Free Essays,College Free Essays,Free College Essays at Anti Essays

Riley King, aka B.B. has thrilled audiences for the later part of a century. Embargoing on is trip with only his guitar B.B. dazzled fans on street corners playing for mere dimes, dreaming of one day making it big, and that day came years down the road and he continues to amaze us now. He has been one of the most influential people in the blues music industry, and has given them a name that will live on long after him.
Riley was born on September 16, 1925, on a plantation in Mississippi. Living an unstable life Riley always envisioned more. The tribulations that B.B. faced would be detrimental to most people, but B.B. said what he went through was only as bad as he let it be. Growing up, B.B. was introduced to Christianity by his mother, and he learned gospel music, and started his guitar career at church after a minister taught him a few different things.
With only $2.50 in his pockets Riley began his musical adventure, leaving Mississippi for Memphis Tennessee. By the time Riley made it to Memphis he was broke, but was taken in by his cousin. B.B. had his first big break in 1948 when he played live on the radio. The successful radio debut led to a long-term agreement with WDIA (one of the country's first all-black radio stations), where King performed weekly. He was soon promoted to DJ, and became known as the Beale Street Blues Boy, later changed to "Blues Boy King" and shortened to B.B. King.
B.B. did his first recordings in 1949, and the recording label was Modern Records, he agreed to terms of a ten year contract, and in 1949 put out six records alone. In a nightclub that B.B. was playing at caught fire, and B.B. rushed in to save his Gibson guitar. Later he found out that a lantern had fallen over due to two men fighting over a girl named Lucille, and this is how all of B.B.’s guitars have received the name.
“In a career spanning six decades, King has earned countless honors, including 18 Grammy Awards,...