A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues.

The term is often used interchangeably with miniseries (mini-series) and maxiseries (maxi-series), usually depending on the length and number of issues. In Dark Horse Comics' definition of a limited series, "This term primarily applies to a connected series of individual comic books. A limited series refers to a comic book series with a clear beginning, middle and end." Dark Horse Comics and DC Comics refer to limited series of two to twelve issues as miniseries and series of thirteen issues or more as maxiseries, but other publishers alternate terms.

Characteristics

The limited series has a single story to tell. It follows the standard plot set-up of beginning, middle, and resolution. Usually, all plot points are covered by the end of the series. There have been limited series done in an anthology format, but only a few of these have been produced.

Limited series are often done by a single creative team, but in cases where there are changes, it is usually the writer who remains constant throughout the run while the artist(s) may change. The number of issues is usually determined by some combination of the writer’s plotting and editorial mandate.

History

The genesis of the limited series may be traced to anthology series and back-up stories in series featuring the title character. Publishers would often experiment with new characters and stories. If proven popular, these characters were quickly spun off to their own titles. This was a particularly common strategy of comics in the 1960s and 1970s, which saw a comics sales boom (many times, new titles were launched despite uncertainty about whether a character or team could carry a new series for more than a few issues).

Nowhere was this seen more than with DC Comics, which released many titles between 1975 and 1978, reaching close to 60 monthly ongoing titles. Eventually, DC was forced to scale back and cancel more than half of its titles (see the so-called ''DC Implosion''). Aside from suffering financially, DC Comics was also criticized for straining itself creatively and editorially, affecting the quality of their comics.

''Cerebus the Aardvark''

During 1979, 23-year-old Dave Sim had been a frequent user of marijuana, and soon began experimenting with LSD, taking the drug with such frequency that he was eventually hospitalized. Sim claims that it was this incident that led to the inspiration of creating to produce a comic book series called ''Cerebus the Aardvark'', fixing the amount of issues to 300.

Sim did not realise at the time that by fixing the limit of issues, he had created a new format. As well as being the first limited series, it is also the longest limited series of all time, spanning 300 issues released from December, 1977 to March, 2004.

''World of Krypton''

In 1979, in the process of recovering from the DC Implosion, DC Comics decided to experiment with a new format to tell stories. The result was the 1979 ''World of Krypton'' miniseries, as DC termed such short-run works. The new format allowed the company to tell stories that may not have fit into an ongoing series and to showcase characters into a short story without the risk and obligations of an ongoing monthly. It also freed creators to tell a longer story without the confines characteristic of a backup story.

''Camelot 3000'', ''Ronin''

With the success of the miniseries format, DC Comics followed by experimenting with longer stories and concepts that were outside of their universe of superheroes. Debuting in 1982, ''Camelot 3000'' was the first limited series to run to twelve issues and be dubbed as a "maxiseries." ''Camelot 3000'' was printed on Baxter paper stock and sold through direct market stores. DC followed ''Camelot 3000'' in 1983 with another important contribution to the concept, ''Ronin'', also printed on Baxter paper stock, with more pages than the conventional magazine pamphlet and featuring no advertisements. Without the advertisements, it resulted in a different pacing in comics storytelling.

Marvel: ''Wolverine'' and ''Contest of Champions''

It did not take long for other publishers to follow the limited series form. Marvel Comics used it to feature popular characters from team titles and put them in a lengthy solo adventure. ''Wolverine's'' earliest solo adventures were told in limited series. Crossovers between two characters or teams presented as major storylines were also in limited series form before the concept of crossover stories jumping from one title to another was conceived. ''Contest of Champions'' brought forth the idea of a major event affecting the Marvel Universe. This would be taken further with the twelve-issue ''Secret Wars'' saga in 1984 and by DC’s ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' in 1985.

''The Dark Knight Returns''

In 1986, DC released ''The Dark Knight Returns'', the first mainstream comic printed on glossy paper stock utilizing the "prestige" (or "bookshelf") format, which was square-bound with a card-stock cover. The Prestige format is not favored by other publishers and DC Comics is the only publisher that continues to use it.

Dark Horse

The majority of Dark Horse’s comics are released in limited series form. Their contribution would be the idea of a series of limited series. Each limited series told a complete story to be followed by another one that built its story from the previous limited series. This provided an avenue for creator-owned works where the uncertainty of investing the creator’s property in an ongoing series was lifted from the creator’s concern. The owning creator could complete a limited series installment and follow it with another when they could. This was a model other publishers would use.

Since then, the limited series made it possible for creators to tell graphic novel-length stories. Releasing the story in monthly installments enabled them to immediately receive returns on investment. Further returns are possible with trade paperback collections of the series.

Lengths of limited series

Four-to-six issues is still the norm for most limited series, and presents the most reasonable investment for comic publishers, though there are series that run for as short as two or three issues. The twelve-issue maxiseries form was popular in the 1980s. Many memorable series ran this length, such as ''Secret Wars'', ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'', ''Watchmen'', ''Amethyst, Princess of Gem World'' and ''Squadron Supreme''. This form almost faded out in the 1990s. One point that went against it was the greater financial risk in investing in a lengthy limited series. The popularity of the maxiseries length was resurrected by DC with the success of ''Batman: The Long Halloween'' and ''The Kents''.

Stories of greater length, those running to more than twelve chapters, were often done in multi-title crossovers, though the 1995 Marvel Comics event, ''Age of Apocalypse'', involved several limited series that replaced the ongoing X-Men-related titles for four months and book-ended by two one-shot specials. This idea was revisited by Grant Morrison in 2005 with the ''Seven Soldiers of Victory'' project, and which he dubbed as a ''mega-series''. Marking the difference between the two, ''Age of Apocalypse'' was produced by several writers while the ambitious ''Seven Soldiers'' was the work of a single writer.

The DC project, ''52'', which ran from May 2006 to May 2007, became the largest limited series aside from ''Cerebus'', composed of 52 weekly issues. DC did not label it as either a maxiseries or a miniseries, calling it simply a series (which is misleading since the project was always intended to end by the fifty-second issue). On 9 May 2007, DC immediately followed this series with another, similarly to be published weekly for 52 weeks, entitled ''DC Countdown''. When ''DC Countdown'' was completed, DC launched another series in the same weekly year-long format, ''Trinity''.

As a rule, the number of issues a limited series will run is determined from the outset. However, there have been cases where this rule was changed. There are usually only two reasons for this, one being commercial, the other being, to a rarer extent, creative. Dark Horse’s 1993 ''Aliens: Colonial Marines'' was originally supposed to run twelve issues. When the sales of ''Colonial Marines'' faltered midway through the run, the series was shortened to ten issues. Marvel’s ''Fantastic Four: Big Town'' was set to run six issues only to be set back to four issues. Number changing does not always result in reduction of issues. The first ''Gen¹³'' was to run four issues, with the fourth a double-sized finale. Instead, the final issue was split to two in order to meet publishing schedules. Brian Michael Bendis found difficulty in resolving the finale of ''Ultimate Six'' and Marvel granted his request of extending the series from six to seven issues. The same thing happened with Marvel's ''Eternals'' Vol. 3, which went from six to seven issues when writer Neil Gaiman asked for an extra issue to resolve the ending. Most recently, the eight-issue ''X-Men First Class'', as well as the six-issue ''Avengers: The Initiative'', were both amended to become ongoing series instead, although with ''X-Men First Class'' the new books are officially considered as a second volume.

Occasionally, an ongoing series will be turned into a limited series. Marvel's ''The Ultimates'' began as a monthly series, but became a limited series when production issues arose. When ''Ultimates 2'' was released, it too was released as a limited series. When Marvel's New Universe line of comics was cancelled completely, the final issues of the remaining three titles (''Psi-Force'', ''D.P. 7'' and ''Justice (New Universe)'') were labeled "#32 of a Thirty-two-Issue Limited Series", in the same style that Marvel used to mark limited series at the time. This was humorously repeated as Marvel, when ending its ''Transformers'' comic book in 1992 with issue #80, put a caption on the cover of the book claiming that it was "#80 in a four issue limited series".

Notable limited series

!Title	!Publisher	!Year	!Number of issues	!Comments
''Cerebus the Aardvark''	Aardvark-Vanaheim	1977	300	Creator Dave Sim had the idea of creating a 300 issue series (and make sure that this was the fixed number of issues). As well as being the first official limited series, it is also the longest limited series of all time (in terms of both number of issues and time span), spanning 300 issues released from December, 1977 to March, 2004.
''World of Krypton''		1979	3
''The Untold Legend of the Batman''	DC	1980	3	First miniseries created especially for the format.
''Tales of the Green Lantern Corps''	DC	1981	3
''Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes''	DC	1981	3
''Camelot 3000''	DC	1982	12	First "maxi-series"
''Contest of Champions''		1982	3	Marvel's first limited series
''Green Arrow''	DC	1983	4
	DC	1983	6
''Secret Wars''	Marvel	1984	12
''Secret Wars II''	Marvel	1985	9	Arriving at about the same time, ''Secret Wars II'' and ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' introduced the idea of limited series as company-wide crossover events.
''Crisis on Infinite Earths''	DC	1985	12	A pivotal series that re-shaped the entire DC Universe.
''Batman: The Dark Knight Returns''	DC	1986	4	First use of the "prestige format"
''Watchmen''	DC	1986	12	One of Alan Moore
''[[The Shadow''	DC	1987	4
''Hawkworld''	DC	1989	3
''From Hell''	Kitchen Sink Press	1991	10
		1991	55
		1991	13
''Hellboy: Seed of Destruction''	Dark Horse	1994	4	The first solo series for hit character Hellboy.
''Marvels''	Marvel	1994	4	Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross burst on the scene. The series won the Eisner Award for ''Best Limited Series'' in 1994.
	DC	1996	4	The series won the Eisner Award for ''Best Limited Series'' in 1997.
''Marvel vs. DC''	Marvel/DC	1996	4
	Dark Horse	1998	5
''JLA/Avengers''	DC/Marvel	2003	4
	DC	2004	7
''Infinite Crisis''	DC	2005	7
''Marvel Zombies''	Marvel	2005	5
''House of M''	Marvel	2005–2006	8
	DC	2006–2007	52	Weekly series lasting for one year, with events detailed in real time. Follows ''Infinite Crisis''.
	Marvel	2006–2007	7
''Countdown to Final Crisis''	DC	2007–2008	51	Weekly series lasting one year, events detailed in real time. Titled "Countdown" for its first 19 issues. Numbered in reverse. Follows ''52''.
''The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite''	Dark Horse	2007	6	The series was written by singer Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance, who teamed up with critically acclaimed Brazilian comic artist Gabriel Bá. It also won the Eisner Award for "Best Limited Series" in 2008.
''Secret Invasion''	Marvel	2008	8
''Blackest Night''	DC	2009	8
''Brightest Day''	DC	2010-2011	24	The follow-up to ''Blackest Night''.

References

Notes

Sequential Tart interview with Jenette Kahn

GHM Online - Camelot 3000

Dial B for Blog: Secret Origins of the DC Implosion

See also

List of limited series

Category:Comics terminology Category:Television terminology

es:Serie limitada pt:Série limitada

Name	B.B. King
background	solo_singer
birth name	Riley King
alias	B.B. King
birth date	September 16, 1925
origin	Itta Bena, Mississippi, United States
instrument	Guitar, vocals, piano
genre	Blues, soul blues, jazz, blues rock, electric blues, rhythm and blues, soul
Occupation	Musician, singer, songwriter, record producer
Years active	1949–present
Label	Geffen/Interscope/Universal, Bullet Records, RPM Records, Crown, ABC, MCA, Reprise/Warner Bros., Virgin/EMI
Associated acts	Bobby Bland, Eric Clapton, Pappo
Website	www.bbking.com, www.bbkingmuseum.org
Notable instruments	Lucille }}

Riley B. King (born September 16, 1925), known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.

''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him at No.3 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. According to Edward M. Komara, King "introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending and shimmering vibrato that would influence virtually every electric blues guitarist that followed." King has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Early life

King was born in a small cabin on a cotton plantation outside of Berclair, near Indianola, Mississippi, to Albert King and Nora Ella Farr on September 16, 1925.

In 1930, when King was four years old, his father abandoned the family, and his mother married another man. Because Nora Ella was too poor to raise her son, King was raised by his maternal grandmother Elnora Farr in Kilmichael, Mississippi. Over the years, B.B. has developed one of the world's most identifiable guitar styles. He borrowed from Blind Lemon Jefferson, T-Bone Walker and others, integrating his precise and complex vocal-like string bends and his left hand vibrato, both of which have become indispensable components of rock guitarist's vocabulary. His economy and phrasing has been a model for thousands of players, from Eric Clapton and George Harrison to Jeff Beck. B.B. has mixed traditional blues, jazz, swing, mainstream pop and jump into a unique sound. In B.B.'s words, "When I sing, I play in my mind; the minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille." King grew up singing in the gospel choir at Elkhorn Baptist Church in Kilmichael. At age 12, he purchased his first guitar for $15.00 although another reference indicates he was given his first guitar by his cousin, Bukka White. In 1943, King left Kilmichael to work as a tractor driver and play guitar with the Famous St. John's Quartet of Inverness, Mississippi, performing at area churches and on WGRM in Greenwood, Mississippi.

In 1946, King followed his cousin Bukka White to Memphis, Tennessee. White took him in for the next ten months. However, King shortly returned to Mississippi, where he decided to prepare himself better for the next visit, and returned to West Memphis, Arkansas, two years later in 1948. He performed on Sonny Boy Williamson's radio program on KWEM in West Memphis, Arkansas where he began to develop a local audience for his sound. King's appearances led to steady engagements at the Sixteenth Avenue Grill in West Memphis and later to a ten-minute spot on the legendary Memphis radio station WDIA. "King's Spot," became so popular, it was expanded and became the "Sepia Swing Club."

Initially he worked at the local R&B; radio station 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!"'', he said.

Career

1949–2005

In 1949, King began recording songs under contract with Los Angeles-based RPM Records. Many of King's early recordings were produced by Sam Phillips, who later founded Sun Records. Before his RPM contract, King had debuted on Bullet Records by issuing the single "Miss Martha King" (1949), which did not chart well. "My very first recordings [in 1949] were for a company out of Nashville called Bullet, the Bullet Record Transcription company," King recalls. "I had horns that very first session. I had Phineas Newborn on piano; his father played drums, and his brother, Calvin, played guitar with me. I had Tuff Green on bass, Ben Branch on tenor sax, his brother, Thomas Branch, on trumpet, and a lady trombone player. The Newborn family were the house band at the famous Plantation Inn in West Memphis." King assembled his own band; the B.B. King Review, under the leadership of Millard Lee. The band initially consisted of Calvin Owens and Kenneth Sands (trumpet), Lawrence Burdin (alto saxophone), George Coleman (tenor saxophone), Floyd Newman (baritone saxophone), Millard Lee (piano), George Joyner (bass) and Earl Forest and Ted Curry (drums). Onzie Horne was a trained musician elicited as an arranger to assist King with his compositions. By his own admission, he cannot play chords well and always relies on improvisation. This was followed by tours across the USA with performances in major theaters in cities such as Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit and St. Louis, as well as numerous gigs in small clubs and juke joints of the southern US states.

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 fairly common practice at the time. During a performance, two men began to fight, knocking over the burning barrel and sending burning fuel across the floor. The hall burst into flames, which triggered an evacuation. Once outside, King realized that he had left his guitar inside the burning building. He entered the blaze to retrieve his beloved guitar, a Gibson semi-hollow electric. Two people died in the fire. The next day, King learned that the two men were fighting over a woman named Lucille. King named that first guitar Lucille, as well as every one he owned since that near-fatal experience, as a reminder never again to do something as stupid as run into a burning building or fight over women.

King meanwhile toured the entire "Chitlin' circuit" and 1956 became a record-breaking year, with 342 concerts booked. The same year he founded his own record label, Blues Boys Kingdom, with headquarters at Beale Street in Memphis. There, among other projects, he produced artists such as Millard Lee and Levi Seabury.

In the 1950s, B.B. King became one of the most important names in R&B; music, amassing an impressive list of hits including "3 O'Clock Blues", "You Know I Love You," "Woke Up This Morning," "Please Love Me," "When My Heart Beats like a Hammer," "Whole Lotta Love," "You Upset Me Baby," "Every Day I Have the Blues", "Sneakin' Around," "Ten Long Years," "Bad Luck," "Sweet Little Angel", "On My Word of Honor," and "Please Accept My Love." In 1962, King signed to ABC-Paramount Records, which was later absorbed into MCA Records, and then his current label, Geffen Records. In November 1964, King recorded the ''Live at the Regal'' album at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois.

King won a Grammy Award for a tune called "The Thrill Is Gone"; his version became a hit on both the pop and R&B; charts, which was rare during that time for an R&B; artist. It also gained the number 183 spot in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's ''500 Greatest Songs of All Time''. He gained further visibility among rock audiences as an opening act on The Rolling Stones' 1969 American Tour. King's mainstream success continued throughout the 1970s with songs like "To Know You is to Love You" and "I Like to Live the Love".

King was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980. In 2004 he was awarded the international Polar Music Prize, given to artists "in recognition of exceptional achievements in the creation and advancement of music."

From the 1980s onward he has continued to maintain a highly visible and active career, appearing on numerous television shows and performing 300 nights a year. In 1988, King reached a new generation of fans with the single "When Love Comes to Town", a collaborative effort between King and the Irish band U2 on their ''Rattle and Hum'' album. In 2000, King teamed up with guitarist Eric Clapton to record ''Riding With the King''. In 1998, King appeared in ''The Blues Brothers 2000'', playing the part of the lead singer of the Louisiana Gator Boys, along with Clapton, Dr. John, Koko Taylor and Bo Diddley.

2006–present: farewell tour and later activities

Aged 80 at the time, on March 29, 2006, King played at Hallam Arena in Sheffield, England. This was the first date of his United Kingdom and European farewell tour. He played this tour supported by Northern Irish guitarist Gary Moore, with whom King had previously toured and recorded, including the song "Since I Met You Baby". The British leg of the tour ended on April 4 with a concert at Wembley Arena. And on June 28, 2009 King returned to Wembley arena to end a tour around Great Britain with British blues icon John Mayall. When questioned as to why he was embarking on another tour after already completing his farewell stint, King jokingly remarked that he had never actually said the farewell tour would be his last.

In July King went back to Europe, playing twice (July 2 and 3) in the 40th edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival and also in Zürich at the Blues at Sunset on July 14. During his show in Montreux at the Stravinski Hall he jammed with Joe Sample, Randy Crawford, David Sanborn, Gladys Knight, Lella James, Earl Thomas, Stanley Clarke, John McLaughlin, Barbara Hendricks and George Duke. The European leg of the Farewell Tour ended in Luxembourg on September 19, 2006, at the D'Coque Arena (support act: Todd Sharpville).

In November and December, King played six times in Brazil. During a press conference on November 29 in São Paulo, a journalist asked King if that would be the actual farewell tour. He answered: "One of my favorite actors is a man from Scotland named Sean Connery. Most of you know him as James Bond, 007. He made a movie called ''Never Say Never Again''."

In June 2006, King was present at a memorial of his first radio broadcast at the Three Deuces Building in Greenwood, Mississippi, where an official marker of the Mississippi Blues Trail was erected. The same month, a groundbreaking was held for a new museum, dedicated to King. in Indianola, Mississippi. The museum opened on September 13, 2008.

In late October 2006, he recorded a concert CD and DVD entitled ''B.B. King: Live'' at his B.B. King Blues Clubs in Nashville and Memphis. The four night production featured his regular B.B. King Blues Band and captured his show as he performs it nightly around the world. It was his first live performance recording in 14 years.

On July 28, 2007, King played at Eric Clapton's second Crossroads Guitar Festival with 20 other guitarists to raise money for the Crossroads Centre for addictive disorders. Performing in Chicago, he played "Paying the Cost to Be the Boss", "Rock Me Baby" and "Thrill is Gone" (although the latter was not published on the DVD release) with Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughan and Hubert Sumlin. In a poignant moment during the live broadcast, he offered a toast to the concert's host, Eric Clapton, and also reflected upon his own life and seniority. Adding to the poignancy, the four-minute speech — which had been underlaid with a mellow chord progression by Robert Cray throughout — made a transition to an emotional rendition of "Thrill is Gone". Parts of this performance were subsequently aired in a PBS broadcast and released on the ''Crossroads II'' DVD.

Also in 2007, King accepted an invitation to contribute to ''Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino'' (Vanguard Records). With Ivan Neville's DumpstaPhunk, King contributed his version of the title song, "Goin' Home".

In 2007 King performed "One Shoe Blues" on the Sandra Boynton children's album ''Blue Moo'', accompanied by a pair of sock puppets in the video.

In June 2008, King played at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee; he was also the final performer at the 25th annual Chicago Blues Festival on June 8, 2008, and at the Monterey Blues Festival, following Taj Mahal. Another June 2008 event was King's induction into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame alongside Liza Minnelli and Sir James Galway.

In July 2008, Sirius XM Radio's Bluesville channel was re-named B.B. King's Bluesville.

On December 1, 2008, King performed at the Maryland Theater in Hagerstown, Maryland. On December 3, King and John Mayer were the closing act at the 51st Grammy Nomination Concert, playing "Let the Good Times Roll" by Louis Jordan. On December 30, 2008, King played at The Kennedy Center Honors Awards Show; his performance was in honor of actor Morgan Freeman.

thumb|European Tour 2009, Vienna, July 2009In Summer 2009 B.B. King started a European Tour with concerts in France, Germany, Belgium, Finland and Denmark.

In March 2010, King contributed to Cyndi Lauper's album ''Memphis Blues'', which was released on June 22, 2010.

King performed at the Mawazine festival in Rabat, Morocco, on May 27, 2010.

On June 25, 2011 BB King played the pyramid stage at The Glastonbury Music Festival. On the June 28 he opened his new European tour at The Royal Albert Hall, London, supported by Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, Ronnie Wood, Mick Hucknall and Slash.

On December 30, 2011, B.B. King played the Fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia.

Over a period of 62 years, B.B. King has played in excess of 15,000 performances.

B.B. King's Blues Club

In 1991, B.B. King's Blues Club opened on Beale Street in Memphis, and in 1994, a second club was launched at Universal City Walk in Los Angeles. A third club in New York City's Times Square opened in June 2000. Two further clubs opened at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut in January 2002 and another in Nashville in 2003. A club in West Palm Beach opened in the fall of 2009 and an additional one, based in the Mirage Hotel, Las Vegas, is due to open in the winter of 2009. In 2007, a B.B. King's Blues Club in Orlando opened on International Drive. The Memphis, Nashville, Orlando, West Palm Beach and Las Vegas stores are all the same Company.

Legacy

King is widely regarded as one of the most influential blues guitarists of all time, inspiring countless other electric blues and blues-rock guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Peter Green, Derek Trucks, Duane Allman, Elmore James and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Philanthropy

In 2001, King signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a non-profit organization that provides free musical instruments and instruction to children in underprivileged public schools throughout the US. He sits on LKR's Honorary Board of Directors.

TV appearances

B.B. King has made guest appearances in numerous popular television shows, including ''The Cosby Show'', ''The Young and the Restless'', ''General Hospital'', ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'', ''Sesame Street'', ''Married... with Children'', ''Sanford and Son'', and ''Touched by an Angel''. He has also made a cameo in the movie ''Spies Like Us''.

Personal life

King has been married twice, to Martha Lee Denton, 1946 to 1952, and to Sue Carol Hall, 1958 to 1966. Both marriages ended because of the heavy demands made on the marriage by King's 250 performances a year. It is reported that he has fathered 15 children and as of 2004 is the grandfather to fifty grandchildren. He has lived with Type II diabetes for over twenty years and is a high-profile spokesman in the fight against the disease, appearing in advertisements for diabetes-management products along with American Idol season 9 contestant Crystal Bowersox.

King is an FAA licensed Private Pilot and learned to fly in 1963 at Chicago Hammond Airport in Lansing, IL (now Lansing Municipal Airport – KIGQ). He frequently flew to gigs, but under the advice of his insurance company and manager in 1995, King was asked to fly only with another licensed pilot; and as a result, King stopped flying around age 70.

His favorite singer is Frank Sinatra. In his autobiography King speaks about how he was, and is, a "Sinatra nut" and how he went to bed every night listening to Sinatra's classic album ''In the Wee Small Hours''. King has credited Sinatra for opening doors to black entertainers who were not given the chance to play in "white-dominated" venues; Sinatra got B.B. King into the main clubs in Las Vegas during the 1960s.

Discography

Honors and awards

In 1980, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. In 1987, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In 1990, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. In 1991, he was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship from the NEA. King was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995. This is given to recognize "the lifelong accomplishments and extraordinary talents of our nation's most prestigious artists." In 2004, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music awarded him the Polar Music Prize for his "significant contributions to the blues". On December 15, 2006, President George W. Bush awarded King the Presidential Medal of Freedom. On May 27, 2007, King was awarded an honorary doctorate in music by Brown University. On May 14, 2008, King was presented with the keys to the city of Utica, New York; and on May 18, 2008, the mayor of Portland, Maine, Edward Suslovic, declared the day "B.B. King Day" in the city. Prior to King's performance at the Merrill Auditorium, Suslovic presented King with the keys to the city. In 2009, ''TIME'' named B.B. King No.3 on its list of the 10 best electric guitarists of all time. Each year during the first week in June, a B.B. King Homecoming Festival is held in Indianola, Mississippi. A Mississippi Blues Trail marker was added for B.B. King, commemorating his birthplace.

On May 29, 2010, Sabrosa Park (at the small town of Sabrosa, north of Portugal) was renamed B.B. King Park in honor of King and the free concert he played before 20,000 people.

Grammy Awards

Years reflect the year in which the Grammy was awarded, for music released in the previous year.

1971: Best Male R&B; Vocal Performance for "The Thrill Is Gone".

1982: Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording for "There Must Be a Better World Somewhere".

1984: Best Traditional Blues Recording for "Blues 'n Jazz".

1986: Best Traditional Blues Recording for "My Guitar Sings the Blues".

1991: Best Traditional Blues Recording for "Live at San Quentin".

1992: Best Traditional Blues Album for "Live at the Apollo".

1994: Best Traditional Blues Album for "Blues Summit".

1997: Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "SRV Shuffle".

2000: Best Traditional Blues Album for "Blues on the Bayou".

2001: Best Traditional Blues Album for "Riding with the King".

2001: Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Is You or Is You Ain't (Baby)".

2003: Best Traditional Blues Album for "A Christmas Celebration of Hope".

2003: Best Pop Instrumental Performance for "Auld Lang Syne".

2006: Best Traditional Blues Album for "80".

2009: Best Traditional Blues Album for "One Kind Favor".

King was given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987.

A Grammy Hall of Fame Award was given to "The Thrill is Gone" in 1998, an award given to recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance."

See also

List of honorific titles in popular music

List of nicknames of blues musicians

References

External links

Official B. B. King-website

Official B. B. King Museum website

Tickets Portal of BB King

1980 Blues Foundation Hall of Fame induction

Live Photos 1 2

B. B. King's oral history video excerpts at The National Visionary Leadership Project

B. B. King biographer Charlie Sawyer writes about returning to the Delta and a "charette" on the B. B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, Mississippi

Harvard University pays tribute to B.B. King with multiple web pages and a video of a 2-hour concert honoring B.B. King at Harvard University in 2007, featuring "Monster Mike" Welch and J. Geils performing with the blues band "2120 South Michigan Avenue"

B. B. King: Number 1 Bluesman (November 22, 1969) KPFA audio documentary at archive.org.

Category:1925 births Category:African American guitarists Category:African American singer-songwriters Category:American blues guitarists Category:American blues singers Category:American blues singer-songwriters Category:American buskers Category:American rhythm and blues musicians Category:Songwriters from Mississippi Category:Blues Hall of Fame inductees Category:Blues musicians from Mississippi Category:Electric blues musicians Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Jammy Award winners Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Kent Records artists Category:Lead guitarists Category:Living people Category:Memphis blues musicians Category:Mississippi Blues Trail Category:National Heritage Fellowship winners Category:People from Leflore County, Mississippi Category:People from Sunflower County, Mississippi Category:People from Memphis, Tennessee Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees‎ Category:RPM Records artists Category:MCA Records artists Category:Geffen Records artists Category:Virgin Records artists Category:Soul-blues musicians Category:Sun Records artists Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients

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