B.B. King

Riley B. King — B.B. King — was the undisputed King of the Blues for over half a century, a guitarist and singer whose expressive vibrato and economical phrasing influenced every blues and rock guitarist who picked up the instrument after him. His guitar, a black Gibson ES-355 he named Lucille, became the most famous instrument in blues history.

Born on a cotton plantation in Itta Bena, Mississippi, in 1925, King grew up picking cotton and singing gospel. He moved to Memphis as a young man and got his start performing on Sonny Boy Williamson's radio show on WDIA, where he was billed as the Beale Street Blues Boy — later shortened to B.B. He recorded "Three O'Clock Blues" in 1951, and it launched a career of relentless touring — he played over 300 shows a year for decades.

King's genius was making the blues communicate pure emotion with minimal notes. Where other guitarists played fast, King played true. His tone — a stinging, singing vibrato that seemed to cry — became the vocabulary of modern blues guitar. He won 15 Grammy Awards, was inducted into both the Rock & Roll and Blues Halls of Fame, and performed well into his eighties. He played over 15,000 concerts in his lifetime.