Mark Thompson Mrs. Harrington January 15, 2003 English 11 Honors June 2000- Session 1 Who is B.B. King? Well, B.B. King is a extraordinarily famous blues musician. Interestingly, he chooses to play the blues because he could convey or express his feelings, and his disposition, easier through the blues than through talking. Several factors from B.B. King's early life experiences have helped shape his career as a blues musician.
As a child, B.B. King's great-grandmother, who was a former slave, always talked to him about the olden days and where the blues originated from. She would talk about how singing about your sadness unburdens your soul, but the blues was about more than being sad. The blues would help deliver messages across a field about whether or not a slave master was coming, which would help presage the other slaves working on the field. B.B. King would see that the blues was about survival.
B.B. King at the 1990 Grammy Awards show. Crop fro...
English: King performing at the Fox Theater in Oak...
English: A B.B. King guitar pick, made by the City...Also as a little kid, blues meant many things to B.B. King. It meant hope, excitement, pure emotion Blues were about feelings.
Also as a kid, B.B. King wanted to preach, to sing, and wanted to play the guitar and travel with his gospel group. He preferred that living off of music was quite a better lifestyle, than living off the land. Which is why he viewed the members on the gospel choir did not need day jobs. Disappointed with the churches decision to stay close in Indianola, B.B. King was determined to continue on with his success in singing the blues and make a living off of it. On some Saturdays, he began to sit on the corner off Church Street, and take out his guitar and play some gospel songs. When he would be ignored by civilians, he would just sing louder with feeling and strum with conviction, which shows his determination. When he started to get no tip after playing, he changed his style of music, from gospel to secular, which helped him to gain more money.
In conclusion, B.B. King's early childhood did contribute a lot to his success in life today. He believes that rockers, rappers and soul singing children all come out of the blues. The blues is the grandfather watching over his children. The reason why he started playing the blues is because it started love him, and when blue began paying, he gave the blues ever more of him.
B.B. King at Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto, Ontario (M...
English: Blues guitarist B.B. King following a per...
English: Sign for B.B. King's Blues club on Beale ...