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B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Jimmie Vaughan, Robert Cray, Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Dr. John, and Art Neville have been nominated for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the track "SRV Shuffle" from the album A Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan (Epic Records). Booker T & the MG's, Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, and Edward & Alex Van Halen have also been nominated in the category.
"Stevie Ray Vaughan was a friend and a great musician,
and this is a wonderful honor." B.B. King has previously won
seven Grammy Awards:
1970 - Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance, Male ("The
Thrill is Gone")
1981 - Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording (There
Must Be A Better World Somewhere)
1983 - Best Traditional Blues Recording (Blues and
Jazz)
1985 - Best Traditional Blues Recording ("My Guitar Sings
the Blues," a track from Six Silver Strings)
1990 - Best Traditional Blues Recording (Live at San
Quentin)
1991 - Best Traditional Blues Recording (Live at the
Apollo)
1993 - Best Traditional Blues Recording (Blues Summit)
In addition, King's 1970 album Indianola Mississippi Seeds won the Grammy for Best Album Cover, an art director's Award.
On January 13, 1997, B.B. King received the Living Legend Award at the Fifth Annual Trumpet Awards Dinner presented by the Turner Broadcasting System saluting African American achievement. "In creating the Trumpet Awards," said R.E. Turner, Vice Chairman, Time Warner Inc., "We attempt to increase our understanding of the vast contributions African Americans have made in helping create our society."
"Our honorees are people who embody virtues we can respect, principles we can applaud, and temerity worthy of high regard," added Xernona Clayton, creator and executive producer of the Trumpet Awards event.
The awards show can be seen February 23rd on TNT and heard on Armed Forces Radio.
B.B. King's video Blues Summit won a CableACE Award for Performing Arts Special or Series at the 18th Annual CableACE Awards.
Blues Summit was co-produced by Sidney A. Seidenberg, King's long time manager, and Steve Gallaway of MCA Records.
B.B. King was voted the Best Blues Artist of the Year in 1996 by the International Critics Poll of Downbeat Magazine.
Marking his fifth win in this category (1991 - 1994), dating back to 1970, B.B. King was won 24 Downbeat Awards from both critics and readers with 18 of these dating from 1990 - 1996.
B.B. King has received a nomination for a NAACP Image Award for his Blues Summit CD and video (MCA Records).
The 28th NAACP Image Awards were presented on February 7 and 8, 1997 in Los Angeles.
B.B. King previously won three image awards in 1975, 1981 and 1993.
B.B. King has been nominated for Best Blues Guitarist (Male) in the 1997 Orville H. Gibson Guitar Awards along with Robben Ford and Luther Alison. King won this award in 1996 as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991.
The awards will be presented on February 25 at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York, one day prior to the Grammy Awards.
B.B. King has received three 1996 W.C. Handy Award
(Blues Foundation) nominations:
Blues Entertainer of the Year
Blues Band of the Year (The B.B. King Orchestra)
Reissue of the Year (How Blue Can You Get?)
B.B. King has previously won five W.C. Handy Awards:
1991 - Blues Band of the Year (The B.B. King Orchestra)
1987 - Keeping the Blues Alive (Radio - The B.B. King Blues Hour)
1985 - Hall of Fame Classics of Blues Recordings (Single
recording, including album tracks - "The Thrill Is
Gone")
1983 - Hall of Fame Classics of Blues Recordings (Album - Live
at the Regal)
B.B. King will receive the Pioneer in Music Award from the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB) at its 13th annual Communications Award Dinner at the Sheraton Washington Hotel in Washington D.C. on March 27, 1997. In addition, the NABOB has declared March 24-28th, 1997 as B.B. King Week and has requested that its 200 member affiliates nationwide devote special air-time as a tribute to his musical accomplishments.
"B.B. King's reputation as a 'Live' performer is legendary and without argument, he embodies the essence of 'soul' and sound the Black owned radio stations have always sought to project," said NABOB executive director James L. Winston. "B.B. King has truly influenced generations of singers and musicians throughout the world, not only in blues, but in the development of rock."
The great Mohammed Ali - George Forman fight in Zaire became the "Rumble in the Jungle." A full length motion picture was finally produced from the 1974 event and can now be seen in theatres starting February 14, 1997 in the USA.
B.B. King can be seen performing "Sweet Sixteen" and "I Got Some Help I Don't Need." James Brown, The Spinners, Bill Withers, and the Jazz Crusaders also performed at the concert in Zaire, and the tracks were added for this motion picture and soundtrack (DAS/Mercury Records) by the Fugees, A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes, Forte, Brian McKnight, Diana King, and Zelma Davis.
The world premier of the film will be held at Radio City Music Hall on February 11, 1997 in New York where all of the above named musical talent can be seen along with Mohammed Ali and George Forman.
The film won the 1996 New York and Los Angeles Critics Awards for Best Documentary, a Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and has been named in the 10 best lists of 1996 by Rolling Stone and USA Today.
Stewart Levine was named musical producer in Africa and David Sonnenberg is producer with Scott McKracken as associate producer of the documentary.
The next foreign tour starts February 28, 1997 and continues into March 22, 1997.
The opening date will be in Budapest, Hungary with additional concerts in Germany, Czechoslovakia, Holland, Brussels, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Denmark, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Spain, and Portugal.
Sid Seidenberg, B.B. King's world wide manager says "This adds 2 new countries to King's scope, Estonia & Macedonia and brings the total countries B.B. King has toured to 79."
The American Ambassador of music to the world continues his exposure of American music from the King of the Blues.
Sid Seidenberg announces that all music festivals are now being set by King Road Shows, Inc. in New York. King Road Shows, Inc. is a wholly owned B.B. King corporation administered by Seidenberg.
Dates set include Italy, France, Denmark, Norway, Slovenia, Germany and Austria. There are still dates available for this period, states Seidenberg. For information on how to contact King Road Shows regarding booking dates, please e-mail us at: blues@worldblues.com
