B.B. King was born Riley B. King near this site on September 16, 1925, to Albert and Nora Ella King, sharecroppers who lived in a simple home along Bear Creek. After his parents separated when he was four, he lived in Kilmichael and Lexington before moving in 1943 to Indianola, which he called his hometown. There he worked as a tractor driver, married, sang with a gospel quartet, and began actively playing the blues. In the late 1940s he moved to Memphis to pursue music, and by 1949 he was a deejay at radio station WDIA, where he gained the nickname "B.B.," short for "Blues Boy," while also winning talent contests at the Palace Theater. His career rose in 1952 with "Three O’Clock Blues," his first No. 1 rhythm and blues hit, and over the following decades he recorded dozens of hits on the RPM, Kent, ABC, BluesWay, and MCA labels while touring relentlessly. Known as the "Ambassador of the Blues" and the "King of the Blues," he became probably the most influential musician in blues history, and his guitar playing shaped countless blues, rock, and rhythm and blues performers. His 1970 crossover hit "The Thrill Is Gone" brought the first of more than a dozen GRAMMY awards and launched his international stardom, followed by collaborations with Willie Nelson, U2, Eric Clapton, Luciano Pavarotti, and Heavy D. He remained connected to Mississippi through regular visits beginning in the 1960s for events including an annual celebration honoring Medgar Evers, a B.B. King Homecoming in Indianola, and workshops with students at Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena; later honors included the creation of the B.B. King Recording Studio in 2004 and the opening of the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola in 2008.
