The Blues; A Genre Defined By The Life of B.B King
- Dominic Simpson
- Dec 3, 2021
- 4 min read
B.B. king was born into a life of poverty where his parents worked as sharecroppers on a small plantation in the Mississippi Delta. King had already experienced the “violence of racism, having seen the body of a lynched man”(PBS, 2016). In 1947 he chose to move to the city where he’d begin playing on Beale Street, learning from other street artists. After a year of busking he was given the opportunity to play on Sonny Boy Williamson’s radio show. This was the turning point in his career as this led him to perform in local night clubs. His name B.B. King came from the shortening on Beale Street Blues Boy.
King released his first record in 1957 titled Singing the Blues. During this time, rock ’n’ roll was becoming more prolific but Kings album got him a number one single by “writing blues with a commercial sheen” (Nymith, 2015). King’s trademarks include single-string guitar responses to impassioned vocal calls. His influences come from T-Bone Walker and other Delta Blues players (including his cousin Bukka White).
During the late 1960s, King had a collaboration with music producer Bill Szymczyk who would go on to record his greatest hit The Thrill is Gone, which won the Grammy Award for best Male R&B Vocal Performance in 1971. In 1970 Bill was the producer for Cook County Jail where King planned a concert for the inmates. Up until before he died, King claimed that it was the best performance of his career. The live release of the album stayed in the Billboard Top LP for thirty-three weeks, peaking at number twenty-five.
Live Prison concerts were becoming popular during the 1970s with stars like Johnny Cash also performing at Folsom Prison. Out of the 2117 prisoners that king performed to, the majority were young black men going through a tough time, which is something King could relate to growing up in the Mississippi Delta. New meanings were bought to songs Everyday I have the blues and Please accept my love. The first track is a fast tempo version of Every Day I Have the Blues. The rest of the setlist consists of slow blues tracks which touch on the themes of separation and loneliness. King communicates with the crowd speaking to them during songs giving King a more personal connection with an audience all too similar to him demographically.
King revolutionised the string gauges that the modern guitar player used. ZZ Top front man Billy Gibbons tells a story where the two shared a dressing room. King had asked Gibbons if he could try his guitar. “It just took one or two strums and BB looked at me kind of quizzically and he said, ‘why are you working so hard?’” (Gibbons, 2020). King was referring to his strings being very heavy and difficult to play. There used to be only one set of string gauges which were for Jazz guitarists, king simply removed the thickest string and replaced it with a banjo string changing the range from .013- .056 to .010- .046. Every blues and rock guitarist from Eric Clapton to Jimi Hendrix copied King’s innovation showing how influential he was and that he was ahead of his time pioneering something that changed the way guitarists played.
B.B. King has acquired an array of accolades throughout his life time. In 1980 he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, and in 1987, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Receiving the highest honours in two different genres of music shows how important his contributions are. He’s described “as the blues’ lifetime ambassador”(Hill, 1987). “He has brought the sound and the style across the U.S.A. and all the way to the U.S.S.R”(Hill,1987). King even received honorary doctorates from Yale University and the Berklee College of Music.
In 1988 King and U2 recorded When Love Comes to Town. A whole generation of people were to discover King’s music 40 years after he debuted as an artist. Shortly after in 1995, King received Kennedy Centre honours which is given to performing artists for their lifetime contributions to American culture. Five years later he recorded his first blockbuster hit, Riding with the King with Eric Clapton, a guitarist who was heavily influenced by King. When King died, Clapton posted on Facebook saying “He was a beacon for all of us who loved this kind of music, and I thank him from the bottom of my heart” (Clapton, 2015 ).
December 15th 2008 saw King receive the Medal of Freedom from President Bush. This is the highest accolade a civilian could receive and was given to him for overcoming his difficult upbringing. “King was living alone by the time he was 9 and picked cotton for 35 cents a day, Bush recalled” (Billboard, 2006). When John Lennon was asked to name his greatest ambition, he said, “to play guitar like B.B. King”(Billboard, 2006). The medal is given to those who have contributed to the national interest of the United States through acts of culture and significant endeavours which is what King had been contributing for almost 60 years.
King’s last performance was at Nutty Jerry’s November 2014 where he was performing his King of the Blues Worldwide Tour. This would be his last performance as he had to cancel due to illness. Throughout his career, he averaged “more than 200 concerts per year into his 70s. In 1956 alone, he appeared at 342 shows. His career spanned over 65 years remaining just as relevant throughout, a feat that any artist would be proud of. The Beale Street Blues Boy passed away Thursday, May 14, 2015, at the age of 89.
List of References
PBS, (2016). Black History Month: Fats Domino and B.B. King.https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/blog/black-history-month-fats-domino-and-b-b-king/#
Academy of Achievement, (2021). B.B. King. https://achievement.org/achiever/b-b-king/
1956- B.B. King- Singin’ the Blues, (2015). https://benefitsofcoldcoffeemusicreview.wordpress.com/2015/03/20/1956-b-b-king-singin-the-blues/
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Brittanica. (2021). https://www.britannica.com/biography/B-B-King
Andy Aledort, (2020). B.B. King’s 10 Greatest Guitar Moments. https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/perfect-ten-critical-analysis-bb-kings-10-greatest-guitar-moments
Quora, (2019). Why is B.B. King important? What contributions did he make to music?. https://www.quora.com/Why-is-B-B-King-important-What-contributions-did-he-make-to-music
Rock and roll garage, (2020). http://rockandrollgarage.com/zz-tops-billy-gibbons-reveals-guitar-strings-advice-b-b-king-gave-him/
Ultimate guitar, (2019). Billy Gibbons remembers simple guitar advice from B.B. King he still sticks to. https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/billy_gibbons_remembers_simple_guitar_advice_from_bb_king_he_still_sticks_to.html
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, (1987). https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/bb-king
Rediscovering Black History, (2015). “I’m a Blues Man, but I’m a Good Man’: B.B. King and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. https://rediscovering-black-history.blogs.archives.gov/2015/05/18/im-a-blues-man-but-im-a-good-man-b-b-king-and-the-presidential-medal-of-freedom/
Lyric, (2021). B.B. King timeline. thttps://www.timetoast.com/timelines/bb-king
Beaumont Enterprise, (2015). B.B. King’s Last Performance in Beaumont. https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/B-B-King-s-last-performance-in-Beaumont-6266508.php
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