Legendary blues singer B.B. King was born Riley B. King on September 16, 1925 in Itta Bena, Mississippi. King spent his childhood in the Mississippi Delta, but in 1946 left to pursue a music career in Memphis Tennessee. While in Memphis, King was employed as a singer and disc jockey at radio station WDIA where he was given the radio name “Beale Street Blues Boy” which he shortened to B.B. In 1949 while at WDIA he recorded many of his early singles for RPM records in Los Angeles.

King began to have significant success as a blues artist in the 1950s with a string of recordings such as “Please Love Me,” “Whole Lotta Love,” “Every Day I Have the Blues,” and “Ten Long Years.” His hits brought him to the attention of Paramount Records which signed the blues performer in 1962.

Over his career he has garnered 14 Grammys including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. King has also received honorary doctorates in music from Brown and Yale University and an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Mississippi. In June 2006 King participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center scheduled to open in September 2008. On December 15, 2006, President George W. Bush awarded King the Presidential Medal of Freedom.