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Nora
Ella King left Albert King for another man when Riley was only 4 years
old. She moved back into the hills east of the Delta and sent Riley to
live in nearby Kilmicheal with his maternal grandmother, Elnora Farr.
Riley's father Albert did not interfere, and lost touch with his wife and
son. Riley lived off and on with his mother and two subsequent step
fathers, but most of the time he stayed with his grandmother, who
sharecropped on the land of Edwayne Henderson, a dairy farmer. Riley's
mother and grandmother were both very religious and he attended services
with them at the Holiness Church in Kilmicheal. It was here at Riley's
mother died in the summer of 1935, when he was only 9 years old. He then
lived with his grandmother in Kilmicheal. When word reached Riley's
father, Albert King, of Nora Ella's death, he became concerned for Riley's
welfare. He contacted Riley and told him that he could come to live with
him, his new wife and family in Lexington, Mississippi whenever Riley was
ready. Riley was reluctant to leave Kilmicheal because of his schooling
and his newly formed gospel singing group. The group consisted of Riley's
cousin Birkett Davis and his friend Walter Doris, Jr. Riley made the
decision to stay in Kilmicheal. Riley's
grandmother, Elnora Farr, died on January 15, 1940. Although Riley still
had kin in the area, his uncle William Pullinan and his aunt Mimy Stells,
both of whom were sharecroppers for Henderson, neither family had either
the resources or the room to support Riley. Riley continued to live at his
grandmother's cabin and farmed one acre of Henderson's land to raise a
cotton crop. He barely made enough money to live that year, and in the
fall of 1940, Riley moved to Lexington to live with his father. Riley
lived with his father for two years. He became homesick for the Kilmicheal
area, and in 1942 when he was 16 years old, he moved back to Kilmicheal to
attend the Elkhorn school and continue singing with his gospel group. The
Flake Cartledge family, white cash tenants for Edwayne Henderson, took
Riley in and he worked to earn his keep. The Cartledge's were very kind to
Riley, in fact Flake loaned Riley $2.50 to buy his first guitar from a
Kilmicheal man, Denzil Tidwell. By the end of 1942, Riley had decided to
move to the Delta in search of better work, but in the back of his mind he
was thinking about forming a better singing group with his cousin, Birkett.
Birkett borrowed a car, and in the spring of 1943, he moved Riley to
Indianola, Mississippi. Riley
was able to find work with an Indianola planter named Johnson Barrett.
Riley worked on the Barrett plantation as both a sharecropper and a
tractor driver, for which he was paid a day wage of $1.00. In only a few
short months after leaving Kilmicheal, Riley now had a skilled job as a
tractor driver, a new singing group and a girlfriend. The
singing group consisted of a five man chorus, including Riley and cousin
Birkett, and was led by John Matthews. The new group was called "The
Famous St. John's Gospel Singers." Riley accompanied them on guitar
when they sang, mostly at churches. Occasionally, they gave live
performances which were broadcast on radio station WGRM in Greenwood,
Mississippi. At this same time, Riley was also playing the blues on the
Indianola street corners on Saturday nights. Blues music was not new to
him, his mother's cousin, Bukka White, a noted Memphis bluesman, would
come to visit Riley's family when they lived in Kilmicheal. Riley soon
found out that by using his day wages for traveling money to get to other
Delta towns, he could double or triple his money by playing the blues. His
profits and exposure to other Delta bluesmen turned his musical interests
away from the gospel spirituals.
After
he was released from the selective service, Riley tried to convince the
St. John's Gospel Singers to leave Indianola in search of fame and
fortune. It soon became apparent to Riley that if he was going to make his
career in music, he would have to make the break alone. The final decision
came one night in May of 1946 when Riley had returned from the fields with
the tractor. He shut off the tractor, but the engine turned over a couple
of extra times and the machine lunged forward, breaking off the exhaust
stack. Riley, not wanting to face an angry Johnson Barrett, left town with
his guitar and $2.50 in his pocket. He was heading to Memphis on highway
49 in search of his cousin Bukka White ... When
Riley B. King first arrived in Memphis in the summer on 1946, he searched
on Beale Street for his cousin Bukka White. After looking for Bukka for a
few days, Riley finally found him and Bukka took young Riley in. For the
next ten months, Bukka schooled Riley in the art of the blues. Although
Riley and Bukka jammed together in private, they never played in public.
Riley's talents were improving and he profited from impromptu jam sessions
with other blues musicians he had met in and around the Memphis area.
Bukka had prepared Riley for his life as a bluesman by teaching him
everything from how to hold his guitar to phrasing lyrics. Bukka's most
important trait which he impressed upon Riley was his durability, and
without it, B.B. King would not be who he is today. After
ten months in Memphis with Bukka, Riley decided that his music career was
getting nowhere. Besides that, he missed his wife and had left other
responsibilities back in Indianola. Riley returned to Indianola, and in
1947, he and his wife Martha raised a crop on the Johnson Barrett
plantation. By end of the crop season in 1948, Riley had earned enough
money to pay off all of his debts by sharecropping, driving a tractor for
$22.50 per week, loading trucks and playing guitar on street corners. In
late 1948 he headed back to Memphis, this time bound and determined to
make it in the music business. When
Riley returned to Memphis, he went to look for Sonny Boy Williamson who
had a blues music radio show on station KWEM. Sonny Boy was actually Aleck
"Rice" Miller, who has been commonly referred to as Sonny Boy
Williamson #2. Riley had met Sonny Boy earlier in Indianola and was
friends with his guitarist Robert "Junior" Lockwood. Once Riley
had found Sonny Boy, he asked him if he could play a song on his blues
radio show. When Riley had convinced Sonny Boy to let him play, Sonny Boy
touted Riley as a new talent and the radio station was flooded with calls.
Sonny Boy then set up Riley with a gig for which he himself had overbooked
as a backup for his preferred show. Sonny Boy was in a bind, and Riley now
had his big chance to play in front of a live crowd at Miss Annie's Saloon
in West Memphis. Riley
couldn't have picked a better time to return to Memphis. Miss Annie told
Riley that if he was to become a regular performer at the saloon, he would
have to promote the business on the radio. On June 7, 1947, a new radio
station, WDIA, went on the air. By 1948, the station was turned into one
of the first all black staffed and managed radio stations. Riley went to
WDIA and asked the popular DJ, Nat Williams, if he could make a record.
Surprised by Riley's request, one of the station's two owners, Bert
Ferguson, had an idea. The station had just secured an advertising
contract for a health tonic named Pepticon, the competitor for the tonic
Hadacol, which was promoted by Sonny Boy Williamson on KWEM. Ferguson set
Riley up with a ten minute spot in which he could play his guitar and sing
anything he liked, as long as he promoted Pepticon. Riley's advertising
jingle was: "Pepticon,
Pepticon, sure is good - You can get it anywhere in your
neighborhood" *
Riley
became known as the Pepticon boy. Because of his popularity, the radio
station expanded his program and promoted him to a DJ. Riley's show was
called the "Sepia Swing Club." He played recordings by black
artists, played his guitar and also sang requests from listeners. Now that
he was a DJ, Riley needed a catchy name. He started out as the "Beale
Street Blues Boy," later he changed it to "Blues Boy King,"
and finally shortened it to the now famous "B.B. King." B.B.
King's popularity was spreading and he made his first recordings in 1949
for the Bullet Recording and Transcription Company. Jim Bulleit had
recently expanded Bullet Records into the race record market with a series
of blues recordings called the "Sepia" series. It was these
early recordings which caught the attention of the Bihari brothers, Jules,
Saul and Joe, who controlled Modern Records. Modern issued three labels:
Kent, Crown and RPM. In the summer of 1949, B.B. signed a recording
contract with Modern Records which lasted for 10 years. During
the last six months of 1949, RPM released six B.B. King singles. A good
example of one of B.B.'s earliest RPM recordings is the song
bb boogie- from Everyday I
Have the Blues, (182 K, 17 sec.) Copyright ©, TEL-STAR Records, 1991.
Although none of the recordings were a national success, locally B.B. was
quite popular. B.B.'s airplay of his records, along with his public
appearances, built him a steady circuit of Roadhouses and juke joints
where he was the top attraction. These places might be no larger than tiny
roadside hash houses or as big as large dance halls. B.B. was a local
celebrity, but outside of Memphis, no one had heard of him. He was moving
up fast and needed a manager. B.B.'s first manager was a Beale Street pool
hall owner, Robert Henry. Henry also operated a record shop, an amusement
park and a few restaurants. Just
after Christmas in 1951, B.B.'s seventh RPM single, "Three O'Clock
Blues," a Lowell Fulson tune, hit Billboard's R&B record chart. -
from The Fabulous B.B. King, (133 K, 12 sec.) Copyright ©, VIRGIN
Records, 1991. By early 1952, the song reached the number one position and
stayed there for 15 weeks. B.B. had finally received national recognition
as a blues musician. As a result of the success of the song, Robert Henry
was able to get B.B. a contract with Universal Artists in New York, which
set him up with shows at the three major black theaters in the country:
the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C., the Royal Theater in Baltimore,
and the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Less than 18 months after he had first
played on Sonny Boy Williamson's radio show, B.B. took a leave of absence
from his job at WDIA and left Memphis for Washington to start on his first
national tour. As
a result of his new found success, B.B.'s marriage was now under a heavy
strain. Without any children, the couple had to either travel on the road
together, or separate during tours. Martha King knew that as an
entertainer, B.B. was subject to adoring young female fans. It was only a
matter of time before the tension resulted in divorce. While B.B. was on
tour, he got word that Martha had left Memphis and had filed for the
divorce. Although he was crushed by the news, it inspired him to write the
song "Woke Up This Morning," which was his first big hit after
"Three O'Clock Blues." In 1952, after 8 years of marriage, B.B.
and Martha King were divorced.
In
1955, B.B.'s friend, Cato Walker, bought a used bus from Greyhound for
$5000. He spent another $3000 fixing up the old bus, which was doubbed
"Big Red." Big Red served as transportation for B.B. and his
band while on tour. At that time, B.B. had 13 members in the band, and a
total of 18 persons with him on the road. In 1958 near Dallas, Big Red was
involved in an accident. As the bus was crossing a bridge, a car was
trying to pass it while an oil tanker truck had entered the bridge on the
other end. The driver of the car came so close to the bus while passing it
that the bus driver, Millard Lee, had to swerve to avoid hitting the car.
The swerve caused Big Red to hit the bridge embankment and caromed into
the path of the truck, hitting it head on. Miraculously, no one on the bus
was hurt, but the truck burst into flames. As the band members crawled out
of the back windows of the bus, they saw one of the two truck drivers
running down the bridge with his clothes on fire. The two truck drivers
died in that crash, one in the truck cab, and the other as he reached to
water's edge, presumably as he tried to put out the flames that killed
him. B.B.
King was not on the bus, nor was he at the scene of the crash. When he
heard the news, he was glad that no one on the bus was hurt, but he
realized that the accident couldn't have come at a worse time. The Friday
before the crash, B.B.'s insurance on the bus had been dropped. He took
the risk of operating over the weekend and renewing the policy on Monday.
B.B.'s liability was settled at just under $100,000, it took years to pay
off the debt. He also had to get a new bus, which he bought from Skyliner
for $27,000. The new bus, named "Titan," served B.B. and the
band for the next 7 years until it also met with ill fortune. The
new bus marked a transition in B.B.'s career. He had a loyal following and
was a major artist in his field. He married his second wife, Sue Hall, on
June 4, 1958. He had met Sue in his home town of Indianola, at Club Ebony,
where Sue's mother was the manager. Sue was 15 years younger than B.B. and
traveled with him constantly for 6 months until they bought a house in Los
Angeles. Sue began making a home there, but B.B. was rarely in town. As
was the case in his first marriage, the tension of B.B. constantly on the
road drove the couple to break up. B.B. and Sue King were divorced in
1966, which he responded to by recording his biggest hit song, the
thrill is gone - from Live at
the Apollo, ( 254 K, 23 sec.) Copyright ©, GRP records, 1991. The birth of Rock & Roll music made stars of many black performers such as Little Richard, Fats Domino, James Brown and Chuck Berry. Unfortunately for B.B., race music remained isolated from mainstream white America. Dispite changing his booking agency and switching to ABC records in the early 1960's, B.B. was unable to find an opening to the mainstream which many lesser artists had. Although the change from Kent to ABC looked promising, ABC did not understand his music. B.B. was frustrated, prior to 1968 he had made no more than two appearances before white audiences, and both were disasters. Despite the setbacks, B.B.'s music was better than ever during this period of this time, here's a sample of a B.B. classic, first recorded in the early 1960's, sweet sixteen - from Why I Sing the Blues, (155 K, 14 sec.) Copyright ©, MCA records, 1992. Around
1965, the final barriers that kept blues as race music began falling down.
The change began at the Newport Folk Festival where white America first
heard the music of Sun House and Mississippi John Hurt. Also performing
that day was a new group called the Butterfield Blues Band. With Paul
Butterfield on harp and Elvin Bishop and Mike Bloomfield on guitar, the
Butterfield Blues Band developed a strong national following. In 1965
Elektra records released the first Butterfield Blues Band album and it
gained wide popularity in white Middle America. The new excitement
generated by the band with guitar playing of Elvin Bishop and Mike
Bloomfield created curiosity about the origins of their music. Countless
times the were asked, "Where did you learn to play that way?"
Both guitarists answered honestly, "By copying B.B.'s licks."
People looked at them blankly, "B.B. who?" "The real
monster," Bishop and Bloomfield would reply, "B.B. King." * After
mainstream America had finally heard of B.B. King, two new events occurred
in his career when all the world seemed ready for him, a hit record and a
new manager. The record was the Roy Hawkins song, "The Thrill Is
Gone," which B.B. had recorded in response to his divorce with his
wife Sue King in 1966. In the 18 months following the peak popularity of
"The Thrill Is Gone," B.B.'s intinerary changed completely. The
chitlin circuit gave way to a combination of jazz clubs and rock palaces,
such as the Fillmore East. This new market also expanded to include
college concerts and the dining rooms of luxury resort hotels. In 1969,
B.B. made his first network TV appearance on the "Tonight Show,"
a lucky break provided by Flip Wilson who had been filling in for Johnny
Carson. With all his new triumphs, the most symbolic was his appearance on
the Ed Sullivan Show in 1971. Playing on the Sullivan show was a sign that
a new performer had arrived with the American public. On
June 29, 1973, B.B. was the master of ceremonies at an event held at the
Philharmonic Hall, New York. The show brought together many masters of the
blues; "Big Mama" Thorton, Jay McShann, Eddie
"Cleanhead" Vinson, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup and Muddy
Waters. B.B.'s
new manger was Sidney A. Seidenberg, a New York show business accountant,
who up until 1968 had been B.B.'s book keeper. Seidenberg was able to
re-negotiate contracts and get major bookings for B.B. that had been
impossible with prior management. In 1973 B.B. dissolved his partnership
with Seidenberg because he felt that Sid was neglecting him in favor of
Gladys Knight and the Pips. B.B. became his own manager, but soon realized
that he needed Seidenberg back. Seidenberg also needed B.B. back, as he
had lost Gladys, so in 1977 B.B. and Sid got back together and the
partnership continues today. B.B.
King feels that the most important aspect of being a blues artist is the
craft of performing before a live audience. He has tryed to pattern
himself after the great bandleader, saxophonist and singer, Louis Jordon.
One of B.B.'s most famous punch lines, which he borrowed from Jordan, can
be heard live in the song, how blue can you get
- from Why I Sing the Blues, ( 369 K, 34 sec.) Copyright ©, MCA
records, 1992. Another good example of live B.B. King is the song,
nobody loves me but my mother -
from Blues Summit, (160 K, 15 sec.) Copyright ©, MCA records,
1993. How did B.B. King get from the chitlin circuit to the living rooms of Middle America? The complete answer is quite complex, B.B.'s success was not isolated, he rode in on top of a wave of sudden popularity for urban blues music. The rise of urban blues music gives us only part of the answer, consider that even two years after white America got the blues, they had still not heard of B.B. King. Yet when he arrived on the scene, the King came to his throne as the true heir whose identity had finally been revealed. Long live the King, may we all be so privileged as to enjoy the man and his music for many more years to come. ALBUMS Singin' the Blues (1957) • The Blues (1958) • My Kind of Blues (1960) • Lucille (1968) • Live & Well (1969) • Completely Well (1969) • Indianola Mississippi Seeds (1970) • B. B. King in London (1971) • Guess Who (1972) • L.A. Midnight (1972) • Lucille Talks Back (1975) • King Size (1977) • Midnight Believer (1978) • Take It Home (1979) • There Must Be a Better World Somewhere (1981) • Six Silver Strings (1985) • Lucille & Friends (1995) • Deuces Wild (1997) • Blues on the Bayou (1998) • Let the Good Times Roll (1999) • Riding with the King (2000) • Makin' Love Is Good for You (2000) • Reflections (2003) • B. B. King & Friends: 80 (2005) • One Kind Favor (2008) SINGLES 1951: "Three O'Clock Blues" • 1952: "You Know I Love You" • "Story from My Heart and Soul" • 1953: "Woke Up This Morning" • "Please Love Me" • "Please Hurry Home" • 1954: "When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer" • "You Upset Me Baby" • "Whole Lotta Love" • 1955: "Every Day I Have the Blues" • "Ten Long Years" • 1956: "Sweet Little Angel" • "Bad Luck" • "On My Word of Honor" • 1958: "Please Accept My Love" • 1960: "Sweet Sixteen, Pt. I" • "Got a Right to Love My Baby" • "Partin' Time" • 1961: "Someday Baby" • "Peace of Mind" • 1964: "How Blue Can You Get" • "Beautician Blues" • "Help the Poor" • "Rock Me Baby" • "Never Trust a Woman" • "Please Send Me Someone to Love" • 1966: "Eyesight to the Blind" • "Five Long Years" • "Ain't Nobody's Business" • "Don't Answer the Door, Pt. I" • 1968: "Paying the Cost to Be the Boss" • 1970: "The Thrill Is Gone" • "Worried Life" • "Chains and Things" • 1974: "I Like to Live the Love" • 1976: "Let the Good Times Roll" • 1985: "Big Boss Man" • 1988: "When Love Comes to Town" • 1992: "Since I Met You Baby"
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RELATED T |
The
year was 1925 ... In the area of Mississippi known as the
"Delta", a baby was born on September 16 in a small
sharecropper's cabin near the town of Itta Bena. The proud parents of the
newborn baby boy were Albert and Nora Ella King, hardworking sharecropping
farmers who had lived in Mississippi all of their lives. The boy was named
Riley B. King, after his uncle, the only known living kin of Albert King.
It should be noted here that B.B. King's father, Albert King, was NOT the
great bluesman from Indianola, Mississippi. Although the now dearly
departed bluesman named Albert King grew up in the same area of the Delta
as B.B. King did, they were not related.Young
Riley King never knew his uncle for whom he had been named after. When
Albert King was very young, his father had left his mother and vanished
into parts unknown. Not long after his father had left, Albert's mother
and only sister died, leaving him with his older brother. For reasons
unknown, his brother had left young Albert to be raised by a sharecropper
named Love. When Albert was 7 years old, he learned that his brother was
in a Texas prison, and that was the last he had ever heard of him. In an
interview with Albert King in 1978, he says of his son, "I call B.B.
my baby brother 'cause we're only eighteen years apart. I call him B.B.
like everybody else, but his real name is 'Riley.' Now he's got them two
B's up front of his name." * 
church
where young Riley had his first true musical influence. The preacher,
Archie Fair, who was the brother-in-law of Riley's maternal uncle William
Pullinan, was an important musical inspiration to Riley. Music was the
main tool used by Archie Fair to bring the congregation together as one.
Riley's dominant singing style with the congregation helped to develop his
powerful charismatic influence for his future audiences. Archie Fair led
the congregation by playing guitar. Riley was fascinated with the
preacher's guitar and Archie taught him how to play the E, A and B chords.
Riley
had to register for the Military draft in 1944 and was found physically
fit for service. Johnson Barrett, not wanting to loose a skilled tractor
driver, applied to the draft board on Riley's behalf for an occupational
deferment. Barrett also told Riley that getting married would improve his
chances of being deferred. Riley married his first wife, Martha Denton, on
November 11, 1944, and shortly afterward he received his deferment. 
B.B.
King's opening show on his first national tour in 1952 was at the Howard
Theater in Washington, D. C. Playing with the Tiny Bradshaw band, B.B.'s
performance shined, he was on his way to becoming one of the best in the
business. The tour continued for six months, and over the next 18 months,
B.B. performed on the road with layovers in Memphis where he continued to
work for radio station WDIA. Robert Henry was still managing B.B., but
Henry was not well equipped to manage a nationwide career. In 1953, B.B.
broke his contract with Henry and signed up with a new manager, a Texan
named Maurice Merrit. B.B. also hired a Houston based booking agent, Don
Robey, who handled engagements through his agency "Buffalo
Booking." B.B. King now had a legitimate national presence on the
"Chitlin Circuit." 