BB King brought black music to mainstream
At a time when America is struggling with issues of race and prejudice, the demise of Blues legend BB King leaves a gaping void in the subconscious of the nation. The guitarist, singer and music composer almost single-handedly brought black music into the white mainstream, not just in the US but also in the UK where he was equally popular, and around the world. In doing so, he brought down innumerable class and colour barriers, and helped usher in a new era of equal rights and freedom.
It might even be said that what Martin luther King Junior did with his protest marches and powerful speeches, BB King did with his soulful melodies. In fact, one of his milestone moments was when he received a standing ovation by a primarily white audience at the Fillmore West theatre in San Francisco in 1968. Over the years, as BB King came to be accepted at more and more ‘white venues', he not only scripted his own success as a musician but also helped open the doors for many others, who followed in his footsteps.
The universal and earthy appeal of his music touched his audience somewhere deep within the being, where the colour of one's skin didn't matter and the social trappings of class and status were rendered irrelevant. “I wanted to connect my guitar to human emotions,” BB King said in his autobiography, Blues All Around Me — and he did so with aplomb. BB King's music needs no explanation. But still, if one were to understand the kind of impact that he has had worldwide, one need only go through the list of artists who have been inspired by him, which includes rock stars like Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Peter Green, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Mike Bloomfield, Mark Knopfler, Elton John, Van Morrison and Willie Nelson.
Notably, BB King never quite retired from an active musical career, doing concerts around the world, years after his so-called farewell tour in 2006. In 2012, he even performed at the White House and his last live performance was just about seven months ago in Chicago. BB King started professionally recording his music in 1949 and topped the rhythm and blues charts two years later with Three O'Clock Blues. In 1969, King's The Thrill is Gone became one of the first blues songs to hit the top of the popular charts.
He again scaled new heights in the late 1980s when he performed When love Comes to Town with U2's Bono. In 2000, his enormously successful collaboration with Clapton, for the album Riding with the King, introduced him to yet another generation of music lovers the world over. At the peak of his career, BB King performed relentlessly, doing hundreds of shows and concerts every year. His illustrious body of work won him 15 Grammy Awards (including one for lifetime achievement), a star on Hollywood Boulevard, a Kennedy Center Honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom as well as places of honour at both the Rock and Roll and Blues Halls of Fame.