B. B. KING
(born Riley B. King, September 16, 1925,
Indianola, Mississippi)
Since the late 1960s,
when rock and pop audiences discovered him and his
refined, majestic brand of the blues, guitarist and
singer B. B. King has been the music's most successful
concert artist and its most consistently recognized
ambassador.
He has been bestowed with more awards and honorary
degrees than any other blues man and has made the
cause of preserving the blues his lifetime work.
Almost single-handedly, he brought the blues out from
the fringe of the American music spectrum and into its
mainstream.
Thanks to King, blues is now performed in the most
prestigious venues and in front of audiences whose
introduction to the blues often stems back to the
first time they heard a B. B. King record.
King has also had a profound effect on the inner
workings of rock & roll. Few, if any, blues
men have exerted more influence on rock guitarists
than King. Greats such as Eric Clapton, Jeff
Beck, and Jimmy Page, along with Johnny Winter, Billy
Gibbons, and Stevie Ray Vaughan were all touched by
King to some degree.
As for blues guitarists, virtually every major
stylist from the postwar period has, in some capacity,
been influenced by the King style. A member of
the Blues Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of
Fame, B. B. King has continued to be a vital performer
and prolific recording artist despite advancing age
and health problems.
His graciousness and articulation, especially when
discussing the meaning and significance of the blues,
have done much to build respect for the music and its
culture.
Robert
Santelli
-- The Big Book of Blues: A
Biographical Encyclopedia
B.
B. KING .COM
