00:00Riley B. King was born in Ittubena, Mississippi in 1926. King was the son of sharecroppers,
00:14and he moved around Mississippi during his youth and began singing in a gospel choir. King eventually
00:23moved to Memphis, Tennessee. King eventually moved to Memphis, Tennessee, a city where he would begin
00:30to play music professionally and work as a radio DJ. King arrived in Memphis with his cousin,
00:37the country blues guitarist Bucca White, and landed a job as a disc jockey on the Memphis radio station
00:45. It was there that he was coined B.B., a moniker which means Blues Boy. In 1949, King landed a
00:57recording contract with RPM Records. Many of his early recordings were produced by Sam Phillips,
01:04who had later found Sun Records. He also assembled a band which came to be known as the B.B. King
01:12Review. During 1949, King was playing at a honky-tonk when a fire broke out during one of his shows.
01:20As the patrons, musicians, and King himself fled the bar, King realized that he had forgotten his
01:28guitar inside. He battled the flames as he re-entered the burning structure in order to save his forgotten
01:36guitar. He later heard that the fire was caused by a fight in the bar about a girl named Lucille.
01:44King named his guitar after the girl, and Lucille, the guitar, has gone down in history.
01:51By the 1950s, King had become one of the biggest names in the blues, amassing numerous hit recordings
02:00and touring almost constantly. Among his hits during the 1950s were Three O'Clock Blues,
02:08Woke Up This Morning, Please Love Me, and Whole Lotta Love. He gained a reputation as one of the best
02:16guitarists in popular music with his economical style which featured string bending and heavy vibrato.
02:24Every rock guitarist that followed would be influenced directly or indirectly by King's style
02:31of guitar playing. In late 1964, King would perform a show at the Regal Theater in Chicago. The performance
02:40was recorded and the resulting album, Live at the Regal, would be hailed as one of the best live
02:47blues or rock recordings of all time. King had a huge hit in 1970 with the song, The Thrill Is Gone.
02:56The song would appear on both the pop and R&B charts. By 1964, King had signed with ABC Records,
03:04which would be absorbed into MCA Records and then Geffen Records. King passed away at the age of 89
03:12in 1915. In addition to his legendary album, Live at the Regal, Live in Cook County Jail from 1971
03:23is an excellent live album. Completely Well from 1969 and Indianola Mississippi Seeds from 1970 are
03:34outstanding studio albums. Several greatest hits collections are also recommended for King,
03:40especially for his earliest work. Among these albums are The Best of B.B. King from 1973,
03:48The Best of B.B. King Vol. 1 from 1986, The Best of B.B. King Vol. 2 also from 1986,
03:57The Vintage Years from 2002, Original Greatest Hits from 2005, and Gold from 2006.
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