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B.B. King

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Itta Bena, United States (1925 – present)

Riley B. King aka B. B. King (born September 16th, 1925 in Itta Bena, Mississippi) is a well known American blues guitarist and songwriter. He is among the most respected electric guitarists.

One of King’s trademarks is naming his guitar (Gibson ES335) “Lucille”. In the 1950s in a bar in Twist, Arkansas two men got into a fight, accidentally knocking over a bucket of burning kerosene (used for heating) and setting the establishment on fire. Risking his life, B.B. King ran back into the collapsing building to retrieve his guitar. King later found out that the two men had been fighting over a woman named Lucille. He named his guitar after her to remind himself never to do something so stupid again.

King began broadcasting his music live on a Memphis radio station called WDIA. At first, he used the name The Peptikon Boy on air, which later was changed to The Beale Street Blues Boy, and then further shortened to just Blues Boy or B.B.

King first found success outside of the blues market with the 1969 remake of the Roy Hawkins tune, The Thrill Is Gone, which became a hit on both pop and rhythm and blues charts, a rare feat for an R&B artist to this day. King’s mainstream success continued throughout the 1970s with songs like

To Know You Is To Love You and

I Like To Live The Love. From 1951 to 1985, King appeared on Billboard’s R&B charts an amazing 74 times.

B.B. continues to record to this day, recording both compilations of classic songs with other top artists, and new collaborative material with artists like Eric Clapton.

Tagged as:

blues, guitar, jazz, blues rock, classic rock
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Classics
B.B. King
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Favorites
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King of the Blues Guitar
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Anthology (disc 1)
B.B. King
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Top Tracks

1	The Thrill is Gone full track	2,532
2	Ain't Nobody Home full track	619
3	Paying the Cost to Be the Boss full track	587
4	Sweet Little Angel full track	576
5	Please Love Me full track	550
6	How Blue Can You Get? full track	533
7	Sweet Sixteen full track	494
8	How Blue Can You Get full track	470
8	You Upset Me Baby full track	470
10	Why I Sing the Blues full track	447
11	Lucille full track	382
12	Hummingbird full track	336
13	I Like To Live The Love full track	324
13	Chains And Things full track	324
15	Rock Me Baby full track	321

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cjumbo wrote:
Friday afternoon

the best!

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PanSandro wrote:
last month

Jimi Hendrix at woodstock - http://itditp.my1.ru/news/2008-11-12-148

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pablojca wrote:
last month

;-)

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BluesRok wrote:
last month

At the group Blues Artist of the Week, you can vote for up to 5 artist for the title each week, and play some great blues games! Hope to see you there!

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BionicSuicide wrote:
last month

http://www.last.fm/group/Mila+Kunis

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SamSycamore wrote:
last month

Join The Blues-Rock Group :)

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Summersett wrote:
last month

Saw him live twice...amazing!

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SamSycamore wrote:
last month

Blues-Rock... Join?

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tcourtsforever wrote:
October 2008

He IS awesome; you can't deny.

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bluesscene wrote:
October 2008

Why I sing the Blues, is why I play the blues ;)

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Theeboon wrote:
October 2008

Sheer genius. 83 and still belting out the blues like a sad panda.

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SeanMcMeekin wrote:
October 2008

new album is great. one of his best.

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Weslii wrote:
October 2008

I'm really addicted to "Making love is good for you" The song and the album.

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Cybershots wrote:
October 2008

He did me one kind favor. making new album.

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Sunzy wrote:
October 2008

I just discovered him because of his new album One Kind Favor. Really good

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dancingfool wrote:
October 2008

it don' get much better then this.

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Saturnlane wrote:
October 2008

Come and join www.last.fm/group/Soul-Funk-Blues-Jazz+and+Psychedelic+Grooves and groove to the music of the soul.

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mclarge wrote:
September 2008

absolute pro.

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athaiya wrote:
September 2008

he is amazing!

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artutabr wrote:
September 2008

i love the cover for his new album. B.B. King Genius :D

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Events

Nov 29 B.B. King House of Blues, Atlantic City, NJ, United States
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Nov 30 B.B. King Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States
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Dec 4 B.B. King Wellmont Theatre, New York, United States
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