Blues icon's out of retirement
Blues guitar icon BB King comes to the region next month in what is poised to be one of the best blues concerts to hit the UK in years.
King is coming out of retirement to team up with legendary British-born bluesman John Mayall to perform at the NIA in Birmingham on June 25.
During his career King has mixed traditional blues, jazz, swing and mainstream pop into a unique sound that has cemented his reputation as possibly the most respected, successful and recognised blues musician in the world.
He has developed one of the genre's most identifiable guitar styles, becoming a model for thousands of players including Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck.
King has released more than 50 albums, most recently One Kind Favor, released in 2008.
Many of his records are considered blues classics, like 1965's Live At The Regal.
Over the years, King has had two number one hits, 1951's Three O'Clock Blues and 1952's You Don't Know Me.
King was born in 1925, on a cotton plantation in Itta Bene, Mississippi. With his guitar and less than three dollars, he hitchhiked north to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1947 to pursue his musical career.
His big break came in 1948 when he performed on Sonny Boy Williamson's radio programme.
He was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and has won eight Grammys.
Tickets are available from 39.
For more information call The Ticket Factory on 0844 338 8000, or visit www.theticketfactory.com.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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