LYCOS RETRIEVER 
B.B. King: Guitars
built 630 days ago
It was during this era that King first named his beloved guitar "Lucille." Seems that while he was playing a joint in a little Arkansas town called Twist, fisticuffs broke out between two jealous suitors over a lady. The brawlers knocked over a kerosene-filled garbage pail that was heating the place, setting the room ablaze. In the frantic scramble to escape the flames, King left his guitar inside. He foolishly ran back in to retrieve it, dodging the flames and almost losing his life. When the smoke had cleared, King learned that the lady who had inspired such violent passion was named Lucille. Plenty of Lucilles have passed through his hands since; Gibson has even marketed a B.B.-approved guitar model under the name.
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Dissatisfied with royalty rates and songwriting credits, King signed with ABC-Paramount in the early Sixties, when his contract with the Biharis expired. At that time, ABC was cultivating a stable of black artists that included Ray Charles, Lloyd Price and Fats Domino. They paired King with an arranger, and his studio records took on a more polished, sophisticated and eclectic tone. Pushing the blues in new directions, King was rewarded with such breakthrough hits as “The Thrill Is Gone,” which featured his soulful voice and guitar over a backdrop of strings. He ... cut raw, energetic concert LPs - Live at the Regal (1965) and Live at Cook County Jail (1971) - that are classics of the genre.
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King's first exposure to music was gospel singing in church. Archie Fair, a sanctified preacher from a local Pentecostal church, played the first electric guitar King ever heard. Fair taught him a few chords, but the youngster's voice was his favorite instrument. He soon formed his first gospel group, the Elkhorn Jubilee Singers. In 1940, King's grandmother died and he briefly returned to his father's custody before returning to his mother's relatives, the Hensons, in Kilmichael.
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In the winter of 1949, King played at a dance hall in Twist, Arkansas. In order to heat the hall, a barrel half-filled with kerosene was lit, a not uncommon practice. During a performance, two men began to fight, knocking over the burning barrel and sending burning fuel across the floor. This triggered an evacuation. Once outside, King realized that he had left his guitar inside the burning building. He entered the blaze to retrieve his guitar, a Gibson acoustic.
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Riley B. King aka B. B. King (born September 16, 1925) is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is widely considered one of the best (and most respected) blues musicians in the world. One of his trademarks is "Lucille", a custom guitar he began using in the 1950s. There have been many incarnations of Lucille (King has had a number of guitars over his career, but calls them all Lucille) but they are usually Gibson ES-355s custom made to King's required specifications.
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By 1949, King had began to make his mark in the blues world, recording numerous sides for several small blues labels. Most of the music King recorded during this early period in his career... leaned more towards the more popular "rhythm and blues" style of music. It wasn't until well into the 1950's that King really became noted for his guitar work.
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