Happy Birthday BB King

[guitfiddler]

My "old buddy" turns 80 today.

God bless him.

And he's still playing, what, over 250 gigs a year, after "cutting back" around 5 years ago with the onset of diabetes.... from about 350 per year. In the late 1960's as a teenaged guitarist in a garage band, I used to make a point of catching BB on television, whenever he'd be a guest on someone's show. I thought then, and still do today that he is just the greatest.

And coincidently, born the same year as my mom, but 2 months later. Thank goodness both are still around for me.

[mudshark]

BB's on XM Radio 74 all day today. A bluesman turning 80 is a bit of a miracle in itself, eh?

[JohnnyB]

A bluesman turning 80 is a bit of a miracle in itself, eh?

About 15 years ago a big fan of BB told me that BB had been in something like 100+auto accidents where the car was totaled. All those one-nighters, going home around 2am where there's nothing but drunks and derelicts out on the road.

A miracle indeed! As a dibetic he endorses the glucometer I use -- the LifeScan OneTouch Ultra.

[Caddie]

The thrill is NOT gone

Happy B-Day BB

Noonan

[Kurt L]

Seen him many time, hope to see him many more. Thank you , Mister King!

[tombo]

Happy B-day B.B.! Even though I love all three Kings, B.B. is still my favorite and biggest influence.

Read B.B.'s autobiography if you can. Wonderful read, very interesting.

[hamerican gigolo]

The greatest and most influental blues guitarist who ever lived.

What a vibrato!

Happy birthday.

[tomteriffic]

When I was a kid, maybe 8 years old, my mom took me to see him in somme roadhouse juke-joint in East St. Louis. Even then (1960 or so), he was wearing a suit. But with shorts on. I never forgot the experience.

30 years later I passed the favor on and took my son, then about 8, to see him. This time it was a swanky concert hall and he had a tux on. Buddy Guy opened and my son and I still talk about the experience. The thrill is definitely NOT gone.

[straightblues]

I lover BB. If you guys ever get a chance check out his album/cd call "BB King the early Blues Boy Years" volume one from 1949-1952 and volume 2 1952-1954. They are on the Opal lable. It is a two CD set of stuff of some of BB's earliest recorded material. It is BB before the single note bends and sustain stuff he later became famous for. It is swinging sort of blues ala T-Bone Walker and is by far the my favorite stuff that BB ever did. It is a clinic in how to play blues guitar. The recordings are great and don't sound like they were recorded in a field like a lot of the old blues stuff. These are my most listened to CD's of all time. I heard about them from Larry Taylor who was the original bass player from Canned Heat and who has now played with just about every known blues band in the world (including last years Sweat Tee tour with Buddy Guy). They are his favorite CD's as well.

[luiss]

Happy birthday for one of the three Kings of the blues!

I saw him here in Spain in 1.998 live for the first time in my life and I was blown by his vocals and energy on stage(he sat on a chair in the middle of the concert saying hey I'm 74 years old you know).Great great man,one of the best concerts I assisted.He has magic.....

[tbabinec]

There's a terrific 4-CD collection called BB King: The Vintage Years. CD 1 has his hits from the 50s. CD 2 has a lot of his early sides from the early 50s - the same material mentioned above by Straighblues. If you're looking for 1 CD rather than a box set, there's 2 albums on 1 CD called Singin the Blue/The Blues. Those are BB's first 2 "albums" though not his earliest sides. Albums in those days were often collections of singles, and there's some great music to be heard. Singin' the Blues introduces a lot of his classics.