We have lost a great one
Riley “B. B.” King, one of the very best blues/jazz guitarists of all time, and a great singer to boot, died last night in Las Vegas, at the age of 89. The immediate cause was complications caused by high blood pressure and diabetes.
The son of sharecroppers, Mr. King was born on a Mississippi cotton plantation, and sang gospel before moving to Memphis at the age of 21 with the guitar he taught himself to play.
By the late 1940\’s, King had developed a reputation for being a top guitar player/singer, and a following which did nothing but grow from then on.
I would list out some of his greatest hits, but there\’s no point: If you don\’t know B.B. King you won\’t know any of them…and if you do know, and love, his music, you don\’t need the list.
All you need to know aboutB. B. King is that to listen to his music was to go back in time to hardscrabble rural Mississippi. Yes, he made some concessions to commerciality, but not many. He may have used his fingers to play that guitar. but his heart and guts were doing the playing.
Our loss of music royalty is heaven\’s gain.
May B. B. King Rest In Peace.
