In his youth he played on street corners for dimes and pennies! He was born on September 16, 1925, on a plantation in Itta Bena, Mississippi, near Indianola. He spent his youth playing on street corners for dimes. Today, BB King (Riley B. King) has an average of 250 ‘packed to the brim’ concerts around the world every year.
In 1947, he hitchhiked to Memphis, Tennessee to pursue his music career and is his first love. Her first big break came in 1948 when she performed on the Sonny Boy Williamson radio broadcast. Over the years, King has developed one of the most identifiable guitar styles in the world.
He borrowed from Blind Lemon Jefferson, T-Bone Walker and others, incorporating their distinct and complex blends of voice-like strings and left-handed vibrato, both of which have become vital components of a blues guitarist’s vocabulary. His economy, his phrasing where every note counts, has been a model for thousands of players, from Eric Clapton and George Harrison to Jeff Beck.
In the mid-1950s, two men got into a fight during one of King’s performances. The men knocked over a kerosene stove and set fire to the place. King ran outside to safety and then realized that he had left his beloved acoustic guitar behind. He rushed back to retrieve it and nearly lost his life. He later found out that the fight had been over a woman.
He named his guitar Lucille to remind him never to do something crazy like fight over a woman. Since then, each of King’s guitars has been named Lucille. Does your guitar have a name?