B.B. King - King Of The Blues

Elton and the Band Recorded With B. B. King
30-March-2004

Elton is among several major international artists who have recently recorded with blues legend B.B. King. This is for a duets album, celebrating B.B.'s 80th birthday later this year.

Elton and the band and B.B. King recorded the Memphis Slim blues classic, Rock This House, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Уже скорее бы! Элтон прекрасно играет блюз, что можно видеть в его UNPLUGGED.

King Wins Entertainer of Year at Handys Fri May 6,10:52 AM ET

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Mavis Staples and Charlie Musselwhite each won three awards at the 26th annual W.C. Handy Awards, and B.B. King was named entertainer of the year for the seventh time in a row.

Staples won best album for "Have a Little Faith," which also won soul album, and she was named top female soul artist Thursday night. Musselwhite won for best contemporary male artist and best harmonica player, and his "Sanctuary" album won the award for contemporary album.

Musselwhite said the blues is a reflection of life.

"It's music played from the heart," he said. "It celebrates good times and gets you through the bad. I call it my comforter."

The Holmes Brothers were named top band, Staples' "Have a Little Faith" won top song for writers Jim Tullio and Jim Weider, and John Lee Hooker Jr. won as best new artist.

The awards, named for blues pioneer W.C. Handy and called "Handys," are given out by The Blues Foundation of Memphis.

Handy, a bandleader who performed in clubs along the city's famous Beale Street in the early 1900s, is credited with being the first musician to put blues music into written form. Before that, the distinctive American music that sprang from the songs of poor black residents of the Mississippi River Delta was passed along from one artist to another.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050506/ap_en_mu/people_b_b__king/nc:689

B B King Hits The Festival Trail
6/4/2005

He may be 80 this coming September, but blues legend B B King has no intention of jacking in a bevy of festival dates in favour of the pipe and slippers (tartan).

The ancient muso is presently coming to the end of a North American spring tour, but he's going straight into the Mississippi Homecoming festivals in Indianola and Pickins on June 10. The man's unstoppable!

Then, he's heading our way with a fistful of European dates, before zooming back homeward for a benefit concert to raise cash for the planned B.B. King Museum - the Mississippi's birthday prezzie to the star, comprehensively charting his life and work, as well as "preserv(ing) the Delta blues heritage and encourage and inspire young artists and musicians," reports soundgenerator.com.

And that's not all! The sprightly old geezer is then embarking on his annual touring B.B. King Blues Festival, alongside Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Joe Bonamassa.

http://gigwise.co.uk/news.asp?contentid=6390

B.B. King Breaks Ground on His Museum By SHELIA BYRD, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jun 10

INDIANOLA, Miss. - Blues icon B.B. King joined local and state dignitaries Friday for the groundbreaking of a $10 million museum honoring him in a Mississippi Delta town where he used to live.

King said he was "happy and nervous" about festivities and said he hopes the museum, as a whole, will inspire a new generation of musicians and artists.

"It will be a lot better for students to hear it from us ... to have something," King said.

Among those attending the groundbreaking were Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck, House speaker Billy McCoy and former Govs. William Winter and Ray Mabus.

Hundreds of people sat under blistering sun for a glimpse of King, who was only at the podium for about two minutes.

Riley King was born Sept. 16, 1925, on a cotton plantation in Berclair, outside Itta Bena. He moved to Indianola in 1943.

King earned the nickname "B.B." — for Beale Street Blues Boy or just Blues Boy — during his early career in Memphis, Tenn.

The 18,000-square-foot B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center will be built around a cotton gin where King once worked.

"I had this thought that I would build house and at my death it would open as a museum," King said during a news conference after the ceremony.

He said Indianola officials called him and told him they could do more than that.

Officials said they still need to raise more money for the museum. At least part of the funding is expected to come from the state. During a recent special session, the state House included $2 million for the museum in a bond bill that eventually failed.

Leland Speed, executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority, told those attending the groundbreaking that the museum is "the first real material act we have made to acknowledge the great heritage of Mr. King."

The museum will showcase four phases of King's life, from his years in the Delta to the present. It is scheduled to open in 2007.

Indianola Mayor Arthur Marble said that with the museum, his small town of 12,000 is "poised to leapfrog into the future."

Marble anticipates several spinoff businesses, including hotels and restaurants. He said there's no doubt that tourism will increase, based on the turnout each year for the concert King gives at a local park.

"To give you an idea of what we're talking about, last year the chamber cleared $70,000 for that homecoming concert. The man is making that type of contribution to the community," Marble said.

Those attending the ceremony got to see an artist's drawings of the museum and local officials unveiled a portrait of King, painted by Steve Kaufman of Los Angeles, an artist who was a former assistant to Andy Warhol.

On Saturday, the 42nd annual Medgar Wiley Evers-B.B. King Mississippi Homecoming Concert in Indianola will feature King, Little Milton Campbell, Bobby Rush and Eddie Cotton, among others.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050610/ap_en_mu/bb_king_museum/nc:689;_ylt=AoS.pZbhPz.NelG...

DAVID GILMOUR PERFORMING ON B. B. KING'S NEW ALBUM

Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour joins artists such as U2, Sting, Elton John and Van Morrison, all of whom are collaborating with B.B. King for the blues legend's "Duets" album to be released later this year.

The record is just one of several celebrations surrounding King's 80th birthday (September 16th) this year. In June, ground breaking on the long-planned B.B. King Museum in his hometown of Indianola, Mississippi, will take place, with benefit concerts to raise funds to take place this summer.

B. B. King started recording the album in March, and as yet, David's contribution to the album is not clear. As and when we get further information, we will of course let you know.

http://www.brain-damage.co.uk/news/0506101.html

B.B. King still singing the blues at 80
Lucille in hand, guitar legend poised to launch new tour

The high-pitched wail of the notes he coaxes out of his guitar, nicknamed Lucille, is salve to the soul of the nearly 80-year-old B.B. King, who shows no signs of slowing down.
The Associated Press

June 22, 2005 INDIANOLA, Miss. - Through his agile fingers, still soft despite decades of making love to the taut strings of his guitar, B.B. King becomes immersed in his music.

The high-pitched wail of the notes he coaxes out of the instrument, nicknamed Lucille, is salve to the soul of the nearly 80-year-old bluesman, who shows no signs of slowing down as he prepares to kick off a world tour this month in Holland.

It's been a good year for King, named by Rolling Stone magazine as the third-greatest guitarist of all time. He's recording a new album of duets with Elton John, Eric Clapton and Gloria Estefan, a memorabilia book bearing his name soon will be released, and he recently broke ground on the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretative Center in this small Mississippi Delta town.

Yet King, acclaimed around the world, still laments what he believes is a lack of respect for blues music in America, where radio stations mostly play hip-hop, pop and rock.

"We get treated poorly," he says. "I'm thinking about the younger ones, who are coming along today, not B.B. We've had several superstars, like the late Stevie Ray Vaughn, like the young Robert Cray, and they don't get play. They don't get exposed."

Blues music is a historical form, inspiring rock guitarists such as Clapton and Jeff Beck, but radio stations don't consider it as commercially viable as other genres, says Anthony DeCurtis, contributing editor of Rolling Stone.

"That certainly doesn't mean it's not significant. How much jazz gets played on the radio?" DeCurtis says.

The Mayor of Bluesville
Floyd Lieberman, King's manager, says there's been a slight resurgence of the blues with the advent of XM Satellite Radio, on which King serves as Mayor of Bluesville.

The blues channel has 4 million listeners, Lieberman says, but "Jackson, Miss., stations play more blues than New York. That's the problem."

At his recent museum groundbreaking, King took a break from his fans, finding a comfortable chair to relax his hefty frame. Family and friends urged him to eat mini muffaletta sandwiches, broccoli and fruit to help control his diabetes.

King gently pushed the food aside; he wanted to talk.

He reminisced about his early years, working as a laborer on a cotton plantation in the heart of the Delta. And without a hint of bitterness, he explained how difficult life was back then for the man born Riley B. King on September 16, 1925.

"I was a regular hand when I was 7. I picked cotton. I drove tractors. Children grew up not thinking that this is what they must do. We thought this was the thing to do to help your family," says King, who now lives in Nevada.

The interminably humble bluesman envisions his museum, to be located at the site of the brick cotton gin where he once worked, as a conduit for Delta youth trying to escape the cycle of poverty and illiteracy. Many in the community hold King up as the standard of success.

"In the Delta, they think he can walk on water," says Carver Randle, one of King's longtime friends.

As a young boy in the 1950s, Randle remembers seeing King drive his Cadillac around Indianola when the musician was in town visiting relatives.

"There was a time when nobody, black people or white people, cared for the blues. And in spite of that, B.B. stuck with the blues," says Randle, now an attorney. "Anybody, whether they're in politics, law or education, would do well to just emulate what B.B. has done."

The museum, to be finished by 2007, will be a $10 million, 18,000-square-foot edifice, showcasing the various phases of King's career with a state-of-the-art theater, a studio and artifacts. Organizers have raised about half the cost of the project through private donations, no small feat in town of about 12,000.

King's long career took off in 1948 after he performed on a radio program on KWEM out of West Memphis. He's been cutting tracks ever since, with perhaps the best-known being "The Thrill Is Gone" in 1970 or "Three O'clock Blues" in 1951.

In 2000, he collaborated with Clapton to record "Riding With the King."

He's made countless appearances in Europe, where he says the people have long memories.

"Tunes that we made many years ago, they know them today. They don't belittle you because you sing gospel or you sing blues. We get that at home sometimes," he says, moments before a group of fans from France had their picture taken with him.

Blues music was born out of the hardships of black people, who sang as they worked on cotton plantations in the Mississippi Delta. King's single-note playing style sets him apart from other musicians, DeCurtis says.

"B.B. has a very specific kind of style, very lyrical. He doesn't play a lot of notes. In a slow blues arrangement, you can really hear the kind of elegance of his playing. He's not down and dirty," DeCurtis says.

King plays about 150 dates a year, but it's not because he needs the money.

"He hasn't had to work since he was 65 years old," says Lieberman, King's manager for 41 years. "He's financially sound."

Lieberman says the upcoming duets album, to be released prior to King's birthday, won't all be blues songs, but King doesn't believe that should be interpreted as infidelity.

"Who said I'm supposed to do nothing but traditional blues music?" King says. "Blues players like to hear other things like other people."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8317378/

В связи с 80-летием Би Би 30-го июля в г. Билокси, Миссисипи, состоится бенефис великого блюзмена. Предварительный состав участников концерта: Bruce Willis, Kenny Wayne Shepard, Deborah Coleman, Bobby Blue Bland, Jody Williams, Smokin' Joe Kubeck, Dr. John, Dickie Betts. Это будет единственный официальный концерт в честь Блюз Боя в США, на котором будет присутствовать сам маэстро. Сборы с концерта пойдут в фонд музея Кинга в г. Индианола в том же штате.
Надеюсь, что все это будет выпущено на DVD.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl.../0003934864&EDATE=THU+Jun+23+2005,+05:45+PM

Blues legend B.B. King performs in the Top of the Blues show at the 39th edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, lateJuly 4, 2005. King, one of the greatest representatives of North American blues, has been a regular participant in the festival since 1979. Picture taken July 4,

US soul legend Solomon Burke, left, and legendary US-american bluesman B.B. King, right, perform on the Auditorium Stravinski Hall stage during the 39th Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, late Monday, July 4, 2005

King of the blues
B.B. King, 79, is still in top form

Thursday, June 30, 2005; Posted: 3:59 p.m. EDT (19:59 GMT)
INDIANOLA, Mississippi (AP) -- Through his agile fingers, still soft despite decades of making love to the taut strings of his guitar, B.B. King becomes immersed in his music.

The high-pitched wail of the notes he coaxes out of the instrument, nicknamed Lucille, is salve to the soul of the nearly 80-year-old bluesman, who shows no signs of slowing down as he prepares to kick off a world tour this month in Holland.

It's been a good year for King, named by Rolling Stone magazine as the third-greatest guitarist of all time. He's recording a new album of duets with Elton John, Eric Clapton and Gloria Estefan, a memorabilia book bearing his name soon will be released, and he recently broke ground on the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretative Center in this small Mississippi Delta town.

Yet King, acclaimed around the world, still laments what he believes is a lack of respect for blues music in America, where radio stations mostly play hip-hop, pop and rock.

"We get treated poorly," he says. "I'm thinking about the younger ones, who are coming along today, not B.B. We've had several superstars, like the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, like the young Robert Cray, and they don't get play. They don't get exposed."

Blues music is a historical form, inspiring rock guitarists such as Clapton and Jeff Beck, but radio stations don't consider it as commercially viable as other genres, says Anthony DeCurtis, contributing editor of Rolling Stone.

"That certainly doesn't mean it's not significant. How much jazz gets played on the radio?" DeCurtis says.

Floyd Lieberman, King's manager, says there's been a slight resurgence of the blues with the advent of XM Satellite Radio, on which King serves as Mayor of Bluesville.

The blues channel has 4 million listeners, Lieberman says, but "Jackson, Mississippi, stations play more blues than New York. That's the problem."

'I picked cotton. I drove tractors'
At his recent museum groundbreaking, King took a break from his fans, finding a comfortable chair to relax his hefty frame. Family and friends urged him to eat mini muffaletta sandwiches, broccoli and fruit to help control his diabetes.

King gently pushed the food aside; he wanted to talk.

He reminisced about his early years, working as a laborer on a cotton plantation in the heart of the Delta. And without a hint of bitterness, he explained how difficult life was back then for the man born Riley B. King on September 16, 1925.


"I was a regular hand when I was 7. I picked cotton. I drove tractors. Children grew up not thinking that this is what they must do. We thought this was the thing to do to help your family," says King, who now lives in Nevada.

The interminably humble bluesman envisions his museum, to be located at the site of the brick cotton gin where he once worked, as a conduit for Delta youth trying to escape the cycle of poverty and illiteracy. Many in the community hold King up as the standard of success.

"In the Delta, they think he can walk on water," says Carver Randle, one of King's longtime friends.

As a young boy in the 1950s, Randle remembers seeing King drive his Cadillac around Indianola when the musician was in town visiting relatives.

"There was a time when nobody, black people or white people, cared for the blues. And in spite of that, B.B. stuck with the blues," says Randle, now an attorney. "Anybody, whether they're in politics, law or education, would do well to just emulate what B.B. has done."

The museum, to be finished by 2007, will be a $10 million, 18,000-square-foot edifice, showcasing the various phases of King's career with a state-of-the-art theater, a studio and artifacts. Organizers have raised about half the cost of the project through private donations, no small feat in town of about 12,000.

'He doesn't play a lot of notes'
King's long career took off in 1948 after he performed on a radio program on KWEM out of West Memphis. He's been cutting tracks ever since, with perhaps the best-known being "The Thrill Is Gone" in 1970 or "Three O'clock Blues" in 1951.

In 2000, he collaborated with Clapton to record "Riding With the King."

He's made countless appearances in Europe, where he says the people have long memories.

"Tunes that we made many years ago, they know them today. They don't belittle you because you sing gospel or you sing blues. We get that at home sometimes," he says, moments before a group of fans from France had their picture taken with him.

Blues music was born out of the hardships of black people, who sang as they worked on cotton plantations in the Mississippi Delta. King's single-note playing style sets him apart from other musicians, DeCurtis says.

"B.B. has a very specific kind of style, very lyrical. He doesn't play a lot of notes. In a slow blues arrangement, you can really hear the kind of elegance of his playing. He's not down and dirty," DeCurtis says.

King plays about 150 dates a year, but it's not because he needs the money.

"He hasn't had to work since he was 65 years old," says Lieberman, King's manager for 41 years. "He's financially sound."

Lieberman says the upcoming duets album, to be released prior to King's birthday, won't all be blues songs, but King doesn't believe that should be interpreted as infidelity.

"Who said I'm supposed to do nothing but traditional blues music?" King says. "Blues players like to hear other things like other people."

Би-Би Кинг и Царь Соломон в одном концерте...ЭТО ЧУМА!!! буим ждать звука энд изображения
"...А ведь говорила мне мамочка: "Езжай в Монтрё, сынок" (с) И.Стравинский

Celebs Join B.B. King for Museum Benefit 1 hour, 12 minutes ago

BILOXI, Miss. (AP) — Bruce Willis, Dr. John and Kenny Wayne Shepherd were among the artists on stage with blues legend B.B. King during a special birthday benefit to raise money for a museum bearing the musician's name.

King, who will turn 80 on Sept. 16, was joined by a barrage of artists including, Rockin' Dopsie Jr. and Deborah Coleman in the performance at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. The event, sponsored by Isle of Capri Casinos, drew a crowd of about 7,000.

Proceeds from the show will be used to fund the $10 million B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola. Officials broke ground on the project in June and plan to have it completed by 2007. In addition to honoring the bluesman's legend, the museum is also expected to help preserve the Delta blues heritage and inspire young arts and musicians.

Television personality Montel Williams hosted the show and urged the audience to sing "Happy Birthday" to the singer.

Video tributes by Eric Clapton and Bonnie Raitt also helped highlight the event.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050801/ap_en_mu/king_honored/nc:689;_ylt=Aq7L_26XgFrA0KciP...

In this handout photo provided by The Isle of Capri Casinos, B.B. King performs during his birthday celebration in Biloxi, Miss., Saturday, July 30, 2005. The event raised funds for the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center.

In this handout photo provided by The Isle of Capri Casinos, B.B. King, left, Bobby Blue Bland, second from left, Dickey Betts, standing rear center, and Bruce Willis, right, perform a jam session at the B.B. King 80th Birthday Benefit Concert in Biloxi, Miss., Saturday, July 30, 2005. The event raised funds for the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center.