Editing B. B. King (section)

== Early life ==
Riley B. King was born on September 16, 1925,<ref name="Encyclopedia of the Blues">{{cite encyclopedia | last1=Herzhaft| first1=Gérard|title=B.B. King| encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the Blues|year=1997| publisher=University of Arkansas Press| location=Fayetteville, Ark.| isbn=1610751396| pages=108–110| edition=2nd| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sOKZKESWys0C&pg=PA108| others=Translated by Brigitte Debord}}</ref> on a cotton [[plantation]] in [[Berclair, Mississippi|Berclair]] named Bear Creek in [[Leflore County, Mississippi|Leflore County]] near the city of [[Itta Bena, Mississippi]],<ref name="Dahl">{{cite web |last=Dahl |first=Bill |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/bb-king-mn0000059156/biography |title=B.B. King |website=AllMusic |access-date=May 31, 2015}}</ref><ref name="hmdb">{{Cite web |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=173997|title=B.B. King Birthplace |publisher=HMdb.org |access-date=October 10, 2022 }}</ref><ref name="jazz"/> the son of [[Sharecropping|sharecroppers]] Albert and Nora Ella King.<ref name="jazz"/> When he was four years old, his mother left his father for another man, so he was raised by his maternal grandmother, Elnora Farr, in [[Kilmichael, Mississippi|Kilmichael]], Mississippi,<ref name="jazz"/> then in [[Lexington, Mississippi|Lexington]].<ref name="hmdb" /> As a teen, he moved to [[Indianola, Mississippi|Indianola]] which he referred to as his hometown, later working at a [[cotton gin]].<ref name = "Danchin">Sebastian Danchin, ''Blues Boy: The Life and Music of B.B. King'', University Press of Mississippi, 1998, p. 1, {{ISBN|1-57806-017-6}}.</ref>

While young, King sang in the [[Gospel music|gospel]] choir at Elkhorn Baptist Church in [[Kilmichael, Mississippi|Kilmichael]]. He was attracted to the [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]] [[Church of God in Christ]] because of its music. The local minister performed with a [[Sears]] Roebuck Silvertone guitar during services and taught King his first three chords.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/05/15/how-the-church-gave-b-b-king-the-blues/ |title=How the church gave B.B. King the blues |last1=Silliman |first1=Daniel |date=May 15, 2015 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=July 2, 2015}}</ref> Flake Cartledge, his employer in Kilmichael, bought him his first guitar
for 15 dollars. Cartledge withheld money from King's salary for the next two months until he repaid the debt.<ref>{{cite web|title= B.B. King Biography and Interview |website=achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url= https://www.achievement.org/achiever/b-b-king/#interview}}</ref><ref name="jazz"/>

In November 1941, ''[[King Biscuit Time]]'' first aired, broadcasting on [[KFFA (AM)|KFFA]] in [[Helena, Arkansas]]. It was a radio show featuring the Mississippi Delta blues. King listened to it while on break at the plantation. A self-taught guitarist, he then wanted to be a radio musician.<ref name="Defining">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/16/arts/music/b-b-king-blues-singer-dies-at-89.html| title=B.B. King, Defining Bluesman for Generations, Dies at 89 | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=May 15, 2015 | access-date=May 15, 2015 | author=Weiner, Tim}}</ref>

In 1943, King left Kilmichael to work as a tractor driver and play guitar with the Famous St. John's Gospel Singers of [[Inverness, Mississippi|Inverness]], Mississippi, performing at area churches and on [[WGRM (AM)|WGRM]] in [[Greenwood, Mississippi|Greenwood]].<ref name="nvlp3">{{cite web | publisher=National Visionary Leadership Project |title=B.B. King: National Visionary |url=http://www.visionaryproject.org/kingbb/ |access-date=June 3, 2011}}</ref><ref name="ppg070125">{{cite news |agency=[[Associated Press]] |work=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] |title=Historical marker placed on Mississippi Blues Trail |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07025/756420-37.stm |date=January 25, 2007 |access-date=June 3, 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110604045947/http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07025/756420-37.stm| archive-date= June 4, 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref> He served in the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] during [[World War II]] but was released after being ruled as "essential to the war economy" based on his experience as a tractor driver.<ref>{{Cite web|title=B.B. King - Lower Mississippi Delta Region (U.S. National Park Service)|url=https://www.nps.gov/locations/lowermsdeltaregion/b-b-king.htm|access-date=2023-10-14|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Carroll|first=Ward|date=2020-02-05|title=BB King was booted out of the Army for being a tractor driver|url=https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-trending/bb-king-was-booted-out-of-the-army-for-being-a-tractor-driver/|access-date=2023-10-14|website=We Are The Mighty|language=en}}</ref><ref>[https://www.cnn.com/2013/06/24/us/b-b-king-fast-facts/index.html B.B. King Fast Facts] [[CNN]]. Retrieved February 22, 2023.</ref>

[[File:Poster of B.B. King and Bill Harvey (saxophonist) and Orchestra, featuring photos of B.B. King holding his guitar and Evelyn Young playing saxaphone. - 8049g557h files 92a57ed3-1d17-4a52-bda9-53dd48145101.jpg|thumb|upright|Poster of B.{{nbsp}}B. King and Bill Harvey and Orchestra with a photo of King holding his guitar and Evelyn Young playing saxophone]]

In 1946, he followed [[Bukka White]] to [[Memphis, Tennessee]]. White took him in for the next ten months.<ref name="jazz"/> King returned shortly afterward to Mississippi where he better prepared himself for the next visit. Two years later, he returned to [[West Memphis, Arkansas]]. He performed on [[Sonny Boy Williamson II|Sonny Boy Williamson]]'s radio program on [[KWAM|KWEM]] in West Memphis where he began to develop an audience. His appearances led to steady engagements at the Sixteenth Avenue Grill in West Memphis and later to a ten minute spot on the Memphis radio station [[WDIA]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.kwemradio.com/BBking.html| publisher=KWEM Radio| title=B.B. King – KWEM 1948| access-date=May 15, 2015}}</ref> The radio spot became so popular that it was expanded and became the ''Sepia Swing Club''.<ref>''Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture''. Edited by Jessie Carney Smith. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, California. 2011. {{ISBN|978-0-313-35796-1}}, pp. 805–806.</ref>

He worked at WDIA as a singer and disc jockey where he was given the nickname "[[Beale Street]] Blues Boy", later shortened to "Blues Boy" and finally to "B.{{nbsp}}B."<ref>Note: "B.{{nbsp}}B." is normally written with periods.</ref><ref>''History of Rock & Roll''. By Thomas E. Larson. Kendall/Hunt, Dubuque, Iowa. 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-7872-9969-9}}, p. 25.</ref><ref name=pc4/> It was there that he first met [[T-Bone Walker]]. King said, "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!"<ref>Dance, Helen Oakley; and B.B. King. ''Stormy Monday'', p. 164.</ref>