News & Updates — BB King

Happy birthday to the lovable soul-blues icon B.B. King! A huge influence on so many electric blues guitarists & singers, soul artists as well as the rock generation, his style was immediately identifiable and his hit songs rank among the most loved in twentieth century music. From a sharecropping family in Indianola MS, he sang gospel in church and at 12 was given a guitar by his cousin Bukka White. He started his career locally in '43 and three years later moved to Memphis with White. He worked as a radio DJ and playing in clubs and recorded his early...

One of the infamous Beale Streeters of Memphis (along with BB King, Johnny Ace, Junior Parker and others), Bobby "Blue" Bland was an incredible singer dubbed "The Sinatra of the Blues". As he never went to school and never learned how to read, his illiteracy found him signing contracts at cut-rate royalty deals early in his career. Nevertheless he found great chart success in the late 50s/early 60s with "Farther Up The Road", "I Pity The Fool", "Cry Cry Cry" and "Turn On Your Lovelight". He had a nice comeback during the 70s with His California Album and Dreamer. Despite...