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Artist News Obituaries
BB King 1925-2015
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 19 May 2015
Blues musician BB King died last week, after suffering a stoke in his sleep at the hospice where he had recently taken up residence. He was 89.
Born Riley B King in 1925 (the B seemingly his full middle name), he picked up the moniker he was more commonly known under while working as a DJ on Memphis radio station WDIA. Originally billed as The Beale Street Blues Boy, this was shortened to the less unwieldy Blues Boy, and then eventually just BB. While working at the station, he met blues guitarist T-Bone Walker and was inspired to take up the instrument himself.
King began recording in 1949, and had his first hit in 1952 with ‘Three O’Clock Blues’, which went to number one in Billboard’s R&B chart. Over the course of the 1950s, he enjoyed many more hits, became an in demand live performer, and launched his own record label, Blues Boys Kingdom.
As the 60s rolled on, he was introduced to a new audience thanks to his influence on upcoming bands like The Yardbirds and The Rolling Stones, the latter of whom took him out as the support act on their 1969 US tour. In 1988, he also had a top ten hit in the UK appearing on U2’s ‘When Love Comes To Town’.
King cut back his touring schedule in 1990, after being diagnosed with diabetes, but continued to perform live up to 2014 (despite a farewell tour in 2005). A bout of ill health took him out of the live circuit, and after being twice hospitalised earlier this month, he was placed in a hospice, where he died shortly afterwards.
BB King is survived by eleven children from various relationships.
