Please Rewind Talent Wall

B. B. King

B.B. King came to the screen with a lifetime of music already behind every note. Born on September 16, 1925, on the Bear Creek cotton plantation in Berclair, Mississippi, King grew up singing in a gospel choir and learned his first three guitar chords from a local minister. Radio pointed him toward another world: listening to the Mississippi Delta blues program King Biscuit Time inspired the self-taught guitarist to imagine a life as a radio musician. That path eventually led to West Memphis, where performances on Sonny Boy Williamson’s radio program helped King build an audience. At Memphis station WDIA, he worked as a singer and disc jockey and acquired the nickname “Beale Street Blues Boy.” It was shortened first to “Blues Boy,” then to the name that stayed with him: B.B. King’s career joined musical refinement to the force of live performance. His first number-one Billboard rhythm and blues hit, “3 O’Clock Blues,” arrived in 1952, followed by songs including “Every Day I Have the Blues” and “Sweet Little Angel.” Live at the Regal, recorded in Chicago in 1964, captured the improvisational guitar playing and direct audience connection at the heart of his work. “The Thrill Is Gone” later crossed onto both the pop and R&B charts and earned him a Grammy Award in 1970. His reach extended well beyond traditional blues venues. King opened for the Rolling Stones on their 1969 American tour, collaborated with U2 on “When Love Comes to Town,” and recorded Riding with the King with Eric Clapton. On screen, he appeared in The Blues Brothers 2000 as the lead singer of the Louisiana Gator Boys, sharing the musical lineup with Clapton, Dr. John, Koko Taylor and Bo Diddley. It was a fitting part for a performer whose authority never needed much acting: put him among a band, give him Lucille, and the scene already had its centre.