B.B. King
By Matthew Zapf, Siera Lang
Early Life
- King was born on a cotton plantation in Bene Mississippi
- King's parents split up when he was four and he worked as a local farmer until he was 13 when his father took him back to live with him in Indianola.
- King's mom died when he was nine and he lived with his grandmother
Influences
- B.B. King played guitar when he was younger and there is conflicting information to where he learned guitar.
- He lived with his second cousin who was a blues guitar player
- King took piano lessons
Time Period
- B.B King was born in September 16, 1925
- The world war two had ended in 1945
- There was the civil rights movement in 1960
- When king got his first guitar he was not allowed to play jazz. At this time period, Jazz was viewed as the "Devils music"
- Television was on the rise in the 1950's
Their Music
- B.B. King was a blues singer and guitarist
- B.B King records a song for the first time
- 1954 - King came out with his first hit which was a version of "Three O'clock Blues" originally by Lowell Folsum
- 1956-"Everyday I Have the Blues"
- 1964-"Rock me Baby"
- 1989-"The Thrill is Gone"
Interesting Facts
- He won 15 Grammys for his music and he is in the Blues Foundation of Hall of Fame and he is in the Rock Hall of fame
- He had 15 children
- King was the grandfather of 50 children
- He was married twice
- His electric guitar was named Lucille
BB King- The Thrill IS Gone
BB King - The Thrill Is Gone