Several fathers and mothers of the blues (Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Bessie Smith, Skip James, Ma Rainey…), a notable list of teachers (Elmore James, Muddy Waters, Etta James, John Lee Hooker…). has. ) and numerous references from every era, from Howlin’ Wolf to Eric Clapton, Freddie King, Taj Mahal, Koko Taylor, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Janis Joplin, Keb’ Mo and Joe Bonamassa, to name a few to quote. But there is only one king of the twelve-bar genre, and that is BB King: the best ambassador the blues has ever had. His personal instrumental style and tireless presentation on stage quickly made him a worldwide inspiration. Without the extraordinary talent of BB King, the influence and development of the blues would not have been the same, and the history of contemporary music would have been orphaned from the blue notes of Lucille, which today are one of its best and indisputable flavors.
In his biography, BB King, King of the Blues (Libros del Kultrum), journalist Daniel De Visé details how little Riley B. King (the ‘B’ in his last name actually had no meaning) was born in rural Mississippi in 1925. His future, like that of the majority of African Americans of his generation, was determined by rural poverty and subsistence in addition to horrific racial discrimination. His mother’s early death and his stuttering were other obstacles that had to be overcome to realize his dream: to be one of the artists that his aunt Mima, his grandmother’s sister, listened to on their records. He found his first musical references in church preachers who galvanized the faith of parishioners with gospel songs and in visits from his cousin Bukka White, the local blues star of the time. His first artistic impulse was to build a guitar with an old broom handle and a piece of wire. “When I squeezed or pressed the string, the sounds changed and I thought I was playing music,” he recalled.
Inspired by the style of guitarist Lonnie Johnson and equally influenced by the compositions of Blind Lemon Jefferson and T-Bone Walker, the young King decided to overcome his speech impediment by singing and whispering to his guitar. His idea was to become a preacher and excite parishioners with his music, but he discovered that the blues was much more profitable. In this way, he began performing street shows to supplement his very low salary as a sharecropper and tractor driver. In 1949, during a small recital in an Arkansas village, a room burst into flames, in the center of which a bucket of kerosene had been placed to warm the atmosphere. The fire spread rapidly as a result of the bucket falling to the ground during a fight between two people. All participants left immediately. Soon realizing he had left his Gibson L-30 on stage, Riley did the same. «I looked at that fire and thought: I have a second to decide. And so I started this business. His legs were slightly burned and he was on the verge of losing his life. After getting to safety, he heard that the fight that caused everything was because of a girl named Lucille; In order not to forget the stupidity of his action, he decided to christen all his guitars with this name since then.
His popularity increased thanks to the opportunity given to him by Sonny Boy Williamson II, who worked as a DJ on KWEN radio and allowed him to sing live. Positive reactions from listeners who called the station to praise his performance led him to become the interim DJ at WDIA, the first radio station geared entirely to African-American audiences. His stage name began as Beale Street Blues Boy, later shortened to Blues Boy, and eventually to BB.WDIA broadcasts profoundly influenced American music’s only other ruler, Elvis. Despite the artistic rivalry between the two, Elvis and BB King always maintained a cordial friendship. «He was beautiful, handsome, calm and absolutely polite. He spoke with that thick southern accent and always called me ‘sir’. “I like it.”
BB King’s first hit was 3 O’Clock Blues, which reached number one on the Billboard R&B chart in 1952. From then on, his career was on a steady rise. And according to De Visé, at first he “spent a lot of money on wine, women and gambling”, but his guitar playing catapulted him to blues superstar status. Songs like I woke up this morning, Every day I have sadness, Let the good times pass or Immortality The thrill is gone – his greatest achievement – are some of the jewels in his eternal crown. In the reign of BB King, who passed away in 2015 at the age of 89, they continue to live on with their distinctive vibrato and tremendous number of licks that can fascinate different generations of guitarists. His most devoted disciples include such six-string geniuses as Clapton, Santana, Hendrix, Duane Allman, Billy Gibbons, Peter Green, Johnny Winter and Robert Cray. Although he gave more than 15,000 concerts around the world in sixty years, the “king of the blues” remained in touch with his listeners, whom he respected above all else, until the end of his life. President Barack Obama managed to sum up all his fans’ feelings in one sentence after learning of his death: “BB may have left us, but that feeling will always remain with us.”
Source: Informacion
Brandon Hall is an author at “Social Bites”. He is a cultural aficionado who writes about the latest news and developments in the world of art, literature, music, and more. With a passion for the arts and a deep understanding of cultural trends, Brandon provides engaging and thought-provoking articles that keep his readers informed and up-to-date on the latest happenings in the cultural world.