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B.B. King Blues Summit Concert Video (10/1/95)
As a companion to his Grammy Award winning Album, Blues Summit (MCA), B.B. King's Blues Summit Concert (MCA Music Video) has been released. Recorded live at B.B. King's Blues Club in 1993, the video features Ruth Brown, Robert Cray, Albert Collins, Lowell Fulsom, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Irma Thomas, and Joe Louis Walker. Instead of a duplicate of the album though, the video contains some different selections. On the video, King and Ruth Brown duet on "Ain't Nobody's Business," on the album, the selection, "You're the Boss." Similarly, King and Buddy Guy cover "I Can't Quit You Baby" on the video while "I Pity the Fool" is on the CD. On the other hand, King and Robert Cray can be heard live on "Playin' With My Friends" on the video and in the studio on the CD with the same song. Likewise, King and the late Albert Collins can be heard on both configurations on "Call It Stormy Monday." In addition, King performs "Three O'Clock Blues," "The Thrill is Gone," and "Tribute to Miles, Stevie, Ray, and Albert" on the video--selections that are not on the CD. The Blues Summit was awarded the Grammy award in 1993 for Best Traditional Blues Recording, marking King's seventh Grammy Award.
Avon Books' senior vice president and publisher, Lou Aronica, announces the second major non-fiction hard/soft acquisition for the company's new hardcover publishing program, the as yet untitled autobiography of B.B. King, co-authored by prestigious music writer, David Ritz, author of Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye. "People love B.B. King," says Aronica. "The notion of B.B. King and David Ritz teaming up was so exciting that we bought the book based upon a conversation. I can't wait to read this. Through B.B. King's eyes we'll get the entire modern history of blues and, literally, the full history of rock and roll."
Mel Berger of the William Morris Agency negotiated the hard/soft deal which included U.S. and Canadian volume rights. Known around the world as the "King of the Blues," singer and guitarist B.B. King is considered a master of the electric blues guitar, playing with an aggression and barely controlled tension that are his trademarks. He is acknowledged not just for his enormous contributions in the world of blues music, but as a major influence on the development of rock. From his start in the music business in 1946, his years as a disc jockey and singing in local clubs using the stage name "Blues Boy," to cutting his first record in 1949, the release of The Thrill is Gone (his biggest hit to date), touring with the Rolling Stones, and his Las Vegas performances, B.B. King has indeed earned his place among music's royalty and in the newly opened Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The autobiography will be B.B.'s full life story, from his birth in the heart of the Mississippi Delta to international acclaim. Family life, working on a plantation, musical influences, life on the road, the B.B. King Band, playing the segregated clubs of the south, his discovery by "mainstream" audiences, and his commitment to the music he loves, unfold against the broad spectrum of people he has met and worked with and the backdrop of the times in which he has lived. The people, including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Robert Cray, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt, Frank Sinatra, the Rolling Stones, and U2, are amazing, and his career spans the creativity, turbulence, and excitement of a half-century of musical evolution. The B.B. King biography is tentatively scheduled to be published in the fall of 1996.
In commercials for the second year in a row, King is appearing in spots for Northwest Airlines. He appears with Diane Schuur, with whom King recorded the recent number one jazz album, Heart to Heart (GRP/MCA). King can also be seen in major media newspapers and magazines in Northwest Airlines ads featuring King and Schuur. King was also selected by Dave Thomas, owner of Wendy's, to be in the nationally-aired television and radio commercials for Wendy's Smoky Bacon Cheeseburgers.
B.B. King was also selected to be in a commercial introducing the new blue M&M's candy. In an animated spot which debuted nationally during the MTV Video Music Awards, the blue M&M is joined by the jealous red and yellow M&M's. Budweiser continues with their use of B.B. King's "Paying the Cost to be the Boss" in their current radio campaign.
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Last update on 6/9/96 ...
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