Surely the most
influential guitarist of our time, B.B. has had a major impact on
the development of modern blues and rock & roll music.
Although he was a well known star on the "chitlin
circuit" during the 1950's and 60's, B.B. King was
relatively unknown to Middle America until the late 1960's. B.B.
broke through the barriers of race and national boundaries when
he recorded an adaptation of the Roy Hawkins'song, "The
Thrill Is Gone." The song shot up to #15 on the Pop charts
and topped out at #3 on the R&B charts in 1970, leading to
the solidification of B.B. King as the premier blues artist of
our time. Listen to a WAV file sample of the song,
"The
Thrill Is Gone" - from Live At the
Apollo, (254 K, 23 sec.) Copyright ©, GRP Records,
1991.
B.B. King has also been referred to as "The Ambassador of the Blues" - he is constantly on the road, performing more than 250 shows per year. In 1956, B.B. King performed 342 one night stands! His travels have taken him all over the world. B.B. has performed in the former U.S.S.R in 1979, and at the opening of the Hard Rock Cafe in Beijing, China.
From his humble beginnings as a sharecropping farmer, to
his rise to musical stardom, these pages will take you on a
cyberspace exploration into the life and times of the man known
as the "King of the Blues."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[ Begin | Young | Stardom | Lucille | Accomplish
| Discography | Links | Musician | Influence]
Click Here to view our photos from the 1996 Chicago
Blues Festival
Look for the CDand speaker
symbols to download music and voice WAV file audio
samples. All thumbnail GIF images can be downloaded in their
unmodified JPEG format by clicking on them. We ask that you do
not distribute any of the text, image or audio samples without
permission from the owners. The authors of these pages have done
this work purely out of our admiration and respect for B.B. King.
We hope you enjoy our efforts!
Text copyright ©, 1996, 1997 by Jim Kerekes & Dennis O'Neill
Number of visitors since March 5, 1996:
Last update on 1/3/97 ...
JD Version 2.4.0.0
