BB King
 He
says he can't sing and keep rhythm on the guitar at the same time,
but the unquestionable king of the blues - in both record sales
and influence - took the world by storm on his 1965 Live At
The Regal LP.
The Mississippi-born son of a share cropper, Riley B King
started singing the blues on the streets of Chicago after he had
finished his US Army service in World War II.
He worked for a while as a disc jockey on station WDIA and
moved to California where he put together his first bands, which
usually included brass and sax.
During the 1950s he had many successes in the black record
market but remained largely unknown to a white audience until
acknowledged by Eric Clapton and other famous white
guitarists.
Since jamming with Clapton and Elvin Bishop in 1967, BB King
became a major household name and toured the world incessantly.
In 1988 King reached a new generation of fans with the single When
Love Comes To Town, a collaborative effort between King and
the Irish band U2 (on their Rattle and Hum album).
 In 2000, King teamed up with Eric Clapton to record Riding
With the King, and in 1998 he appeared in the movie Blues
Brothers 2000 (playing the lead singer of the Louisiana Gator
Boys) along with Eric Clapton, Dr. John, Koko Taylor, and
Bo Diddley.
Over 52 years BB King has played at least 15,000 shows. He
played his farewell tour in 2006, at the ripe old age of 80.
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