The Thrill is Gone
On Ralph Gleason's
Jazz Casual (1968)
Blues Boys Tune
Three O'clock Blues
GUITAR SPACESHIP
B. B. King (born Riley B. King, September 16, 1925) is an American blues guitarist and
singer-songwriter. Critical acclaim and widespread popularity have cemented his reputation as one
of the most respected and successful blues musicians. Rolling Stone magazine named him the
third-greatest guitarist of "the 100 greatest guitarists of all time".

B. B. King arrived in Memphis for the first time in 1946 to work as a musician, but after a few months
of hardship he left, going back to Mississippi. There he decided to prepare himself better for the
next visit and returned to Memphis two years later. Initially he worked at the local R&B radio
channel WDIA as a singer and disc jockey, where he gained the nickname "Beale Street Blues Boy",
later shortened to "B. B.". It was there that he first met T-Bone Walker - "Once I'd heard him for the
first time, I knew I'd have to have [an electric guitar] myself. Had to have one, short of stealing!"

In the mid-1950s, while B. B. was performing at a dance in Twist, Arkansas, a few fans became
unruly. Two men got into a fight and knocked over a kerosene stove, setting fire to the hall. B. B.
raced outdoors to safety with everyone else, then realized that he left his beloved $30 acoustic
guitar inside, so he rushed back inside the burning building to retrieve it, narrowly escaping death.
When he later found out that the fight had been over a woman named Lucille, he decided to give
the name to his guitar to remind him never to do a crazy thing like fight over a woman. Ever since,
each one of B. B.'s trademark Gibson guitars has been called Lucille.

-- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: January 15, 2009
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B.B._King)
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