The Blues

Blues is a genre of music that has been around for many of years. Riley B.B. King was a professional blues singer who was born in Itta Bena, Mississippi on September 16, 1925 (Adelt, 2011, 197). Before he became a musician, King was a tractor driver and worked as a sharecropper. In Memphis, in 1948, King started his career as a radio disc jockey at a local radio station. While in Memphis B.B. began to play his guitar and sing at local clubs and bars. He picked up the nickname “Beale Street Blues Boy,” which shorted to B.B (Adelt, 2011, 198).

B.B. King had then become a star. In the 1960’s, King’s career began to fail. He tried in the 1950’s to play for white audiences, but it was not a success. He also failed at black, older, and well-off audiences (Adelt, 2011, 198). King had an opportunity to play in San Francisco at the Fillmore West. During the time her played, majority of the audience was black. It later grew to mostly white. B.B. (Adelt, 2011, 199). King then became a famous blues singer with mostly white audiences. Blacks listened to mostly soul music during this time period.

Most people do not know that before the Civil Rights era, King sang in the south for the whites. He made an appearance at a rock festival in Macon, GA. He was in the south and wasn’t sure how to act. All the theaters he played at in the past were all once black, but this had changed. Majority of them were white. In the 1970’s B.B. went on 10-day tour with the Rolling Stones. This tour was a change for him. All the music was rock and roll and he had been exposed to one of the largest audiences he has ever had. B.B. states that he wasn’t comfortable (Adelt, 2011, 200).     

During B.B.’s career, he had a “crossover.” In the 1960’s, he had continually talked about how he was not happy with the blacks and their music change from blues to soul music. Young black audiences booed him. Bobby Shiffman, the manager at the Apollo Theater, stated that “blues represented, at the time, misery.” Blues came out at a time of slavery and was a black man’s lowest point in history (Adelt, 2011, 203).  B.B. continued to wow other audiences. White hippies found purity in blues music. He then began to travel to other countries and sing. ABC Records later took over King’s label in 1962. In 1968, he broke the pop charts and won his first Grammy. After that; he opened for Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley (Adelt, 2011,204.).

The 1970’s was a time when white performers began to emerge. Elton John Billy Joel climbed the charts (Adelt, 2011, 207). B.B. King began to grow even more popular and was acknowledged everywhere. By 1970, King released his third album which made number 26 on the charts. This was the highest he had been. His cover also won a Grammy for the Best Album Cover (Adelt, 2011, 208). King continued his career under the production of Bill Szymczyk. . they used “white” sounds and images to charm white audiences. Finally, in 1969 and 1971 he used “black” sounds and fewer images to charm the same audiences. Even though B.B. was now a hippie rock star, he was still related to the black audiences (Adelt, 2011, 210).

Blues was a big part of the white culture. Blacks seemed to like soul more at the time. B.B. King had mostly white audiences during this era. His first mostly black audience was played on September 10, 1970 in front of 2117 inmates (Adelt, 2011, 212). King’s music was made mostly of “white” sounds and images. He affected many different kinds of audiences. He is an inspiration to a variety of ethnicities and continues to be a very successful musician.

                                                                                                                                

             

References

Adelt, Ulrich. (2011). Black, White, and Blue: Racial Politics in B.B. King’s Music from the 1960s. The Journal of Popular Culture, Vol 44, No 2, 195-214.