LEGENDARY B.B. KING IN CONCERT AT BETHUNE-COOKMAN JAN.4  

 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - From the small town "chitlin’circuit" to rock palaces, concert halls and universities, B.B. King is still the ‘King of Blues.’ Averaging over 250 concerts per year around the world,  Fantasma Productions and Bethune-Cookman College present King in concert in the newly-opened Mary McLeod Bethune Performing Arts Center on January 4, 2004, at 7:00 p.m.

 

Born September 16, 1925 on a plantation in Itta Bene, Mississippi, Riley B. King got his name and his big break when he performed on Sonny Boy Williamson’s radio program on KWEM in West Memphis, Tennessee. The performance led to a ten-minute spot on WDIA known as “King’s Spot”. His stage name, Beale Street Blues Boy, changed to Blues Boy King, and now as the world knows him today – B.B. King.

 

Since he started recording in the 1940s, King has released over fifty albums, won numerous Grammy Awards, has been inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and has received honorary doctorates from six major colleges and universities.

 

Over the years, King has developed one of the world’s most identifiable guitar styles with his famous acoustic guitar, ‘Lucille.’ 

 

“When I sing, I play in my mind; the minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille,” King said. 

 

Today, at the age of 76,  King is still on the road, playing for sold-out audiences, doing cameos in TV commercials, and laying down tracks for upcoming albums.

 

Tickets are  $50, $40 and $30 plus applicable service charges and are available at the Ocean Center Box Office, 101 N. Atlantic Avenue, Daytona Beach  (254-4545), and the B-CC Cashier’s Office (481-2228)  located in White Hall on the B-CC Campus, 640 Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, Blvd. Tickets can also be purchased via Ticketmaster at (407) 839-3900 or http://www.ticketmaster.com