B.B. King | A Greatest Singer
Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American bluessinger, electric guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. King introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending and shimmering vibrato that influenced many later electric blues guitarists,More info:wiki
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#10 Last Goodbye to B.B. King,More info:jazzfest.ba
“King of blues”, guitarist and singer B.B. King died at age 89 in his sleep at home in Las Vegas.
Due to diabetes caused health issues, King was hospitalised several times since last October when a part of his American tour had to be canceled. In recent years this artist played 100 concerts a year and in past years this number used to rise up to 300. It is assumed that B.B. King has played more then 10.000 concerts since the 1940’s when he started performing.
He was born in 1925 in Mississippi as Riley B. King, he was awarded 15 Grammys and five honorary doctorate titles by five respected American educational institutions like Berklee, Yale and Brown University.
King is considered one of greatest guitarists of all times. His hit singles have been evergreens for decades, influencing various generations of musicians. He recorded more then 50 albums, sold millions of records and with Lucile, his guitar, he made songs from Every Day I Have the Blues to When Love Comes to Town or The Thrill is Gone.
An exceptional documentary about his life was released three years ago for which King collaborated closely with the director Jon Brewer for two years. He thought it was the right time to tell his, until then, untold story, in the movie The Life of Riley, B.B. King with his family, friends and contemporaries revealing details from the life of the great artist, narrated by actor Morgan Freeman.
#9 GRAMMY Award Results for B.B. King,More info:grammy
#8 I think that there’s a place for playing the guitar. There’s a place for singing the blues,More info:achievement
Riley B. King was born to a family of poor sharecroppers on a plantation near the small town of Itta Bena in the Mississippi Delta. King’s parents separated when he was only five and his mother took him to live in the nearby hill country in Kilmichael, Mississippi. By age seven he was doing the work of a grown man in the field. He was only nine when his mother died. He found inspiration in the music of the African American church. He dreamed of becoming a gospel singer and learned the rudiments of guitar from his preacher. He arranged with his employer to acquire his first guitar and taught himself further with mail-order instruction books.
In his teens, he dropped out of school and returned to the Delta, where he drove a tractor on a large plantation. On his off hours, he sang for small change on street corners in the nearby towns, sometimes visiting as many as four towns in a single evening. He also joined small gospel groups and urged the other singers to join him in leaving the plantation life for the opportunities of the city. In the end, he made the decision to go on his own, and hitchhiked to Memphis with $2.50 in his pocket. To a farm boy, the city was an intimidating sight, but he was able to stay for a time with his cousin, the well-known bluesman Bukka White, who helped him find his way in the city’s music circles.
#7 B.B. King,More info:garfield.wikia
#6 B.B. King on Gratitude,More info:biography
#5 B.B. King’s executor denies she poisoned the late bluesman to get his money,More info:ew
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Just days after blues legend B.B. King was laid to rest near his birthplace in the Mississippi Delta, a battle over his estate is moving from the headlines to the courthouse in Las Vegas.
Attorneys for King’s designated executor, LaVerne Toney, have filed documents in a Nevada court to fend off allegations that King family members were kept away in his dying days, that he was mistreated medically, and that his money was siphoned off before he died May 14 at his Las Vegas home at age 89.
#4 Blues Legend B.B. King Dies at 89,More info:variety
Singer-guitarist B.B. King, the “King of the Blues” who helped define his genre’s electrified postwar sound and became the music’s best-known international ambassador, has died. He was 89. His attorney said he died Thursday in Las Vegas.
He had announced on May 1 that he had entered hospice care after being in poor health for some time.
President Barack Obama offered his condolences on Friday.
“The blues has lost its king, and America has lost a legend,” President Obama said. “B.B. King was born a sharecropper’s son in Mississippi, came of age in Memphis, Tennessee, and became the ambassador who brought his all-American music to his country and the world. No one worked harder than B.B. No one inspired more up-and-coming artists. No one did more to spread the gospel of the blues.”
#3 B.B. King’s legacy celebrated on what would have been his 90th birthday,More info:vox
#2 Chicago blues community remembers B.B. King,More info:chicagotribune
#1 BB King: Eight facts about the late blues guitar legend,More info:independent
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