BB King: Google Doodle honours 'King of Blues' singer's birthday

Legendary musician remembered on what would have been his 94th birthday

Jacob Stolworthy
Monday 16 September 2019 10:35 BST
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King of the Blues BB King dies, aged 89

BB King is being remembered on Google Doodle on what would have been his 94th birthday.

Born on 15 September, 1925, the musician began his career in Mississippi juke joints and local radio after discovering his special guitar skills in church.

It was through this instrument that King influenced other blues performers; his solos would showcase his ability to bend the strings in a way that hadn’t been done before.

King toured the world after his music career kicked into gear following a move to Memphis, Tennessee. He appeared on average at more than 200 concerts per year right into his 70s.

He died in Las Vegas on 14 May, 2016 aged 89 having performed his final live show the previous year.

Here are five things you need to know as Google Doodle remembers BB King.

BB is a nickname

The musician’s real name was Riley B King, but he found his professional name after working as a DJ on Tennessee radio station WDIA. There, he was nicknamed Blues Boy, which was later shortened to BB.

He was one of the musicians to put Beale Street on the map

King was an integral part of the blues scene on Beale Street in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He performed alongside Bobby Bland, Johnny Ace and Earl Forrest in a band called The Beale Streeters, and would later credit the location with kick-starting his career. A blues club was opened there in his honour in 1994.

Music wasn’t his only talent

As well as singing and playing the guitar, King became a certified private pilot after learning to fly in 1963. Right up until the age of 70, he would fly to his own gigs – and only stopped because his insurance company asked him to.

Even legends have heroes

King may be one of the most celebrated musicians of all time, but he himself idolised Frank Sinatra. He revealed in his autobiography that, every night, he’d listen to Sinatra’s In the Wee Small Hours, and praised the crooner for opening doors for black entertainers to play in “white-dominated” venues.

He was a fervent campaigner

King was extremely active in raising awareness of race and class issues, co-founding the Foundation for the Advancement of Inmate Rehabilitation and Recreation in support of prison reformation. In September 1970, he recorded Live in Cook County Jail, where he and his band performed for an audience of over 2,000 prisoners in Chicago.

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