See all 35 pictures

Play B.B. King Radio

B.B. King

On Tour

4,672,342 plays (370,618 listeners)
In your library (0 plays)

Listening now: Wizarth

251 shouts

Add to my Library Share

Get Ringtones

Itta Bena MS, United States (1925 – present)

Riley B. King aka B. B. King (born September 16th, 1925 in Itta Bena, Mississippi) is a well known American blues guitarist and songwriter. He is among the most respected electric guitarists.

One of King’s trademarks is naming his guitar (Gibson ES335) “Lucille”. In the 1950s in a bar in Twist, Arkansas two men got into a fight, accidentally knocking over a bucket of burning kerosene (used for heating) and setting the establishment on fire. Risking his life, B.B. King ran back into the collapsing building to retrieve his guitar. King later found out that the two men had been fighting over a woman named Lucille. He named his guitar after her to remind himself never to do something so stupid again.

King began broadcasting his music live on a Memphis radio station called WDIA. At first, he used the name The Peptikon Boy on air, which later was changed to The Beale Street Blues Boy, and then further shortened to just Blues Boy or B.B.

His first hit on the r&b charts was “Three O’Clock in the Morning” in 1951. King became one of the most influential electric guitarists in history, one example being a young Eric Clapton citing B.B. as his biggest influence. He has been the primary international goodwill ambassador for the blues decade after decade.

King first found success outside of the blues market with the 1968 remake of the Roy Hawkins tune, The Thrill Is Gone, which became a hit on both pop and rhythm and blues charts, a rare feat for an R&B artist to this day. King’s mainstream success continued throughout the 1970s with songs like

To Know You Is To Love You and

I Like To Live The Love.

Tagged as:

blues, guitar, jazz, blues rock, classic rock
See more…

Similar Artists

Top Albums

Live / Fillmore East - New York, NY June 19, 1971
B.B. King
Buy
- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $9.49
- 7digital $7.77
- iTunes $9.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon Search
- eBay Search
New
King of the Blues Guitar
B.B. King
Buy
- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon $39.98
- eBay Search
Anthology (disc 1)
B.B. King
Buy
- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 Search
- 7digital Search
- iTunes Search
- Buy Album
- Amazon Search
- eBay Search
Deuces Wild
B.B. King
Buy
- Download Album
- Amazon MP3 $9.49
- 7digital Search
- iTunes $9.99
- Buy Album
- Amazon $11.97
- eBay Search

Top Tracks

1	The Thrill Is Gone full track	2,092
2	Paying The Cost To Be The Boss full track	550
3	Please Love Me full track	526
4	Sweet Little Angel full track	510
5	How Blue Can You Get? full track	476
6	Ain't Nobody Home full track	470
7	Why I Sing The Blues full track	458
8	How Blue Can You Get full track	415
9	Sweet Sixteen full track	404
10	You Upset Me Baby full track	389
11	Every Day I Have the Blues full track	358
12	Three O'Clock Blues full track	341
13	Everyday I Have The Blues full track	331
14	Hummingbird full track	328
15	Nobody Loves Me But My Mother full track	289

Shoutbox

Leave a comment. Log in to Last.fm or sign up (it’s free).

Remo10 wrote:
Wednesday evening

He is like a blues standard, because he is perfect.

View Profile | Leave Remo10 a shout
TheAbbott wrote:
Sunday afternoon

"I don't think he would tag himself this way... " I would be really curious to ask him "How would you TAG yourself?" xDxD No offence but that just sounds hilarious. xD

View Profile | Leave TheAbbott a shout
miqmiranda wrote:
last week

GOD IS THE ONLY WORD I CAN FIND!!

View Profile | Leave miqmiranda a shout
Poppalox wrote:
last month

Great blues song by a great bluesman

View Profile | Leave Poppalox a shout
woojae wrote:
last month

BADASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

View Profile | Leave woojae a shout
chex01 wrote:
last month

Download here ---> http://durdoam. narod.ru/ almost all the songs in this group =)

View Profile | Leave chex01 a shout
Ruizinh wrote:
last month

Hold On!!!!

View Profile | Leave Ruizinh a shout
JulkaG wrote:
last month

When i first met you baby you were just a sweet sixteen, the sweetest thing i've ever seen.. awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!! so sensual and sexy!

View Profile | Leave JulkaG a shout
Shuriku wrote:
last month

Hummingbird is a masterpiece... Such beautiful song..

View Profile | Leave Shuriku a shout
boyflower wrote:
last month

Why did you have to stoop as low as doing diabetes commercials? Love you B.B. King. < He diabetes himself, so isn't it respectable that he's become a spokesman to help others who share the same disease?

View Profile | Leave boyflower a shout
Maiden1995 wrote:
September 2009

Sweet,born the same day as me. Great stuff!

View Profile | Leave Maiden1995 a shout
TeaCartel wrote:
September 2009

Saw him in Vancouver 6-7 months ago, amazing musician and amazing personality..

View Profile | Leave TeaCartel a shout
riva2003 wrote:
September 2009

传奇

View Profile | Leave riva2003 a shout
canbenson wrote:
September 2009

he s a king without a castle

View Profile | Leave canbenson a shout
laurenha_m wrote:
September 2009

he rocks!

View Profile | Leave laurenha_m a shout
SpamForBrains wrote:
September 2009

Why did you have to stoop as low as doing diabetes commercials? Love you B.B. King.

View Profile | Leave SpamForBrains a shout
mamercus wrote:
September 2009

"Classic Rock"??? REGGAE??? Please, lets all try harder with the tags! I mean, if you could ask B.B.King, I don't think he would tag himself this way...

View Profile | Leave mamercus a shout
Shroomaster wrote:
September 2009

Happy B day BB !!!

View Profile | Leave Shroomaster a shout
HaraldUrKv wrote:
September 2009

Happy birthday!

View Profile | Leave HaraldUrKv a shout
amnezjusz wrote:
September 2009

Happy Birthday!!

View Profile | Leave amnezjusz a shout

See all 251 shouts

Videos

Events

Jan 6 B.B. King Alabama Theatre, Birmingham AL, United States
Add shout | 1 attendee
Jan 7 B.B. King Von Braun Center, Huntsville AL, United States
Add shout
Feb 2 B.B. King Hard Rock Live, Hollywood, Miami FL, United States
Add shout

Add event See more

News

Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN | 2/09/2010 | Concert

6 Nov 2009 | from www.bbking.com

CO-HEADLINE WITH BUDDY GUY http://ticketsus.at/dano615?CTY=37&LID=FEB09&DURL=http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1B004339C47F632E?artistid=769912&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=4

Add comment

Von Braun Center, Huntsville, AL | 1/07/2010 | Concert
6 Nov 2009 | from www.bbking.com
Add comment
Fox Theater, Atlanta, GA | 2/06/2010 | Concert
6 Nov 2009 | from www.bbking.com
Add comment
Mabee Center Arena, Tulsa, OK | 12/31/2009 | Concert
6 Nov 2009 | from www.bbking.com
Add comment

Listeners

dennica
Listening now
to The Other Night Blues
Marzian-it
Listening now
to Why I Sing The Blues
JumboDoener
Listening now
to Good Man Gone Bad
stefthechef321
Top Listener
druvo_art
Top Listener
LevyNagy
Top Listener

Recent Activity

maccafalcon, JohnnyBradela, SpeysMuhngkee and 8 other people added B.B. King to their libraries. 23 minutes ago
AnnaCMoorman tagged B.B. King with ‘blues’. 9 hours ago
SaraPsicoRock, ks1217, alejaperini and 14 other people added B.B. King to their libraries. 10 hours ago
bluemoondust, johnlrichardson, Schnipser79 and 12 other people added B.B. King to their libraries. yesterday evening
bluemoondust tagged B.B. King with ‘seen live’. yesterday evening
Ciffi added B.B. King to the lineup of B.B. King at The MGM Grand at Foxwoods. yesterday afternoon
Ciffi unlinked B.B. King from B.B. King and Buddy Guy at MGM Grand Theatre. yesterday afternoon
Ciffi added B.B. King to the lineup of B.B. King and Buddy Guy at MGM Grand Theatre. yesterday afternoon
ukiwoor, bootitup, mor_dawg and 2 other people added B.B. King to their libraries. yesterday afternoon
maciejla, fathaclef, n-h and 15 other people added B.B. King to their libraries. yesterday morning