The True Story Of: B.B. King

As many Bluesman he too was born in Mississippi. Riley B.King (that was his real name) became one of best known blues guitarists. Following his service in the U.S. Army he began his career as disc jockey in Memphis, Tennessee where he was called „the Beale Street Blues Boy” later renamed by „BB King”.

The year that King made his first recording was also the same year that he named his beloved guitar.King attended a dance in Twist, Arkansas, that had a barrel lit with kerosene in the middle of the dance floor, used to keep the crowd warm late at night. While there, a fight broke out and the barrel was knocked over, causing a fire to spread throughout the venue. Everyone evacuated, including King, but he rushed back inside to retrieve his prized guitar.

Luckily, he managed to escape with his guitar as the building collapsed around him. King later learned that the fight erupted because of a woman who worked at the venue named Lucille. From then on, King named his guitar "Lucille" to remind himself never to do anything so foolish again.

In 1962, BB King signed contract with ABC Records, which released Live at Regal, a benchmark blues concert album. In 1969, he released his biggest hit single, „ The Thrill Is Gone”. Would you belive he was first he was first bluesman to tour Soviet Union (Russia) in 1979, by this time he also entered pop mainstream, making regular performances in Las Vegas, Nevada and on network television.

He played 250 concerts a year back in the 1970s but especially now after a shaky concert in April 2014 at the Peabody Opera House in St. Louis, fans voiced their concern about King on social media saying he appeared to be suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. After that show, the blues legend issued a public apology for his erratic performance.In October 2014, the 89-year old fell onstage during a performance at Chicago’s House of Blues and cancelled several upcoming gigs. In a statement issued on his web site after the fall, it said the singer had been “diagnosed with dehydration and suffering from exhaustion.”

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