|
World Changers
Other Cool Places |
B.B. King
For more information check out "Guitar Legends", by Chris
Gill, Harper Collins Publishers, 1995.
|
|
World Changers
Other Cool Places |
B.B. King
For more information check out "Guitar Legends", by Chris
Gill, Harper Collins Publishers, 1995.
|
Riley
B. King was born on a cotton plantation in 1925. He grew up in Itta Bene,
Mississippi, just outside the Mississipppi delta town of Indianola. Both
his parents, Albert and Nora Ellen King, were sharecropping farmers on
a white plantation owned by Jim O'Reilly. Albert drove a tractor while
his wife worked in the fields. B.B.'s father wasn't a strong figure in
his life. When B.B. was four his parents separated. Nora Ellen then moved
to Kilmichael, Mississippi to work on another plantation and live with
her mother. B.B. was brought up by his mother and grandmother on the plantation
in Kilmichael. He attended Elkhorn school and was an average student. His
teacher, Mr. Henson, gave B.B. the vision that schools would be integrated
one day and that blacks would be able to ride the bus. B.B.'s family also
attended Elkhorn Baptist Church. This is were he got his first taste of
gospel music. When B.B. was nine years old his mother became ill and died.
Nora Ellen was twenty-five when she passed away. B.B. still doesn't know
what disease killed his mother but he suspects it was diabetes. During
the era when his mother died there was minimal medical care for blacks.
It simply didn't exist as we know medicine today. This event occurred it
left B.B. in shock. His grandmother raised him for a couple of years until
she also passed away. B.B. then lived with his aunt and uncle and worked
in the fields on the plantation until his father came for him eight months
later. B.B. didn't want to leave his friends and school, but his father
was stern in his decision that his son come to live with him. He moved
with his father to Lexington, Mississippi and never really adjusted to
the new enviroment. He tried to love his new family but they didn't replace
his mother and grandmother. At sixteen, King would run away back to Kilmichael,
Mississipppi and its familiar surroundings.
B.B.
had to grow up fast in his new situation. In 1942, B.B. would decide to
move to the Mississippi Delta in search of better work. In his spare time
he was also trying to form a new gospel band. King then found work with
and Indianola planter named Johnson Barret. He would eventually drive a
tractor like his father for $22.50 per week. B.B. bought his first guitar
for $2.50 from a man in Kilmichael with wages he earned. B.B. was first
taught to play the guitar by the Reverend Archie Fair. He learned how to
play C,F, and G chords. Later B.B. would learn to imitate the music of
bluesmen that he heard on the radio, such as Blind Lemon Jefferson and
Lonnie Johnson. B.B. learned to appreciate the sounds and range of the
guitar. B.B. eventually started a new singing group and met a girlfriend
named Martha. The new group was called "The Famous St. John's Gospel Singers."
They would sing at churches and give live performances on the radio station
WGRM in Greenwood, Mississippi. At the same time, B.B. would go into town
on Saturdays with his girlfriend to play the blues on the street corner
for spare change. The money he made and exposure to other Delta bluesmen
turned his musical interest from gospel to blues music.
B.B. started
recording his music in the late 1940s. He currently has released 50 albums,
and many are considered blues classics. B.B.'s first career break came
in 1948 when he performed on Sonny Boy Williamson's radio program KWEM
of West Memphis. This soon led him to performances at the Sixteenth Avenue
Grill and Sephia Swing Club. Later he recieved a ten-minute spot on a radio
station WDIA and sponsored a health tonic called Peptic. For the next 18
months, B.B. continued playing in clubs and working for WDIA radio station.
In 1951, he released his first R&B hit single "Three O'Clock Blues",
which led him to performances in New York City where he furthered his name
as Beal Street Blues Boy and then later as B.B. King. Throughout his career,
B.B. has played around 275 concerts a year. B.B., never having any training
in playing the guitar, created his own style of music named call-and-response.
He will play a short phrase on his guitar after he has sung a line, like
a dialog between the guitar and the vocals. Most musicians learn to play
by rhythm style. This is were they will sing and play an instrument at
the same time. The technique of rock guitar playing was mostly derived
from B.B.'s playing. B.B. has influenced such musicians as Eric Clapton
and Bonnie Raitt. B.B.'s style has mixed traditional blues, jazz, swing,
and mainstream pop into a unique style. In B.B.'s words, "When I sing,
I play in my mind; the minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by
playing Lucille." B.B.'s dream of becoming a blues legend teaches people
that no matter what barriers you face, you can accomplish any thing if
you are willing and have a dream.
