B. B. King was born on September 16, 1925. King was a singer, songwriter, and guitarist who was among the most influential blues musicians of all time, particularly for his skill on the electric guitar.

King got his first guitar when he was twelve. By the time he was 18, he was playing with a local gospel group in northern Mississippi, performing at churches and on the radio. In 1948, he became a regular on a Memphis radio station, where he worked as a disc jockey and singer. He picked up the nickname "Beale Street Blues Boy," which eventually got shortened to "Blues Boy," then to "B.B.".

King made his first recordings in 1949, and began touring, playing mostly in small Southern cities. One show was interrupted when two fighting men in the audience accidentally started a fire; King got out of the building, but ran back in to save his guitar. As he told the story, he later learned that the men were fighting over a woman named Lucille, and he named his guitar Lucille as a reminder never to fight over a woman or to run into a burning building.

In 1952, King had his first national hit with "3 O'Clock Blues," which reached the top of the R&B chart. He had a dozen more top ten R&B records over the next decade. He wasn't quite so dominant a hitmaker after that, but he never really left the charts, either, landing hits in the top 40 with some regularity throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and scoring his last R&B hit in 1985 with "Into the Night." King's success was due in part to his tirelessness as a performer. In 1956, he played 342 concerts and averaged more than 200 concerts each year well into his 70s.

In the late 1960s, blues music began to find a wider audience, as British rock musicians talked about their love for the music and the performers who had influenced them. King's manager began booking him into different concert venues with larger, often whiter, audiences than he had previously had. In 1969, King went on tour as the opening act for the Rolling Stones. The new audience and publicity led to his biggest crossover to the pop charts, the 1970 classic "The Thrill Is Gone."

That song was added to the Grammy Hall in Fame in 1998; King had already received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987, one of many honors he received during his long career. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Official Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame. He received the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And in 2004, he was awarded the Polar Music Prize, given annually to one classical musician and one popular musician, and sometimes referred to as the "Nobel Prize of Music."

In addition to his busy touring schedule, King was a prolific recording artist, recording more than 50 albums during his career, including more than a dozen live albums. He was said to be particularly proud of the 1965 album Live at the Regal. King frequently collaborated with other musicians. He recorded two live albums with Bobby Bland and an album with Eric Clapton, and made guest appearances on records by U2 and Big K.R.I.T.

King also devoted significant time to charitable and political work. He co-founded the Foundation for Advancement of Inmate Rehabilitation and Recreation, which works for prison reform; and was a vocal supporter of Little Kids Rock, which provides musical instruments and lessons to children in public schools who could not otherwise afford them.

King died on May 14, 2015, after several small strokes. He was honored with a funeral procession down Beale Street in Memphis, and is buried at the B. B. King Museum in his hometown, Indianola, Mississippi.

In addition to the titles linked above, a large amount of King's music is available for streaming at Hoopla.