Riley B. King Plays Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall 1/5

For decades, there has been only one King of the Blues - Riley B. King, affectionately known as B.B. King. Catch the 86 year old King LIVE on Thurs. Jan. 5 @ 8 PM at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall.

Since B.B. started recording in the late 1940's, he has released over 60 albums many of them considered blues classics, like 1965's definitive live blues album Live at the Regal, and 1976's collaboration with Bobby "Blue" Bland, Together for the First Time. Over the years, B.B. has had two number one R & B hits, 1951's "Three O'Clock Blues", and 1952's "You Don't Know Me", and four number two R & B hits, 1953's "Please Love Me", and 1954's "You Upset Me Baby", 1960's "Sweet Sixteen, Part I", and 1966's "Don't Answer The Door, Part I". B.B.'s most popular crossover hit is 1970's "The Thrill Is Gone," which went to #15 pop.

But B.B. King, as well as the entire blues genre, is not radio oriented. His classic songs such as "Payin' The Cost To Be The Boss", "Caldonia", " How Blue Can You Get", "Everyday I Have The Blues", and "Why I Sing The Blues", are concert (and fan) staples.

Born in 1925, on a cotton plantation in Mississippi, B.B. used to play on the corner of Church and Second Street for dimes. With his guitar and $2.50, he hitchhiked north to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1947 to pursue his musical career. Memphis was the city where every important musician of the South gravitated and which supported a large, competitive musical community where virtually every black musical style was heard. B.B. stayed with his cousin Bukka White, one of the most renowned rural blues performers of his time, who schooled B.B. further in the art of the blues. B.B.'s first big break came in 1948 when he performed on Sonny Boy Williamson's radio program on KWEM out of West Memphis. This led to steady performance engagements and later to a ten minute spot on black staffed and managed radio station WDIA. Soon, B.B. needed a catchy radio name. What started out as Beale Street Blues Boy was shortened to Blues Boy King, and eventually B.B. King. Incidentally, King's middle initial "B" is just that, it is not an abbreviation.
In the mid-1950's while B.B. was performing at a dance in Arkansas, a few fans became unruly. Two men got into a fight and knocked over a kerosene stove, setting fire to the hall. B.B. raced outdoors to safety with everyone else, but then realized that he left his $30 guitar inside, so he rushed back inside to retrieve it, narrowly escaping death. When he later found out that the fight had been over a woman named Lucille, he decided to give that name to his guitar. Each one of B.B.'s guitars since that time has been called “Lucille”.

B.B.’s technique is complex, featuring delicate filigrees of single string runs punctuated by loud chords, subtle vibratos, and "bent" notes. In the army, B.B. was introduced to the music of such guitarists as Charlie Christian and T-Bone Walker.

"I heard an electric guitar that wasn't playing spiritual", recalls B.B. "It was T-Bone Walker doing "Stormy Monday", and that was the prettiest sound I think I ever heard in my life. That's what really started me to play the blues".

Over the years, B.B. has developed one of the world's most readily identified guitar styles. He borrowed from Lonnie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, T-Bone Walker and others, integrating his precise vocal like string bends and his left hand vibrato, both of which have become indispensable components of rock guitarist's vocabulary. His economy, his every note counts phrasing, has been a model for thousands of players including Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Jeff Beck. B.B. has mixed traditional blues, jazz, swing, mainstream pop and jump into a unique sound—dubbing him the “King of the Blues.”

Tickets prices range from $30-$70. For more information and to buy tickets, contact the Van Wezel Box office at (941)953-3368 or log onto www.vanwezel.org. Sponsored by Bradenton Herald