The Real King :: essays research papers

Riley B. "B.B." superpower(guitar player/singer, natural September 16, 1925, Itta Bena, MS) The most touching bluesman of our time, and the most influential electric guitarist ever, the "King of theBlues" sums up his message with some simple advice. "I would say to all people, but maybe to youngpeople especially--black and fresh or whatever color-- take up your own feelings and trust them, find outwhat you neediness to do and do it, and then practice it every day of your he subterfuge and keep becoming what you are,despite any hardships and obstacles you meet." So hard to follow yet so good to withstand by, those words also notice the course of the instrumentalistsextraordinary career. The obstacles in his path were many He was born(p) during the Great Depression in thepoorest of American states, the son of black parent laborers. Only talent, hard work, and an unstoppableartistic vision can eyeshade for Kings journey out of the Mississippi Delta, th rough the roadhouse joints ofthe "Chitlin Circuit" in the southerly to the legendary Apollo Theater in New York, into the recording studio, tothe hearts of millions. appraise his "apparently inexhaustible reserve of creativity," as he presented B.B. Kingwith the study Medal of Arts in 1990, President George Bush hailed the blues musician as a "trailblazer,an authentic pioneer who literally helped shape his art form."Riley B. King (the extra "B" came later and doesnt stand for anything) spent his puerility all over thestate of Mississippi. When his parents separated in 1929, the boy went to live with his maternalgrandmother in Kilmichael his mother died when he was nine and, in 1940, B.B. joined his fathers newfamily in Lexington for two years before return to Kilmichael. He took on farm work in Indianola in1946 but, subsequently wrecking a tractor, decided his future lay in Memphis, Tennessee. A fan of the bluesmanBukka White, young B.B. looked h im up for advice and found himself working as a street corner bluesmanin Memphis. In 1948 he worked up the establishment to audition for WDIA, a hillbilly radio station that was aboutto permute its format to cater to the black community. He got the job.He cut his offset record in 1949, "Miss Martha King," followed by "Three OClock Blues" and "Shes set off" in 1951. Both reached Number One in Memphis. By 1955, King decided to put together hisown band, and a steady pull in of hits followed that included "Recession Blues," "Rock Me, Baby," "How