Riley B "Bb" King

King was born near Berclair, MS on Sept. 16, 1925 to sharecroppers Albert and Nora Ella King. His parents separated when he was four, and his mother took him to Kilmichael, MS to live with her mother. Riley’s mother died when he was nine and he lived with his grandmother until she died.

At age 14, he was living alone on Edwayne Henderson’s farm, share cropping an acre of cotton and living on $2.50 a month (the equivalent of $42.50 in today’s dollars). He borrowed money to buy his first guitar.

In 1947, he left the plantation for Memphis where he began his music career on Beale Street. He landed a job on WDIA Radio as a disc jockey and became known as the “Beale Street Blues Boy.” That moniker was later shortened to “Blues Boy,” then finally to “B.B.” On air, he would promote his band’s live appearances in area nightspots. He first record was recorded in Memphis.

In 1952, his first hit “Three O’Clock Blues” topped the Billboards R&B chart and his career took off. His albums came in steady succession as did his Grammy awards. In 1987, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from The Recording Academy. He was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1995. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush in 2006 and the prestigious Polar Music Prize which has been called “The Nobel Prize of Music” in Sweden.

His guitar is on the current Mississippi license plate. He was an ambassador of the blues, traveling the world and greeting fans from Moscow to Beijing to Sydney.

He is survived by his sister, Modie Faye Henry; brother, W.D. Snyder; his children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. B.B. King will be greatly missed by his family, friends and the world.