King of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B.B. King

Riley "Blues Boy" King (1925-2015) was born into deep poverty in Jim Crow Mississippi. Wrenched away from his sharecropper father, B.B. lost his mother at age ten, leaving him more or less alone. Music became his emancipation from exhausting toil in the fields. Inspired by a local minister's guitar and by the records of Blind Lemon Jefferson and T-Bone Walker and encouraged by his cousin, the established blues man Bukka White, B.B. taught his guitar to sing in the unique solo style that, along with his relentless work ethic and humanity, became his trademark. In turn, generations of artists claimed him as inspiration, from Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton to Carlos Santana and the Edge. King of the Blues presents the vibrant life and times of a trailblazing giant. Witness to dark prejudice and lynching in his youth, B.B. performed incessantly (some 15,000 concerts in 90 countries over nearly 60 years). Several of his concerts, including his landmark gig at Chicago's Cook County Jail, endure in legend to this day. His career roller-coastered between adulation and relegation, but he always rose back up. At the same time, his story reveals the many ways record companies took advantage of artists, especially those of color. Daniel de Visé has interviewed almost every surviving member of B.B. King's inner circle, and their voices and memories enrich and enliven the life of this Mississippi blues titan, whom his contemporary Bobby "Blue" Bland simply called "the man."

Author: Daniel de Visé
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Published: 01/25/2022
Binding Type: MP3 CD
Weight: 0.15lbs
Size: 4.88h x 5.59w x 0.47d
ISBN: 9781666512410

About the Author
Visé, Daniel de: - Daniel de Visé is the author of the critically acclaimed Andy and Don: The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American TV Show and The Comeback: Greg LeMond, The True King of American Cycling and a Legendary Tour de France. The co-author of I Forgot to Remember: A Memoir of Amnesia, he shared a 2001 Pulitzer Prize for his journalism and has worked at The Washington Post and Miami Herald, among other newspapers. He lives in Maryland.Hite, Cary: - Cary Hite is an experienced actor and audiobook narrator who has had the pleasure of working with a number of publishing houses. An Earphones Award-winner, he currently resides in New York City.