The Man
Riley B. King was born on September 16, 1925, on a cotton plantation in Itta Bena,
Mississippi, just outside the Mississippi Delta town of Indianola. He used to play on
the corner of Indianola’s Church and Second Street for dimes and would sometimes
play in as many as four towns on a Saturday night.

With his guitar and $2.50, he hitchhiked north to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1947 to
pursue his musical career. Memphis was the city to which every important musician
of the South gravitated, and it supported a large, competitive musical community
where virtually every black musical style was heard.

B.B.’s first big break came in1948 when he performed on Sonny Boy Williamson's
radio program on KWEM out of West Memphis. This led to steady performance
engagements at the Sixteenth Avenue Grill in West Memphis and later to a ten-minute
spot on black staffed and managed radio station WDIA. "King's Spot,” sponsored by
Pepticon, a health tonic, became so popular that it was increased in length and
became the "Sepia Swing Club." Soon after, B.B. needed a catchy radio name. What
started out as Beale Street Blues Boy was shortened to Blues Boy King, and
eventually B.B. King.

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