The Man
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, but then realized that
he left his $30 guitar inside. He rushed back inside 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. Each one of B.B.'s guitars since that time
have been called Lucille.

Soon after his number one hit, "Three O'Clock Blues", B.B. began touring nationally,
and he has never stopped, performing an average of 275 concerts a year. in 1956
B.B. and his band played an astonishing 342 one night stands. From the chitlin circuit
with its small town cafes, ghetto theaters, country dance halls, and roadside joints to
jazz clubs, rock palaces, symphony concert halls, college concerts, resort hotels and
prestigious concert halls nationally and internationally, B.B. has become one of the
most renowned blues musician in the world.

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