Early years

Born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, just outside of Indianola, Mississippi, King spent much of his childhood sharing time living with his mother, on their farm and his grandmother and working as a sharecropper and hired hand.

Recording years

In 1949, King began recording songs under contract with Los Angeles based RPM Records. Many of King's early recordings were produced by Sam Phillips, who later founded the legendary Sun Records.

Going mainstream

The 1980s, 1990s and 2000s saw King recording less and less, but maintaining a highly visible and active career appearing on numerous television shows, major motion pictures and performing 300 nights a year. In 1988 he reached a new generation of fans via the single "When Love Comes To Town", together with the Irish band U2 on their Rattle and Hum album. In 2000, King teamed up with guitarist Eric Clapton to record Riding With the King.

Trivia

• According to a 2003 listing in Rolling Stone magazine, B.B. King is the greatest living guitarist, and ranked 3rd among the "100 greatest guitarists of all time" (behind late Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman). [3]

• He is mentioned in the Beatles' song "Dig It".

• He has made guest appearances in numerous popular television shows, including "The Cosby Show," "The Young and the Restless," "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," "Sesame Street," and "Married With Children".

• On "Sanford and Son," it was said that Aunt Ester was his love and when she dumped him to marry Woody he left for Los Angeles and started his career. Ester referrs to him as "Reiley" on the show.

• For much of his early career, he was usually seen playing a Gibson ES-355TD-SV guitar. This model was discontinued in 1980, being replaced by a Gibson BB King (Lucille) model, which is still available today.

• B.B. King has also used other guitars, such as a Fender Telecaster, Gibson ES-330, Gibson ES-335, Gibson ES-345, Gibson ES-5, and Gibson ES-175. However, he is not as closely associated with these guitars as he is with the ES-355 and his Lucille signatures, produced by Gibson.

• April 2006: Playing his 10,000th show at his namesake B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in New York City, King's triumph was marked as bitter sweet, having in the previous week experienced the deaths of his son to cancer and 18 year-old great-grandson in a store shooting.

• Each year, during the first week in June, a B.B. King homecoming festival is held in Indianola.

• Although Live at The Regal album is considered to be one of King's best, he himself regards My Kind of Blues as his best work.

• King claims to have had sex before age 10 and purports to have fathered fifteen children, to several different mothers.[4] [5]

As-yet uncategorised recordings

1. Blues Summit; 1993
2. How Blue Can You Get? Live Performances; 1996
3. Deuces Wild; 1997
4. Take it Home; 1998
5. His Best - The Electric B.B. King; 1998
6. Completely Well; 1998
7. Greatest Hits; 1998
8. Blues on the Bayou; 1998
9. Millennium Collection - 20th Century Masters; 1999
10. His Definitive Greatest Hits; app. 1999
11. Live in Japan; 1999
12. Let the Good Times Roll; 1999
13. Makin' Love is Good for You; 2000
14. Anthology; 2000
15. Live at San Quentin (Remastered); 2001
16. Here & There - The Uncollected B.B. King; 2001
17. A Christmas Collection of Hope; 2001
18. Blues is King; 2002
19. Christmas Collection - 20th Century Masters; 2003
20. Reflections; 2003

Videos

Compilations

1. The Electric B.B. King - His Best (1960)
2. Great Moments with B.B. King (1981)
3. The King of the Blues: 1989 (1988)
4. Got My Mojo Working (1989)
5. King of the Blues (Box Set, 1992)
6. Why I Sing the Blues (1992)
7. Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: B.B. King; (2003)
8. Ultimate Collection (2005)

Quotes

• "You have a soul, you have a heart, you have a feeling your music is life. Life as we've lived in the past, life as we're living it today and life as I believe we'll live tomorrow."
• "I think that there's a place for playing the guitar. There's a place for singing the blues."