B.B. King

B. B. King, nome d'arte di Riley B. King (Itta Bena, 16 settembre 1925 – Las Vegas, 14 maggio 2015), è stato un chitarrista e cantante statunitense.
Con una lunghissima carriera, è stato uno dei più importanti esponenti del blues della seconda parte del XX secolo e del XXI. Con la sua "Lucille", una chitarra Gibson ES-355 custom, è diventato un'icona stessa del genere musicale già a partire dagli anni cinquanta.
Ha vinto 14 volte il Grammy. Nella rivista Rolling Stone è posto come sesto miglior chitarrista di tutti i tempi (Lista dei 100 migliori chitarristi secondo Rolling Stone). Il suo stile è caratterizzato da suoni caldi e incisivi, che danno vita al blues elegante che lo ha contraddistinto per tutta la sua carriera. Il suo stile chitarristico è caratterizzato solo da parti soliste che si alternano al canto, senza quasi mai sfociare in parti di accompagnamento, se non per altri musicisti.

Biografia

King è nato a Itta Bena il 16 settembre 1925 ed è morto a Las Vegas il 14 maggio 2015. King passò molta della sua infanzia vivendo con la madre e la nonna, lavorando come contadino. King ha detto che veniva pagato 35 centesimi per ogni 100 libbre (45 kg) di cotone che raccoglieva, prima di scoprire il suo talento. Da giovane, si appassionò ai cantanti neri come T-Bone Walker e Lonnie Johnson e artisti jazz come Charlie Christian e Django Reinhardt. Presto incominciò a esercitarsi cantando musica gospel in chiesa.
Nel 1943 King si trasferì a Indianola e tre anni dopo a Memphis, dove affinò la sua tecnica di chitarrista con l'aiuto del cugino, il chitarrista country blues Bukka White.
Alla fine, King incominciò a trasmettere la sua musica dal vivo sulla radio di Memphis WDIA come disc-jokey, una stazione che aveva da poco cambiato la propria programmazione per trasmettere soltanto musica nera, cosa estremamente rara all'epoca. Alla radio King incominciò ad usare il nome The Pepticon Boy, che più tardi divenne The Blues Boy from Beale Street (il ragazzo del blues di Beale Street) o più semplicemente The Beale Street Blues Boy: il nome fu poi abbreviato a Blues Boy e, infine, a B.B.
Nel 1949 King cominciò a registrare canzoni per la RPM Records di Los Angeles. Gran parte delle sue prime registrazioni furono prodotte da Sam Phillips che poi avrebbe fondato la leggendaria Sun Records.
Negli anni cinquanta King divenne uno degli esponenti principali del panorama R&B collezionando una lunga lista di hits tra i quali You Know I Love You, Woke Up This Morning, Please Love Me, When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer, Whole Lotta' Love, You Upset Me Baby, Every Day I Have the Blues, Sneakin' Around, Ten Long Years, Bad Luck, Sweet Little Angel, On My Word of Honor, e Please Accept My Love. Nel 1962 King firmò per la ABC-Paramount Records.
Nel novembre del 1964 King registrò al Regal Theater di Chicago l'album Live at the Regal che sarebbe ben presto entrato nella leggenda.
Il primo successo di King al di fuori del mercato blues fu una riedizione di The Thrill Is Gone di Roy Hawkins che nel 1969 scalò le classifiche sia pop che R&B, evento molto raro anche nel ventunesimo secolo e vinse il Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. L'elenco dei successi di King continuò per tutti gli anni settanta con canzoni quali To Know You Is to Love You e I Like to Live the Love. Dal 1951 al 1985 King è apparso sulle classifiche R&B di Billboard ben 74 volte. Nel 1986 vince il Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album con My Guitar Sings the Blues.
Nei decenni successivi King ha registrato sempre meno senza perdere in popolarità grazie alla partecipazione a film e show televisivi (tra cui una puntata de I Robinson dove interpreta se stesso) e tenendo annualmente circa 300 serate. Nel 1988 ha conquistato una nuova generazione di fan grazie al singolo When Love Comes to Town, suonata insieme agli U2. Nel 2000 ha invece registrato Riding with the King in coppia con Eric Clapton.
Nella sua carriera ha suonato insieme a moltissimi artisti e gruppi, tra cui Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, David Gilmour, Steve Winwood, Muddy Waters, Paul Butterfield, Luciano Pavarotti, Richie Sambora, Phil Collins, Billy Ocean, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Etta James, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan, James Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Ray Charles, Albert King, Gary Moore, Diane Shuur, Slash, U2, John Mayer, Jeff Beck, Gloria Estefan, Roger Daltrey, Bobby Bland, Zucchero, Tracy Chapman, Sheryl Crow, Billy Preston, Elton John, Mark Knopfler, Van Morrison, Billy Gibbons, Willie Nelson, Brad Paisley e Aretha Franklin e la sua partecipazione, nel 1990, al Pistoia Blues con Jeff Healey ed Edoardo Bennato dove interpretano alcuni brani tra cui quello di Edoardo, Signor censore. Singolare è inoltre una sua esibizione insieme all'attore Bruce Willis, suo grandissimo fan, e Anthony Jacobson, amico d'infanzia.
È indubbio che King sia stato fonte di ispirazione per moltissimi musicisti, da almeno cinquant'anni, e che la sua fama nel mondo musicale non sia diminuita.
Nel 2004 King è stato insignito di una laurea ad honorem presso la Università del Mississippi.
Nel 2005 per festeggiare i suoi 80 anni, pubblica un album pieno di ospiti illustri: Van Morrison, Billy Gibbons, Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, Darryl Hall & John Oates, John Mayer, Mark Knopfler, Glenn Frey, Gloria Estefan, Roger Daltrey, Bobby Bland ed Elton John.
King ha inoltre donato la sua grande collezione blues all'Ole Miss Center for Southern Studies.
B.B. King è morto all'età di 89 anni, nel sonno, durante la notte fra il 14 e il 15 maggio 2015 nella sua casa di Las Vegas, per le conseguenze del diabete del quale soffriva da anni. I funerali si sono svolti il 31 maggio presso la Bell Grove Missionary Baptist Church di Indianola, in Mississippi, alla presenza di centinaia e centinaia di persone.

King e la chitarra

Nell'inverno del 1949, King stava suonando in una sala da ballo nell'Arkansas. Per riscaldare il locale era stato acceso un barile contenente del kerosene, una pratica non troppo insolita. Due uomini incominciarono a litigare, facendo cadere il barile contenente il kerosene infuocato sul pavimento. Questo scatenò un incendio e conseguente evacuazione. Una volta fuori, King si rese conto di aver lasciato la sua chitarra (una Gibson semi acustica) nell'edificio in fiamme e rientrò per recuperarla. Il giorno dopo, King scoprì che i due uomini avevano combattuto per una donna chiamata Lucille e decise di chiamare Lucille la sua prima chitarra, così come tutte le chitarre che ha posseduto da quell'esperienza quasi fatale, per ricordarsi di non fare mai più una cosa del genere. Altra versione invece vuole che, saputo il nome, avesse detto «per colpa di Lucille a momenti ci rimetto la vita» creando poi un doppio senso tra la ragazza e la chitarra.
In particolare, Lucille è una Gibson Custom Shop basata sul modello ES-355 (nella sua carriera ha suonato anche ES-175, ES-330, ES-345 ma è del 355 che ha fatto il suo marchio), una chitarra nera semiacustica prodotta appositamente per B.B. King e costruita secondo le sue specifiche. Come altre 355, Lucille ha il Vari-tone, un selettore rotativo che interviene inserendo diverse combinazioni R/C per dare diversi tagli al suono proveniente dai pickup; di fatto si va da un suono gonfio e rotondo fino al suono più fine e sottile adatto al funky. A differenza delle normali ES-355, non ha le buche a effe pur essendo semiacustica, e ha il manico di acero anziché mogano.

Curiosità

È considerato l'iniziatore della tecnica del "vibrato" per cui il dito compie piccoli movimenti "incrociando" la corda anziché seguirne la lunghezza; tale tecnica è definita "hummingbird" (colibrì), appunto dal movimento eseguito dalla mano sulla tastiera.
Era nipote, per parte di madre, del campione del mondo dei pesi massimi Sonny Liston.
È apparso in una puntata della serie TV I Robinson nel ruolo di Riley Jackson.
Nel 1993 apparve in un cameo musicale nel film 4 fantasmi per un sogno, interpretando se stesso.
Nel 1998 recita nel film Blues Brothers: Il mito continua, interpretando Malvern Gasperon, un rivenditore di auto usate, dal quale Elwood Blues acquista la Blues Mobile per 500 dollari. Nella "battaglia delle bande" finale il sig. Gasperon si scoprirà essere il leader dei Louisiana Gator Boys, la band immaginaria formata, tra gli altri, da Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood e Jimmie Vaughan.
È fra i coristi di See You Later, Alligator, famosa canzone di successo interpretata dall'amico Bill Haley.

B. B. King, pseudonimo di Riley B. King (1925 – 2015), chitarrista statunitense.

Ricordo Elvis quando era un ragazzo ai Sun Studios. Ho pensato subito che avesse un tremendo talento... Il suo fraseggio, il suo approccio alle canzoni era unico... come Sinatra. Io ero un grandissimo fan e, quando era in vita, pensavo che la sua inventiva non avesse fine. ^Fonte?

Citazioni su B.B. King

Il musicista blues spesso enfatizza la sua esistenza di essere trattato come il capo famiglia e gli sforzi che gli tocca fare per provvedere al denaro. ("Paiyng The Cost To Be The Boss") di B.B. King è solo uno dei validi esempi di questo genere di canzoni). (Charles Shaar Murray)

Photograph of B.B. King in Ann Arbor, c. 1972

Unidentified (Michiganensian is the University of Michigan yearbook published by University of Michigan) - 1972 Michiganensian, p. 190

Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer, electric guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. King introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending and shimmering vibrato that influenced many later electric blues guitarists.
King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, and is considered one of the most influential blues musicians of all time, earning the nickname "The King of the Blues", and one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" along with Albert King and Freddie King. King was known for performing tirelessly throughout his musical career, appearing at more than 200 concerts per year on average into his 70s. In 1956 alone, he reportedly appeared at 342 shows.
King was born on a cotton plantation in Berclair, Mississippi, and later worked at a cotton gin in Indianola, Mississippi. He was attracted to music and the guitar in church, and began his performance career in juke joints and local radio. He later lived in Memphis, Tennessee, and Chicago, and toured the world extensively. King died at the age of 89 in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 14, 2015, from congestive heart failure and complications from diabetes.

Early life

Riley B. King was born on September 16, 1925, on a cotton plantation called Berclair, near the town of Itta Bena, Mississippi, the son of sharecroppers Albert and Nora Ella King. He considered the nearby city of Indianola, Mississippi to be his home. When Riley was four years old, his mother left his father for another man, so he was raised by his maternal grandmother, Elnora Farr, in Kilmichael, Mississippi.
While young, King sang in the gospel choir at Elkhorn Baptist Church in Kilmichael. King was attracted to the Pentecostal Church of God in Christ because of its music. The local minister led worship with a Sears Roebuck Silvertone guitar. The minister taught King his first three chords. It seems that at the age of 12 he purchased his first guitar for $15.00, although another source indicates he was given his first guitar by Bukka White, his mother's first cousin (King's grandmother and White's mother were sisters).
In November 1941 "King Biscuit Time" first aired, broadcasting on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas. It was a radio show featuring the Mississippi Delta blues. King listened to it while on break at a plantation. A self-taught guitarist, he then wanted to become a radio musician.
In 1943, King left Kilmichael to work as a tractor driver and play guitar with the Famous St. John's Quartet of Inverness, Mississippi, performing at area churches and on WGRM in Greenwood, Mississippi.
In 1946, King followed Bukka White to Memphis, Tennessee. White took him in for the next ten months. However, King returned to Mississippi shortly afterward, where he decided to prepare himself better for the next visit, and returned to West Memphis, Arkansas, two years later in 1948. He performed on Sonny Boy Williamson's radio program on KWEM in West Memphis, where he began to develop an audience. King's appearances led to steady engagements at the Sixteenth Avenue Grill in West Memphis and later to a ten-minute spot on the Memphis radio station WDIA. The radio spot became so popular that it was expanded and became the Sepia Swing Club.
Initially he worked at WDIA as a singer and disc jockey, gaining the nickname "Beale Street Blues Boy", which was later shortened to "Blues Boy" and finally to B.B. It was there that he first met T-Bone Walker. King said, "Once I'd heard him for the first time, I knew I'd have to have [an electric guitar] myself. 'Had' to have one, short of stealing!"

Career

1949–2005

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 Sun Records. Before his RPM contract, King had debuted on Bullet Records by issuing the single "Miss Martha King" (1949), which did not chart well. "My very first recordings [in 1949] were for a company out of Nashville called Bullet, the Bullet Record Transcription company," King recalled. "I had horns that very first session. I had Phineas Newborn on piano; his father played drums, and his brother, Calvin, played guitar with me. I had Tuff Green on bass, Ben Branch on tenor sax, his brother, Thomas Branch, on trumpet, and a lady trombone player. The Newborn family were the house band at the famous Plantation Inn in West Memphis."
King assembled his own band; the B.B. King Review, under the leadership of Millard Lee. The band initially consisted of Calvin Owens and Kenneth Sands (trumpet), Lawrence Burdin (alto saxophone), George Coleman (tenor saxophone),Floyd Newman (baritone saxophone), Millard Lee (piano), George Joyner (bass) and Earl Forest and Ted Curry (drums). Onzie Horne was a trained musician elicited as an arranger to assist King with his compositions. By his own admission, King could not play chords well and always relied on improvisation.
King's recording contract was followed by tours across the United States, with performances in major theaters in cities such as Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, and St. Louis, as well as numerous gigs in small clubs and juke joints of the southern United States. During one show in Twist, Arkansas, a brawl broke out between two men and caused a fire. He evacuated along with the rest of the crowd but went back to retrieve his guitar. He said he later found out that the two men were fighting over a woman named Lucille. He named the guitar Lucille, as a reminder not to fight over women or run into any more burning buildings.
Following his first Billboard Rhythm and Blues chart number one, "3 O'Clock Blues" (February 1952), B.B. King became one of the most important names in R&B music in the 1950s, amassing an impressive list of hits including "You Know I Love You", "Woke Up This Morning", "Please Love Me", "When My Heart Beats like a Hammer", "Whole Lotta Love", "You Upset Me Baby", "Every Day I Have the Blues", "Sneakin' Around", "Ten Long Years", "Bad Luck", "Sweet Little Angel", "On My Word of Honor", and "Please Accept My Love". This led to a significant increase in his weekly earnings, from about $85 to $2,500, with appearances at major venues such as the Howard Theater in Washington and the Apollo in New York, as well as touring the entire "Chitlin' circuit". 1956 became a record-breaking year, with 342 concerts booked and three recording sessions. That same year he founded his own record label, Blues Boys Kingdom, with headquarters at Beale Street in Memphis. There, among other projects, he produced artists such as Millard Lee and Levi Seabury. In 1962, King signed to ABC-Paramount Records, which was later absorbed into MCA Records, and which itself was later absorbed into Geffen Records. In November 1964, King recorded the Live at the Regal album at the Regal Theater. King later said that Regal Live "is considered by some the best recording I've ever had . . . that particular day in Chicago everything came together . . ."
From the late 1960s, new manager Sid Seidenberg pushed King into a different type of venue as blues-rock performers like Eric Clapton, once a member of The Yardbirds as well as Cream, and Paul Butterfield were popularizing an appreciation of blues music among white audiences.
King gained further visibility among rock audiences as an opening act on the Rolling Stones' 1969 American Tour. He won a 1970 Grammy Award for the song "The Thrill Is Gone"; his version became a hit on both the pop and R&B charts. It also gained the number 183 spot in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
King was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, and the Official Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2004, he was awarded the international Polar Music Prize, given to artists "in recognition of exceptional achievements in the creation and advancement of music."
From the 1980s to his death in 2015, he maintained a highly visible and active career, appearing on numerous television shows and performing 300 nights a year. In 1988, King reached a new generation of fans with the single "When Love Comes to Town", a collaborative effort between King and the Irish band U2 on their Rattle and Hum album. In December 1997, he performed in the Vatican's fifth annual Christmas concert and presented his trademark guitar "Lucille" to Pope John Paul II. In 1998, he appeared in The Blues Brothers 2000, playing the part of the lead singer of the Louisiana Gator Boys, along with Eric Clapton, Dr. John, Koko Taylor and Bo Diddley. In 2000, he and Clapton teamed up again to record Riding With the King, which won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album.
Discussing where he took the Blues, from "dirt floor, smoke in the air" joints to grand concert halls, King said the Blues belonged everywhere beautiful music belonged. He successfully worked both sides of the commercial divide, with sophisticated recordings and "raw, raucous" live performance.

2006–2014: farewell tour and later activities

In 2006, King went on a "farewell" world tour, although he remained active afterward during the last years of his life. The tour was partly supported by Northern Irish guitarist Gary Moore, with whom King had previously toured and recorded, including the song "Since I Met You Baby". It started in the United Kingdom, and continued with performances in the Montreux Jazz Festival and in Zürich at the Blues at Sunset. During his show in Montreux at the Stravinski Hall he jammed with Joe Sample, Randy Crawford, David Sanborn, Gladys Knight, Leela James, Andre Beeka, Earl Thomas, Stanley Clarke, John McLaughlin, Barbara Hendricks and George Duke.

In June 2006, King was present at a memorial of his first radio broadcast at the Three Deuces Building in Greenwood, Mississippi, where an official marker of the Mississippi Blues Trail was erected. The same month, a groundbreaking was held for a new museum, dedicated to King, in Indianola, Mississippi. The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center opened on September 13, 2008.
In late October 2006, King recorded a concert album and video entitled B.B. King: Live at his B.B. King Blues Clubs in Nashville and Memphis. The four-night production featured his regular B.B. King Blues Band and captured his show as he performed it nightly around the world. Released in 2008, it was his first live performance recording in over a decade.
In 2007, King played at Eric Clapton's second Crossroads Guitar Festival and contributed the songs "Goin' Home", to Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino (with Ivan Neville's DumpstaPhunk) and "One Shoe Blues" to Sandra Boynton's children's album Blue Moo, accompanied by a pair of sock puppets in a music video for the song.
In the summer of 2008, King played at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, where he was given a key to the city. Also in 2008, he was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame.
King performed at the Mawazine festival in Rabat, Morocco, on May 27, 2010. In June 2010, King performed at the Crossroads Guitar Festival with Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughan, and Eric Clapton. He also contributed to Cyndi Lauper's album Memphis Blues, which was released on June 22, 2010.

In 2011, King played at the Glastonbury Music Festival, and in the Royal Albert Hall in London, where he recorded a concert video.
Rolling Stone ranked King at No. 6 on its 2011 list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.
On February 21, 2012, King was among the performers of "In Performance at the White House: Red, White and Blues", during which President Barack Obama sang part of "Sweet Home Chicago". King recorded for the debut album of rapper and producer Big K.R.I.T., who also hails from Mississippi. On July 5, 2012, King performed a concert at the Byblos International Festival in Lebanon.
On May 26, 2013, King appeared at the New Orleans Jazz Festival.
On October 3, 2014, after completing his live performance at the House of Blues in Chicago, a doctor diagnosed King with dehydration and exhaustion, and the eight remaining shows of his ongoing tour had to be cancelled. King didn't schedule any additional shows for the remainder of the year.

When I sing, I play in my mind; the minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille.

“

”

Equipment

B.B. King used simple equipment. He played guitars made by various manufacturers early in his career: he played a Fender Esquire on most of his recordings with RPM Records (USA). However, he was best known for playing variants of the Gibson ES-355. In 1980, Gibson Guitar Corporation launched the B.B. King Lucille model. In 2005, Gibson made a special run of 80 Gibson Lucilles, referred to as the "80th Birthday Lucille", the first prototype of which was given as a birthday gift to King, and which he used thereafter.
King used a Lab Series L5 2×12" combo amplifier and had been using this amplifier for a long time. It was made by Norlin Industries for Gibson in the 1970s and 1980s. Other popular L5 users are Allan Holdsworth and Ty Tabor of King's X. The L5 has an onboard compressor, parametric equalization, and four inputs. King also used a Fender Twin Reverb.
He used his signature model strings "Gibson SEG-BBS B.B. King Signature Electric Guitar Strings" with gauges: 10–13–17p–32w–45w–54w and D'Andrea 351 MD SHL CX (Medium 0.71mm, Tortoise Shell, Celluloid) Picks.

B.B. King's Blues Club

In 1991, Beale Street developer John Elkington recruited B.B. King to Memphis to open the original B.B. King's Blues Club, and in 1994, a second club was launched at Universal Citywalk in Los Angeles. A third club in New York City's Times Square opened in June 2000. Two further clubs opened at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut in January 2002 and another in Nashville in 2003. Another club opened in Orlando in 2007. A club in West Palm Beach opened in the fall of 2009 and an additional one, based in the Mirage Hotel, Las Vegas, opened in the winter of 2009.

Television and other appearances

King made guest appearances in numerous popular television shows, including The Cosby Show, The Young and the Restless, General Hospital, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Sesame Street, Married... with Children, Sanford and Son, and Touched by an Angel.
In 2000, the children's show Between The Lions featured a singing character named "B.B. the King Of Beasts", modeled on the real King.
B.B. King: The Life of Riley, a feature documentary about King narrated by Morgan Freeman and directed by Jon Brewer was released on October 15, 2012.

Commercials

King, who was diabetic, appeared in several television commercials for OneTouch Ultra, a blood glucose monitoring device, in the 2000s and early 2010s. He appeared in 1995 in a McDonalds commercial with Australian guitarist Nathan Cavaleri, and then in a commercial for the Toyota Camry with his guitar Lucille.

Personal life

King was married twice, to Martha Lee Denton, November 1946 to 1952, and to Sue Carol Hall, 1958 to 1966. The failure of both marriages has been attributed to the heavy demands made by King's 250 performances a year. It is reported that he fathered 15 children with several different women. After his death, three more have come forward, claiming King as their father as well. Though neither of his marriages produced children, and biographer Charles Sawyer wrote that doctors found his sperm count too low to conceive children, King never disputed paternity of any of the 15 who claimed it, and by all accounts was generous in bankrolling college tuitions and establishing trust funds. In May 2016, the 11 surviving children initiated legal proceedings against King's appointed trustee over his estimated $30 million to $40 million estate. Several of them also went public with the allegation that King's business manager, LaVerne Toney, and his personal assistant, Myron Johnson, had fatally poisoned him. Autopsy results showed no evidence of poisoning. A defamation suit filed by Johnson against the accusing family members (including his own sister, Karen Williams) is pending. Other children have filed lawsuits targeting King's music estate, which remains in dispute.
King was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 1990. He lived with diabetes for over 20 years and was a high-profile spokesman in the fight against the disease, appearing in advertisements for diabetes-management products along with American Idol season nine contestant Crystal Bowersox.
King was an FAA certified private pilot and learned to fly in 1963 at what was then Chicago Hammond Airport in Lansing, Illinois. He frequently flew to gigs but in 1995 his insurance company and manager asked him to fly only with another certified pilot. As a result, he stopped flying around the age of 70.
King's favorite singer was Frank Sinatra. In his autobiography he spoke about how he was a "Sinatra nut" and how he went to bed every night listening to Sinatra's classic album In the Wee Small Hours. During the 1960s Sinatra had arranged for King to play at the main clubs in Las Vegas. He credited Sinatra for opening doors to black entertainers who were not given the chance to play in "white-dominated" venues.

Philanthropy and notable campaigns

In September 1970, King recorded Live in Cook County Jail, during a time in which issues of race and class in the prison system were prominent in politics. King also co-founded the Foundation for the Advancement of Inmate Rehabilitation and Recreation, tying in his support for prisoners and interest in prison reform. In addition to prison reform, King also wanted to utilize prison performances as a way to preserve music and songs in a similar way that Alan Lomax did.
In 2002, King signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and instruction to children in underprivileged public schools throughout the United States. He sat on the organization's Honorary Board of Directors.
In the 2000s to early 2010s, King was involved in the spread of awareness of diabetes since his diagnosis in 1990. He was also involved in a diabetes awareness campaign with American Idol contestant, Crystal Bowersox, with One Touch Ultra, starring in commercials and spreading awareness about diabetes and promoting diabetes health management.

Death and funeral

After the cancellation of the remaining eight shows of his 2014 tour because of health problems caused by complications from high blood pressure and diabetes, King died in his sleep on May 14, 2015, at the age of 89. Death was as a result of series of small strokes caused by atherosclerotic vascular disease as a consequence of his type 2 diabetes. Two of his daughters alleged that King was deliberately poisoned by two associates trying to induce diabetic shock, though an autopsy showed no evidence of poisoning.
On May 27, 2015, King's body was flown to Memphis. A funeral procession went down Beale Street, with a brass band marching in front of the hearse, playing "When the Saints Go Marching In". Thousands lined the streets to pay their last respects. His body was then driven down Route 61 to his hometown of Indianola, Mississippi. He was laid in repose at the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center, in Indianola, for people to view his open casket. The funeral took place at the Bell Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Indianola, on May 30. He was buried at the B.B. King Museum.

Discography

Studio albums

Singin' the Blues (1956)
The Blues (1958)
B.B. King Wails (1959)
King of the Blues (1960)
Sings Spirituals (1960)
The Great B.B. King (1960)
My Kind of Blues (1961)
Blues For Me (1961)
Blues in My Heart (1962)
Easy Listening Blues (1962)
B.B. King (1963)
Mr. Blues (1963)
Confessin' the Blues (1966)
Blues on Top of Blues (1968)
Lucille (1968)
Live & Well (1969)
Completely Well (1969)
Indianola Mississippi Seeds (1970)
B.B. King in London (1971)
L.A. Midnight (1972)
Guess Who (1972)
To Know You Is to Love You (1973)
Friends (1974)
Lucille Talks Back (1975)
King Size (1977)
Midnight Believer (1978)
Take It Home (1979)
There Must Be a Better World Somewhere (1981)
Love Me Tender (1982)
Blues 'N' Jazz (1983)
Six Silver Strings (1985)
King of the Blues: 1989 (1988)
There Is Always One More Time (1991)
Blues Summit (1993)
Lucille & Friends (1995)
Deuces Wild (1997)
Blues on the Bayou (1998)
Let the Good Times Roll (1999)
Makin' Love Is Good for You (2000)
Riding with the King (2000, with Eric Clapton)
A Christmas Celebration of Hope (2001)
Reflections (2003)
B.B. King & Friends: 80 (2005)
One Kind Favor (2008)

Accolades

Awards and nominations

Years reflect the year in which the Grammy was awarded, for music released in the previous year.

Grammy Awards
Year	Category	Work	Result
1971	Best Male R&B Vocal Performance	"The Thrill Is Gone"	Won
1981	Best R&B Instrumental Performance	"When I'm Wrong"	Nominated
1982	Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording	"There Must Be a Better World Somewhere"	Won
1983	Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals	"Street Life"	Nominated
1984	Best Traditional Blues Recording	Blues 'n Jazz	Won
1986		My Guitar Sings the Blues	Won
1991		Live at San Quentin	Won
1991	Best Country Collaboration with Vocals	"Waiting on the Light to Change"	Nominated
1992	Best Traditional Blues Album	Live at the Apollo	Won
1994	Best Traditional Blues Album	Blues Summit	Won
1995	Best Country Collaboration with Vocals	"Patches"	Nominated
1997	Best Rock Instrumental Performance	"SRV Shuffle"	Won
1999	Best Contemporary Blues Album	Deuces Wild	Nominated
2000	Best Traditional Blues Album	Blues on the Bayou	Won
2001	Best Traditional Blues Album	Riding with the King	Won
2001	Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals	"Is You or Is You Ain't (Baby)"	Won
2003	Best Traditional Blues Album	A Christmas Celebration of Hope	Won
2003	Best Pop Instrumental Performance	"Auld Lang Syne"	Won
2005	Best Traditional R&B Performance	"Sinner's Prayer" (with Ray Charles)	Nominated
2006	Best Traditional Blues Album	B. B. King & Friends: 80	Won
2009	Best Traditional Blues Album	One Kind Favor	Won

Other awards

Year	Association	Category	Work	Result
1995	Country Music Association	Album of the Year	Rhythm, Country and Blues ("Patches" with George Jones)	Nominated
2002	NAACP Image Awards	Outstanding Performance in a Youth/Children's Series or Special	Sesame Street	Nominated

Other honors

1977: Honorary Doctor of Music by Yale University
1980: Inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame
1985: Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music
1987: Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
1987: Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
1990: The National Medal of Arts
1991: The National Heritage Fellowship from the NEA

Commemorative guitar pick honoring "B.B. King Day" in Portland, Maine

1995: The Kennedy Center Honors; given to recognize "the lifelong accomplishments and extraordinary talents of our nation's most prestigious artists"
1998: Grammy Hall of Fame Award for "The Thrill is Gone"; the award is given to recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance"
2004: The Royal Swedish Academy of Music awarded him the Polar Music Prize for his "significant contributions to the blues"
2006: The Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded by President George W. Bush on December 15
2007: An honorary doctorate in music by Brown University (May 27)
2008: The keys to the city of Portland, Maine (May 14)
2009: Time named King No. 3 on its list of the 10 best electric guitarists
2010: Sabrosa Park (in the small town of Sabrosa, north of Portugal) was renamed B.B. King Park in honor of King and the free concert he played before 20,000 people on May 29^{[citation needed]}
Each year during the first week in June, a King Homecoming Festival is held in Indianola, Mississippi
A Mississippi Blues Trail marker was added for King, commemorating his birthplace

B. B. King - The Thrill Is Gone (Live at Montreux 1993) - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fk2prKnYnI

► 4:19

BB King - Paying The Cost To Be The Boss - YouTube

YouTube‎ · ‎MuddyBoy61

PLEASE LOVE ME by B B King 1953 - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS94YlfKxvg

Testo

I was in love with you baby, honey, before I learned to call your name
I was in love with you baby, honey, before I learned to call your name
Way you treatin' me baby, is gonna drive old me insane

You know I love you baby, do anything you tell me to
Know I love you baby, do anything you tell me to
Nothing in this world baby, honey, that I wouldn't do for you

So if you love me baby, honey, do everything I say
Yes, if you love me baby, honey, do everything I say
If you don't do what I tell you baby, better fall down on your knees and pray

So if you love me baby, honey, do everything I say
Yes, if you love me baby, honey, do everything I say
If you don't do what I tell you baby, better fall on your knees and pray

Well, be my girlfriend, everybody, and I'm gonna be your boy
Want you to be my girlfriend, baby, baby and I'm gonna be your boy
Gonna buy a Cadillac car, baby, drive me whereever you are

Compositori: Jules Bihari / Riley B. King

B.B. King - Sweet Little Angel (Live) - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNr_eIgP0tI

Testo

I've got a sweet little angel
I love the way she spreads her wings
Yes, got a sweet little angel
I love the way she spread her wings
Yes, when she spreads her wings around me
I get so hot and everything

You know, I ask my baby for a nickel
And she gave me a twenty-dollar bill
Oh yes, I asked my baby for a nickel
And she gave me a twenty-dollar bill
Well, you know I ask her for a little drink of liquer
And she gave me a whiskey still

Oh yeah, if my baby quit me
Lord, I do believe I would die
Oh yeah, if my baby should quit me
Lord, I do believe I would die

Lord, if you don't love me, little angel
Please tell me the reason why