
King of the Blues
The Rise and Reign of B.B. King
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Narrated by:
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Cary Hite
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By:
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Daniel De Visé
About this listen
Riley “Blues Boy” King (1925-2015) was born into deep poverty in Jim Crow Mississippi. Wrenched away from his sharecropper father, B.B. lost his mother at age 10, leaving him more or less alone. Music became his emancipation from exhausting toil in the fields. Inspired by a local minister’s guitar and by the records of Blind Lemon Jefferson and T-Bone Walker and encouraged by his cousin, the established blues man Bukka White, B.B. taught his guitar to sing in the unique solo style that, along with his relentless work ethic and humanity, became his trademark. In turn, generations of artists claimed him as inspiration, from Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton to Carlos Santana and the Edge.
King of the Blues presents the vibrant life and times of a trailblazing giant. Witness to dark prejudice and lynching in his youth, B.B. performed incessantly (some 15,000 concerts in 90 countries over nearly 60 years). Several of his concerts, including his landmark gig at Chicago’s Cook County Jail, endure in legend to this day. His career roller-coastered between adulation and relegation, but he always rose back up. At the same time, his story reveals the many ways record companies took advantage of artists, especially those of color. Daniel de Visé has interviewed almost every surviving member of B.B. King’s inner circle, and their voices and memories enrich and enliven the life of this Mississippi blues titan, whom his contemporary Bobby “Blue” Bland simply called “the man”.
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Story
People ask me how come I'm still alive, and I don't know what to say. When I was growing up, if you'd have put me up against a wall with the other kids from my street and asked me which one of us was gonna make it to the age of 60, with five kids and four grandkids and houses in Buckinghamshire and California, I wouldn't have put money on me, no f--king way. But here I am: ready to tell my story, in my own words, for the first time. A lot of it ain't gonna be pretty. I've done some bad things in my time. But I ain't the devil.
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Laugh Out Loud & BEST Narration EVER!
- By Kerry Jackson on 01-24-21
By: Ozzy Osbourne
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Delta Blues
- The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music
- By: Ted Gioia
- Narrated by: Chris Abernathy
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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The blues grew out of the plantations and prisons, the swampy marshes and fertile cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta. With original research and keen insights, Ted Gioia - the author of a landmark study of West Coast jazz and the critically acclaimed The History of Jazz - brings to life the stirring music of the Delta, evoking the legendary figures who shaped its sound and ethos: Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, B. B. King, and others.
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A well-researched history of the blues
- By Joselo on 08-19-21
By: Ted Gioia
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Led Zeppelin
- The Biography
- By: Bob Spitz
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 21 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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From the author of the definitive New York Times best-selling history of the Beatles comes the authoritative account of the group many call the greatest rock band of all time, arguably the most successful, and certainly one of the most notorious.
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Sex & Drugs & Rock-n-Roll.... in that order.
- By Joe on 01-03-22
By: Bob Spitz
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My Effin' Life
- By: Geddy Lee
- Narrated by: Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Cliff Burnstein
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Geddy Lee is one of rock and roll's most respected bassists. For nearly five decades, his playing and work as co-writer, vocalist and keyboardist has been an essential part of the success story of Canadian progressive rock trio Rush. Here for the first time is his account of life inside and outside the band.
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Lee's Narration Will Captivate You.
- By Ms. R on 11-14-23
By: Geddy Lee
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Blues People
- Negro Music in White America
- By: LeRoi Jones
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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"The path the slave took to 'citizenship' is what I want to look at. And I make my analogy through the slave citizen's music - through the music that is most closely associated with him: blues and a later, but parallel, development, jazz...[If] the Negro represents, or is symbolic of, something in and about the nature of American culture, this certainly should be revealed by his characteristic music." So says Amiri Baraka in the introduction to Blues People, his classic work on the place of jazz and blues in American social, musical, economic, and cultural history.
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Very good
- By Cara Foss Arellano on 05-06-21
By: LeRoi Jones
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The Blues Brothers
- An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic
- By: Daniel De Visé
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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The saga behind The Blues Brothers, as Daniel de Visé reveals, is epic, encompassing the colorful childhoods of Belushi and Aykroyd; the comedic revolution sparked by Harvard’s Lampoon and Chicago’s Second City; the birth and anecdote-rich, drug-filled early years of Saturday Night Live, where the Blues Brothers were born as an act amidst turmoil and rivalry; and, of course, the indelible behind-the-scenes narrative of how the film was made, scene by memorable scene.
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In my opinion, the best single book on Belushi.
- By Ron Phenicie on 04-19-24
By: Daniel De Visé
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What a Fool Believes
- A Memoir
- By: Michael McDonald, Paul Reiser
- Narrated by: Michael McDonald, Paul Reiser
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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A sweeping and evocative memoir from the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Grammy Award-winning, platinum selling singer-songwriter Michael McDonald, written with his friend, Emmy Award-nominated actor, comedian, and #1 New York Times bestselling author Paul Reiser.
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Those eyes! 😍
- By Linda Lehman on 06-26-24
By: Michael McDonald, and others
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The History of Rock & Roll
- Volume 1: 1920-1963
- By: Ed Ward
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Ed Ward covers the first half of the history of rock & roll in this sweeping and definitive narrative - from the 1920s, when the music of rambling medicine shows mingled with the songs of vaudeville and minstrel acts to create the very early sounds of country and rhythm and blues, to the rise of the first independent record labels post-World War II, and concluding in December 1963, just as an immense change in the airwaves took hold and the Beatles prepared for their first American tour.
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Author's blindspots mar this book
- By Mark Clark on 03-28-17
By: Ed Ward
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The Wonder of Stevie
- By: Wesley Morris
- Narrated by: Wesley Morris, Michelle Obama, Barack Obama, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Original Recording
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The year 1972 saw the beginning of a five-year span in which Stevie Wonder released five groundbreaking, critically acclaimed albums, garnering him more than half a dozen Grammys and more than 10 million albums sold, securing his place as one of the most important American musicians and songwriters in history. For the first time, uncover the untold story of an extraordinary artistic journey that shaped the greatest creative era in popular music history.
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Good but not great
- By Anonymous User on 09-14-24
By: Wesley Morris
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3 Shades of Blue
- Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool
- By: James Kaplan
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1959, America’s great indigenous art form, jazz, reached the height of its power and popularity. James Kaplan’s magnificent 3 Shades of Blue captures how that golden era came to be, and its pinnacle with the recording of Kind of Blue. It’s a book about music, and business, and race, and heroin, and the cities that gave jazz its home, and the Black geniuses behind its rise. It’s an astonishing meditation on creativity and the strange environments where it can flourish most.
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Great deep dive into a pinnacle of jazz, marred by author bias against later jazz years
- By Michael J. Anderson on 04-08-24
By: James Kaplan
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Heartbreaker
- A Memoir
- By: Mike Campbell, Ari Surdoval - contributor
- Narrated by: Mike Campbell
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Mike Campbell was the lead guitarist for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from the band’s inception in 1976 to Petty’s tragic death in 2017. His iconic, melodic playing helped form the foundation of the band’s sound, as heard on definitive classics like “American Girl,” “Breakdown,” “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” “Learning to Fly” and “Into the Great Wide Open.”
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Made me feel like I was in the band
- By tyler303 on 04-09-25
By: Mike Campbell, and others
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The Storyteller: Expanded
- ...Because There's More to the Story
- By: Dave Grohl
- Narrated by: Dave Grohl
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Dave Grohl’s The Storyteller created a sensation when it was initially published, becoming a global bestseller and thrilling fans and critics alike. Readers came to the book for Dave’s heartfelt voice, his love of family and music, and the energy that pours from every page. Dave’s is an extraordinary life made of up ordinary moments, and he tells stories just like he writes songs—from his soul.
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The early years of Dave’s drumming, touring in a van, the mad junkies chasing him with pipes, & the Nirvana years.
- By Bob Ruefle 2 on 05-31-24
By: Dave Grohl
What listeners say about King of the Blues
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jody R. Nathan
- 02-26-24
it's an amazing story
at times the story seemed formulaic. ripped off by promoters, endless touring,etc. but it stayed away mostly from drugs and alcohol, noting he had quit drinking by the time his diabetes got bad. also the author was enamored by the idea that BB was sterile, and could not have fathered the children he claimed in life.
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- Joshua Maxwell
- 03-21-23
A good look at the King
A great story told through many different interviews and points of view. BB was a kind hearted guitar player that became a King. The reading was well done but I found myself having to adjust the volume a lot. The energy of the reader didn’t carry through all takes of his recording.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Gene Thorpe
- 01-22-23
This is eye opening and very interesting!
BB King, was one of the greats and will never be forgotten. Anyone who thinks his playing in easy needs to study him more. We in the guitar playing community will always have a special place in our hearts for him and his music.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Sonny Garcia
- 01-02-24
Excellent
Besides BB Kings personal history, you learn alot o detailed American History. The read learns alot of other names they didn't know before.
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2 people found this helpful
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- bibcath
- 02-09-23
A CD would be a nice addition
Great book, but it would be nice if it came with a CD or a link to a page to download digital versions of some of the songs discussed, if it would be too expensive, I would be willing to buy a compilation album separately. Music must be heard to be appreciated it is not enough to read description.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Joe Karam Jr
- 02-16-23
I really enjoyed this. Reinvigorated my love for the blues.
After reading this I bought a new guitar and wrote a blues song. Thanks BB.
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1 person found this helpful
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- govtmule1
- 11-26-24
What a life!
Learned a lot more of BB’s life and times. He was without a doubt the King of the Blues. Muddy and Wolf not withstanding.
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