the late Sonny Boy William- son he began singing radio commercials and became a disc jockey. Later he played in small clubs, and then in larger venues in the mid-1960's. He has toured extensively through- out the United States and around the world, appearing in concerts, at blues festivals, on television, and in films. How did Riley B. King receive the nickname B.B. King? Well, he was known as " the blues boy from Beale Street," later shortened to B.B. "Riley B. King is the world's preeminent blues guitarist. There is hardly a rock, pop, or blues player anywhere who doesn't owe him something." Frank Sinatra and Nat Cole are two who use the "B.B. King style of blues." Finally, I...
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