Riley King Biography

Austin Habib American Music Professor Collins June 4th, 2018 B.B. and the Blues B.B. King or ‘The King of Blues’ was born in Itta Bena, Mississippi. His young parents unfortunately divorced, and his mother passed away when he was 9 years old which left him to be raised by his grandmother. King attended school until the 10th grade when he dropped out of school and started to work at a cotton gin near his hometown. Despite dropping out of school he continued to teach himself math and different languages well into his later life. He worked at the cotton gin earning a penny a pound and singing gospel music on street corners. His musical career started when he was studying under his cousin Bukka White. King met a woman and was married at 17 years old. “I guess I was looking for love, because I never had anybody I believed truly loved me” (B.B. King). The marriage quickly came to end when they got a divorce months later. “Since my early childhood, I had a problem trying to open up. Please open me up. Look inside!

For more than half a century, Riley B. King -better known as B.B. King- has defined the blues for a worldwide audience. Since he started recording in the 1940s, he has released over fifty albums (many of them classics). B.B. was born September 16, 1925, on a plantation in Itta Bena,

Elvis presley is and still is the king of rock n roll. Even though he had an interesting childhood, career and personal life, and legacy and death. As the king says himself “Until we meet again, may God bless you as he has blessed

Elvis Presley was, is, and will forever be known as the King of Rock and Roll. No matter what the public thought of him, he did what he loved because he believed in his music and lifestyle. Elvis once stated, “Rock and roll music, if you like it, if you feel it, you can't help but move to it. That's what happens to me. I can't help it.” This quote sparked a feeling of ambition and drove the dreams of almost every single rock and roll star who came after him. Elvis’ true passion for his music, inspired an inexplicable amount of people to pursue their dreams and be passionate about what they love. Elvis Presley by Tony Gentry explains how Elvis Presley became one of the most iconic figures in music history.

King’s celebrated music career emerged from very modest beginnings. At the age of 18, King started to perform his renditions of traditional Delta blues music at churches around local areas in Mississippi; but his talents saw him gradually travel further up north over the years, as many blues musicians, and many other African-Americans

Elvis Aaron Presley, otherwise known as “The King” was born on January 8th, 1935. He came from simple beginnings; being born into a lower-class family in Tupelo, Mississippi. In 1948, at the age of 13 Elvis Presley and his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Soon he launched his incredibly successful music career with Sun Records at the age of 19 in 1954. His music was influenced by both African American and White artists causing his unique blend of country, pop, rhythm and blues, and gospel music. Presley was heavily influenced by artists such as Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and Buddy Holly. Though Presley was widely known for his “provocative” dances moves and his popularization of Rock n’ Roll Presley impacted American culture in a much larger aspect. His influence on Americans and American culture aided desegregation and civil rights during his period of influence and helped create “youth culture”.

Elvis Presley Elvis Presley was a legend in rock and roll in life. He still is the king of rock and roll even in death. He was born on January 8 1935 in Mississippi in 1948 his family moved to Memphis Tennessee, where he graduated high school from Humes High School.

Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. On the night of April 3, King gave a speech at the Mason Temple Church in Memphis. Just after 6 p.m. the following day, King was standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel, where he and his associates were staying, when a sniper’s bullet struck him in the neck. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later, at the age of 39

It was later ruled that his death was related to his prescription drug use, Presley was buried in Graceland near his mother, father and grandmother. Throughout his career, he helped popularize rock n roll music in American. He won three Grammy awards for his gospel recordings, he had 18 no 1 singles, including “Don’t Be Cruel”, “Good Luck Charm” and “Suspicious Minds”, as well as countless gold and plantium album. Elvis has been recongized for his contributions several musical genres, most notably rock, country and gospel. Since his death, Presley has remained one of the world’s most popular music icons. Presleys memphis home is open to the public and numerous fans from around the world visit the legendary residence annually. especially around his birthday and the anniversary of his death. “ You should see this from our point of view. Its amazing,” Priscilla said during the event, according to the Washington Post. “The candles are lit. It’s truly a sight to behold, this is something that Elvis would never, ever have believed could haven taken place.” Elvis Presley changed many lifes during his fame and he had a successful career and knowing how great of an impact he has made on everyone is how he influenced the way we live

The response from listeners was immediately ecstatic, and Dewey demanded that Elvis return to the station for an interview. Soon after that, Scotty Moore became Presley’s manager. With Scotty’s help, “That’s All Right” and “Blue Moon of Kentucky” became Presley’s first ever hit. For a while, Elvis only played local shows, until that fateful night at Grand Ole Opry. Presley played at the Grand Ole Opry on September 25, and was considered by all who attended to be untalented and a major flop. It has even been said Opry’s talent coordinator asked Elvis what his original profession was, and when he replied that he drove trucks, he was told by the coordinator to go back to driving trucks.

He is known as the first person to use the expression “rock and roll” to describe the new rhythm and blues music. Freed was also one of the first to play rock and roll music on his radio show, and he organized the first rock and roll concert in Cleveland during the early 1950s. Soon thereafter, rock and roll music was produced in cities like New Orleans and Memphis. One day, a truck driver came to a study to record a song, the man was Elis Presley. Presley would become a rock and roll legend. Many other rock and rock singers emerged like, Holly, Lewis, Berry, and Diddley. Rock and roll music was not only a musical style, but it became an influence in lifestyles among American

Who’s the Man? Little Richard is the true king of Rock and Roll. Rock ‘n’ Roll has been around for almost a century and is still popular today. It had originated from the blues and jazz from New Orleans, where Little Richard is from. Since then, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Elvis Presley have claimed the title “The Kings of Rock ‘n’ Roll”. Little Richard is the true king because of his screaming vocals, his piano playing and some of his hits that influenced others. He even brought people of different race come together with his music.

After graduating in 1953 from L.C. Humes High School in Memphis, Elvis worked many jobs to pursue his musical dream (biography.com). Later that year he cut his first demo record at Sun Records, and not long after that the record label owner and producer was impressed by the emotion in Presley’s voice and decided to help Presley pursue his dream of becoming a musical star (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame). In 1954 Elvis recorded “That’s All Right Mama,” it became his first commercial release selling 20,000 copies (Elvis Aron Presley). This began Elvis’s legendary rise to fame.

Elvis Presley was signed to Sun Records in 1954. This was monumental for Phillips’s stand on racial boundaries in music. Elvis drew national attention to Sun Records which, in part, sparked slight popularity for other Sun artists such as Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, and Roscoe Gordon (Sun Records 1). This point in time is known as the origin of Rock and Roll. Contrary to what Rock and Roll is now, it was only popular within a certain demographic of people for a long time

During the composition of the song, Ben E. King did not have any intention of record it, as he stated in an interview for the documentary History of Rock 'n' Roll. King had written the theme for a blues band called The Drifters, who ultimately decided not to record it. After the recording sessions of "Spanish Harlem", song released by