B. B. King

B.B. King is, simply, the standard. What stays with me is not just the singing strings and that shimmering vibrato, but his relentless work ethic: a man loaded with every honor imaginable, from the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, who still chose to play hundreds of nights a year until the very end. He turned a single bent note into pure emotion, proving that economy can move people more than flash. The journey from the Mississippi cotton fields to global icon is the American story in its richest form. Lucille fell silent in 2015, but the influence never will.

Name (English)

B. B. King

Name (Japanese)

B.B.キング

Reading

B.B.きんぐ

Born

September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Virgo / Ox

Origin

Berclair, Mississippi, United States

Occupation

guitarist / singer / singer-songwriter / composer / pianist

Awards & achievements

• Blues Hall of Fame
• National Medal of Arts
• 2006 Presidential Medal of Freedom
• 1987 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
• 1987 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Library of Congress Living Legend
• Kennedy Center Honors
• Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

• Official sitehttps://bbking.com
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B.%20B.%20King
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/B.B.%E3%82%AD%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B0
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q188969

Tags

• Mississippi
• guitarist
• singer
• singer-songwriter

Last updated

2026-06-17

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.