B.B King has gone down in history as one of the best blues artists ever to live. I can’t stress enough my appreciation to the blues pioneer. His message of universal hope, love, peace, and joy has touched thousands. Here are six things you probably didn’t know about B.B King, The King Of The Blues.
1. Forbidden Blues
Perhaps King was drawn to blues because it was forbidden. His mother banned him as a child to even sing the “Devil’s music.” Instead, he sang gospel music at church and performed with groups like the Famous St. John Gospel Singers. Though later, he came in contact with Bukka White.
2. Role Model
King learned everything he knew about putting on a show from renowned bluesman Bukka White, his mother’s cousin.
“If you want to be a good blues singer,” Bukka told B.B., “people are going to be down on you, so dress like you’re going to the bank to borrow money.” King took these words and applied them to his everyday life. You couldn’t possibly catch him slacking. Not only did he find influence from the way Bukka dressed, but also from his slide guitar technique (which used a bottleneck piece of steel to slide up and down the strings).
King found that he wasn’t particularly good at the slide, so he bent the strings making a similar sound. The way he bent his strings became the most identifiable guitar riffs in the world. Bukka’s strong influence on young King might have been the key that uncovered his success.
He found himself staying at Bukka’s house to pursue his dreams of performing. Thirty years later, they reunited in New Orleans, 1973.
3. Non-stop ’58
In 1958, King worked every single day of the year. No breaks, no sick days, due to an accident that left his tour bus completely ripped into shreds (after colliding with a butane truck in Texas). The bus’s insurance company was suspended just two days before the incident. Meaning King was responsible for the vehicle. It was a million-dollar debt that took him years to pay off. His year-long working spree was around the same time his wife left him.
He performed 342 one-night stands and three recording sessions. He was one of the most relentless touring acts ever. With a career soaring over 60 years, King has played over 15,000 performances.
4. Actor/ bluesman?
King’s music can be found on many movie soundtracks. For example, Casino, Heat, and Mrs. Doubtfire. In all, his music is included in about 53. However, he started appearing in shows like the Cosby Show, Married With Children, Sanford and Son, Spies Like Us, and Fresh Prince of Bel Air. He’s also been on Jay Leno 6 times.
4. Baby Lucille
King’s beloved guitar (which is now over 200,000 dollars) was called “Lucille.” He even wrote a song about his baby.
The name “Lucille” arose from a near-death encounter when he saved his guitar from a fire at a nightclub in Arkansas after two men started a fight (leaving the building in flames).
“The building was a wooden building, and it was burning so fast when I got my guitar, it started to collapse around me. So I almost lost my life trying to save the guitar,” he told NPR.
“But the next morning, we found that these two guys who was fighting was fighting about a lady. I never did meet the lady, but I learned that her name was Lucille. So I named my guitar Lucille and reminded me not to do a thing like that again.”
5. 74 Billboard-topping songs
King put 74 songs on the Billboard R&B charts between 1951 and 1985. The list includes songs like “You Upset Me Baby,” “You Don’t Know Me,” and “3 O’clock Blues.”
6. Awards
King has won 16 Grammy Awards, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, honorary degrees from Yale and Brown, and the keys to the cities of Utica, N.Y., and Portland, Maine. He’s also received the title of no.6 best guitarist, right above Chuck Berry and under Jeff Beck.
“He plays in shortened bursts, with a richness and robust delivery. And there is a technical dexterity, a cleanly delivered phrasing. This was sophisticated soloing. It’s so identifiable, so clear, it could be written out.”
B.B King was one of the world’s best guitarists and a phenomenal pioneer of not only blues and R&B but rock. He changed the game for every musician after him.
