Nu Vibez and Roleplay Guide Magazine - June 2015 | Page 32

THE LATE GREAT B.B. KING
The King is Gone, But The Thrill Goes On!
Journalist: Scorpinosis Nightfire

“I wanted to connect my guitar to
human emotions.”

Photo: nvivo.es, 5gig on Flickr

On Thursday night March 14th,
the world lost more than an
icon and more than a legend, it
lost a musical pioneer. BB King,
the ambassador of Blues music,
died in his sleep, at the age of 89,
in his Las Vegas home, with diabetes contributing to his health
decline during his final years.
When the news went public,
fans and fellow entertainers
world wide, mourned the passing of this pop culture titan.

32 NU VIBEZ & ROLEPLAY GUIDE MAGAZINE

Born in Mississippi in 1925 as Riley B. King, the blues great juggled learning guitar with picking
cotton and by his teen-age years,
was already starting to perform
professionally. He acquired his
nickname of BB when working as
a DJ in Memphis, where he was
known as the Beale Street Blues
Boy – the Blues Boy was eventually shortened to BB.
His first hits were in 1950 and in
1951 he had a national hit with

the song Three O’Clock Blues,
which began a run of successes
that would see him, as one writer put it, “redefine blues guitar
playing and the blues itself.”
BB was known to say more with
one note than any other guitarist could with an entire flurry of
notes. As country/folk singer Jason Isbell put it: “BB King wasn’t
just a famous blues singer, he
was a truly incredible guitar
player. Didn’t give a damn about