Riley B. King net worth is $30 Million. Also know about Riley B. King bio, salary, height, age weight, relationship and more …

Riley B. King Wiki Biography

Riley B. King was born 16 September 1925 near Berclair, Mississippi USA, to cotton share croppers, and became acclaimed as one the best blues musicians of all time, being named ‘The King of Blues’, and with Albert King and Freddie King was one of the ‘Three Kings of the Blues Guitar’. Sadly, King died at the age of 89 in Las Vegas, Nevada on 14 May 2015.

So just how rich was B.B. King? Sources have estimated that B.B.’s net worth was over $30 million at the time of his passing, his wealth having been earned as a singer, guitarist and songwriter during his career in the music industry stretching over more than 70 years.

B.B. King was raised by his grandparents after his mother left the family. In his childhood King sang in the  church gospel choir, and began playing the guitar from around the age of 12. In his late teens, he began performing casually with various groups in Mississippi and Memphis, but became a regular after performing on Sonny Boy Williamson’s radio program in 1948 on Memphis radio station WIDA. He also worked as a disc jockey and singer, during which period he was nicknamed the Beale Street Blues Boy, afterwards shortened to Blues Boy and later to just B. B. This was the start of his professional career, and the opening of his net worth account.

Many of King’s early recordings starting around 1950 were produced by Sam Phillips, who later founded Sun Records. B.B. assembled his own band, the B.B. King Review and had a recording contract with RPM Records. King also began writing compositions, with the help of trained musician Onzie Horne as, by his own admission, King could not play chords well and in fact relied on improvisation throughout his career.

Then began King’s never-ending touring, at which he was a master, much preferring live shows to recording. Even in his later years, B.B. King was playing more than 100 concerts per year, cutting down the number because of exhaustion from the number which, for most of his career, was more than 200 concerts per year, and in 1956 a record total for a musician of 342. Of course there is no doubt that these were also a very big source of King’s net worth.

In 1952, B.B. King had his first #1 hit “3 O’Clock Blues” on the Billboard R & B chart. From that point, B.B. became one of the stars of R&B and blues music, which status he maintained for the rest of his life. His major hits included “You Know I Love You”, “Woke Up This Morning”, “Please Love Me”, “When My Heart Beats like a Hammer”, “Whole Lotta Love”, “You Upset Me Baby”, “Every Day I have the Blues”, “Sneakin’ Around”, “Ten Long Years”, “Bad Luck”, “Sweet Little Angel”, “On My Word of Honor”, and “Please Accept My Love”. These led to a significant increases in his net worth, and in the early years saw increase from less than $100 a week to well over $2,000, assisted by many concert appearances  including in famous theatres such as the Apollo in New York and Howard in Washington.

B.B. King founded his own record label also in 1956, producing both his own and other artists’ recordings at his Beale Street studio in Memphis. He also widened his music appeal, over the coming years, for example among rock audiences by joining The Rolling Stones tour in 1969, then with the single  “When Love Comes to Town”, in collaboration with the Irish band U2, which gained worldwide success. In 1997, B.B. performed in the Vatican’s fifth annual Christmas concert,  in 1998 he appeared in the film “The Blues Brothers 2000” along with Eric Clapton, Dr. John, Koko Taylor and Bo Diddley, and in 2000 he joined Eric Clapton again to record the album “Riding With the King”, which won the Grammy Award that year for Best Traditional Blues Album.

There was never a let-up in touring with B.B., even in the last few years. In 2011, King played at the  Glastonbury Music Festival and the Royal Albert Hall in the UK; in 2012, King was among the performers at “the White House: Red, White and Blues”, during which President Barack Obama sang part of “Sweet Home Chicago”.  Also in 2012, King performed a concert at the Byblos International Festival, in Lebanon, and then in 2013 at the New Orleans Jazz Festival.

During his long career, B.B. King released 138 singles, 43 studio albums, 12 compilation albums and 16 live albums. The most successful B. B. King albums were “Deuces Wild” released in 1997 and certified gold in US and platinum in Canada,  and the aforementioned “Riding with the King” certified twice platinum in US, platinum in Canada, and gold in Australia. His rich discography undoubtedly was one of the major sources of King’s net worth.

B.B. King’s most beloved music genre was blues, however, he has also performed R&B, Pop and other music genres. Needless to mention the fact that B.B. King’s net worth rose after his work was honoured or awarded. From 1971 he won fifteen Grammy Awards for the Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording, Best Traditional Blues Recording, Best Traditional Blues Album, Best Rock Instrumental Performance, Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, Best Pop Instrumental Performance. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, Grammy Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In honour of his lifetime activities he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. Other notable awards which helped King’s net worth rise were an honorary Doctor of Music by Yale University, National Medal of Arts, Presidential Medal of Freedom and others.

In his personal life, B.B. King was first married to Martha Lee Denton (1946-52), and then to Sue Carol Hall (1958-66). However, it has been suggested that King is the father of fifteen children and has many grandchildren. One of his hobby’s was flying, and he was a FAA-licensed Private Pilot from 1963. B.B. suffered with diabetes for the last 20 years of his life, frequently speaking out about the disease, and publicising it through the medium commercials for relevant medications.

IMDB Wikipedia $10 million 1976 5 ft 9 in (1.77 m) Actor African American Albert King B.B. King B.B. King and The Jungle Brothers B.b. King Net Worth BB King; Beale Street Blues Boy Berclair Berclair Mississippi Blues Blues Boy Blues Hall of Fame Blues on the Bayou Claudette King Composer Freddie King Grammy Award Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album Guitarist Ike Turner Indianola Mississippi Seeds Itta Bena King of the Blues King Records artists Lead guitarists Martha Lee Denton Michelle Beisner Mississippi Mississippi Blues Trail Musician October 15 Patty King Record producer Riding with the King Riley B. King Riley Ben King Riley King Rock Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Rock Stars Roomful of Blues Shirley King Singer Singer-songwriter Songwriter Songwriters Hall of Fame Sue Carol Hall The King of Blues United States United States of America WDIA

Riley B. King Quick Info

Riley B. King Trademarks

1. His vibrato-finger technique on the guitar
2. His Black Gibson ES-355 guitar, named “Lucille”

Riley B. King Quotes

• [on which musicians will keep the blues alive in a June 2006 interview] I could name so many that I think that you won’t miss me at all when I’m not around. You’ll maybe miss seeing my face, but the music will go on.
• Nobody loves me but my mother, and she could be jivin’, too.
• (when asked what he would do differently, could he live his life over) I would have finished high school.
• Everybody wants to go to Heaven, but no one wants to die to get there!
• About 15 times, a lady has said: “It’s either me or Lucille.”. That’s why I’ve had 15 children by 15 women.

Riley B. King Important Facts

• His album “Live at the Regal” was declared a historic sound and permanently preserved in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.
• In a special ceremony at the Library of Congress, Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington presented B.B. with a “Living Legend” medal in honor of his achievements as a musician and ambassador for the blues.
• Musicians named a section of the guitar’s neck after him, their blues idol, dubbing it the “B.B. box.” Usually located from the 10th to 12th frets, depending on the key of the song, it’s where King twisted and scorched many of his signature guitar licks.
• Universally hailed as the reigning king of the blues and the single most important electric guitarist of the second half of the 20th century.
• Named the third greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine (after Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman, who died in their 20s, an age when King was just getting started).
• Lived in Las Vegas, but Mississippi was his home.
• Worked on the cotton fields at age 7 and drove tractors. When the weather was bad, he walked 10 miles to a one-room school. He quit in the 10th grade.
• Was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006.
• Toured with the band U2.
• His music inspired Jimi Hendrix, Robert Cray, The Rolling Stones, and Eric Clapton.
• Received the Kennedy Center Honors, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the NARM (National Association of Recording Merchandisers) Chairman’s Award, among many other awards.
• Won 15 Grammys and sold more than 40 million records worldwide, a remarkable number for blues.
• He chopped and picked cotton as a boy.
• The name B.B. King is short for his first stage name, Blues Boy King.
• Attended the opening of the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretative Center in Indianola, Mississippi. [September 2008]
• He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6771 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
• Owned blues clubs in Memphis, New York City, and Los Angeles.
• Was a vegetarian, non-drinker and -smoker, and licensed pilot.
• Performed the song “When Love Comes to Town” in a duet with U2 from the album “Rattle and Hum”.
• Mentioned in the song “Dig It” by The Beatles.
• He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1990 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington, D.C.
• He was awarded the Polar Music Prize, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music Award, on May 24, 2004.
• Mentioned in the song “Life Is a Rock But the Radio Rolled Me” by Reunion.
• According to Las Vegas coroner’s report, B.B. King died from Alzheimer’s disease, with type 2 diabetes, coronary artery atherosclerosis, congestive heart failure, hypertension and cerebral vascular disease acting as significant contributing factors. He died peacefully in his sleep at 9:40 p.m. PDT, at his home in Las Vegas, NV. He canceled a tour in October 2014, citing dehydration and exhaustion stemming from the diabetes.
• He was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 1990.
• Inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
• He played a Gibson B.B. King Lucille. The model he played used to have a Gibson number name, but starting in 1982, after making some special modifications per King’s requests, the guitar became the Lucille model.
• Claimed to have fathered 15 children out of wedlock, all with different women. At the time of his death, news sources claimed that his 15 children were a combination of biological and adopted (but did not indicate how many of each), but that only 11 of those children survived him. Those included eldest surviving daughter Shirley King, who was upset that she did not get a chance to see her father before his death.
• Was one of the most talented and celebrated electric-blues artists of the late 20th Century. He recorded between 90 to 100 blues albums over the course of his singing career and was known for refining electric-blues more than any other blues artist, (a genre invented by the late great Muddy Waters).

Riley B. King Filmography

Riley B. King Awards