11 things you may or may not know about B.B. King
1. Riley B. King was born Sept. 16, 1925, on a plantation in Itta Bena, Miss., near Indianola.
2. His first break came in 1948 on Sonny Boy Williamson’s radio show in West Memphis, Ark. Needing a catchy radio name, he went by Beale Street Blues Boy, later shortened to Blues Boy King and eventually B.B. King.
3. King performed at a dance in Arkansas during the mid-1950s when two men got into a fight and knocked over a kerosene stove, which set fire to the hall. King went outside to safety but then realized his guitar was still inside. He ran into the club, risking his life, to retrieve the guitar. When he found out the fight was over a woman named Lucille, that became the moniker for his guitar.
4. He has won 14 Grammy Awards and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and he was a 1987 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.
5. King has released more than 100 albums — studio LPs and live recordings, not compilations — according to AllMusic Guide.com, since “Singin’ the Blues” in 1956.
6. A biographer has estimated that King has given more than 15,000 performances.
7. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bush in 2006.
8. Saturday night will be the fourth time this decade King has played in Davenport. He played at the Adler Theatre in November 2000 and May 2003 and in the RiverCenter during December 2005.
9. On the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” list published by Rolling Stone magazine in 2003, King was No. 3, behind Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman.
10. There currently are B.B. King’s Blues Clubs in Memphis, Nashville, Orlando and New York. Previous clubs were located in Los Angeles and Connecticut.
11. The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretative Center will open Sept. 13 in Indianola, Miss. Its executive director is Connie Gibbons, former executive director of the River Music Experience in Davenport.
If you go
Who: B.B. King, with the Ellis Kell Band
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, May 31
Where: Adler Theatre, Davenport
How much: $77, $67 and $57
Information: (563) 326-8555 or AdlerTheatre.com on the Web
Also on the Web: BBKing.com