From rock and roll to blues, jazz, and hip-hop, music is as much the African American way of life as the afro was Black people’s style in the 1970s. Finally honoring that history, the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) has opened in Nashville, Tenn.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Her name was “Lucille,” and in B.B. King’s hands she gave voice to the “King of the Blues.” Julien’s Auctions announced Tuesday that King’s black Gibson ES-345 prototype guitar is among the items from his estate that will go up for bid on Sept. 21. Julien’s says Gibson gave King the instrument for his 80th birthday. The headstock has “B.B. King 80” and a crown inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The guitar is estimated to be worth $80,000 to $100,000. The guitar was not the first to bear the name. The story goes that King first used that
Dreaming “Big Dreams” in Wagoner, Oklahoma was no easy task for a young man living during that time. Billy graduated from Lincoln High School in Wagoner in 1957. The incomparable work-ethic instilled in him by his father, the unwavering love of his mother and the life lessons from Aunt Rosie, who affectionately called him “Tunny Boy”, created the fire and the desire to succeed in life. These family lessons became the foundation for self-reliance and self-determination.
In 1949, a fight broke out at a dance in Twist, Kansas. During the melee, a barrel filled with kerosene, that had been lit earlier to warm the party, was knocked over. As flames licked the dance floor, B.B. King, a twenty-something musician, escaped into the cool Kansas night with the rest of the party goers. But King had forgotten his guitar inside. On that fateful night, risking his life, he ran back into the building to rescue his prized instrument.
B.B. King, born Riley B. King, was one of the most influential and celebrated blues musicians of all time. From his roots as a sharecropper’s son, working in the cotton fields of Mississippi, he rose to become a living legend — the most renowned blues singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer of the past 40 years — earning the moniker ‘King of the Blues’. King’s story of struggle and triumph is chronicled in American Masters: B.B. King: The Life of Riley, premiering nationwide during Black History Month on Friday, February 12 at 9 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listing). Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman narrates and appears in the film.
2015 Obituaries
Medical examiners found no evidence to prove the allegation that blues legend B.B. King was poisoned before he died of natural causes in May, according to autopsy findings made public Monday.