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Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known by his stage name B.B. King, was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked King No. 6 on its 2011 list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. King introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending and shimmering vibrato that influenced many later electric blues guitarists.〔Komara, Edward M. ''Encyclopedia of the Blues'', Routledge, 2006, p. 385.〕 King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and is considered one of the most influential blues musicians of all time, earning the nickname "The King of the Blues", and one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" along with Albert and Freddie. King was known for performing tirelessly throughout his musical career, appearing at more than 200 concerts per year on average into his 70s.〔 In 1956, he reportedly appeared at 342 shows. King died at the age of 89 in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 14, 2015 from complications of Alzheimer's disease along with congestive heart failure and diabetic complications.〔 ==Early life== Riley B. King was born on September 16, 1925, on a cotton plantation called Berclair, near the town of Itta Bena, Mississippi,〔 the son of sharecroppers Albert and Nora Ella King.〔 He considered the nearby city of Indianola, Mississippi to be his home.〔Sebastian Danchin, ''Blues Boy: The Life and Music of B. B. King'', University Press of Mississippi, 1998, p. 1 (ISBN 1-57806-017-6)〕 When Riley was 4 years old, his mother left his father for another man, so the boy was raised by his maternal grandmother, Elnora Farr, in Kilmichael, Mississippi.〔 While young, King sang in the gospel choir at Elkhorn Baptist Church in Kilmichael. King was attracted to the Pentecostal Church of God in Christ because of its music. The local minister led worship with a Sears Roebuck Silvertone guitar. The minister taught King his first three chords. It seems that at the age of 12 he purchased his first guitar for $15.00,〔 although another source indicates he was given his first guitar by Bukka White, his mother's first cousin (King's grandmother and White's mother were sisters). In November 1941 "King Biscuit Time" first aired, broadcasting on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas. It was a radio show featuring the Mississippi Delta blues. King listened to it while on break at a plantation. A self-taught guitarist, he then wanted to become a radio musician. In 1943, King left Kilmichael to work as a tractor driver and play guitar with the Famous St. John's Quartet of Inverness, Mississippi, performing at area churches and on WGRM in Greenwood, Mississippi.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=B.B. King: National Visionary )〕 In 1946, King followed Bukka White to Memphis, Tennessee. White took him in for the next ten months.〔 However, King returned to Mississippi shortly afterward, where he decided to prepare himself better for the next visit, and returned to West Memphis, Arkansas, two years later in 1948. He performed on Sonny Boy Williamson's radio program on KWEM in West Memphis, where he began to develop an audience. King's appearances led to steady engagements at the Sixteenth Avenue Grill in West Memphis and later to a ten-minute spot on the Memphis radio station WDIA.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=KWEM Radio )〕 The radio spot became so popular that it was expanded and became the ''Sepia Swing Club''.〔''Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture''. Edited by Jessie Carney Smith. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, California. 2011. ISBN 978-0-313-35796-1 : Page 805-6.〕 Initially he worked at WDIA as a singer and disc jockey, gaining the nickname "Beale Street Blues Boy", which was later shortened to "Blues Boy" and finally to ''B.B.''〔''B.B.'' is normally written with periods, but no space between the letters.〕〔''History of Rock & Roll''. By Thomas E. Larson. Kendall/Hunt, Dubuque, Iowa. 2004. ISBN 978-0-7872-9969-9 : Page 25.〕〔 It was there that he first met T-Bone Walker. King said, "Once I'd heard him for the first time, I knew I'd have to have (electric guitar ) myself. 'Had' to have one, short of stealing!"〔Dance, Helen Oakley; and B.B. King. ''Stormy Monday'', p. 164〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「B.B. King」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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