![]() ![]() He listened to the records of Blind Lemon Jefferson and Lonnie Johnson on an aunt's Victrola. ![]() His earliest musical memories were the hollers of fellow field workers and his first exposure to the guitar came in church, where he heard the Reverend Archie Fair play. He then lived with his maternal grandmother, his father in nearby Lexington, and on his own, supervised by an extended family of aunts, uncles, and caring white plantation owners. His parents separated when he was four, and he lived with his mother until her death when he was nine. King was born September 16, 1925, on a farm near Itta Bena, Mississippi. ![]() His rise from picking cotton in Mississippi to touring the world has become part of the mythology of the American Dream. His story is one of the most amazing in American music. King is credited with bringing vibrato to the electric guitar, and the stinging, fluttering sound of his guitar, named Lucille, was totally unique and instantly recognizable. Although he never attained the widespread commercial success enjoyed by others, King rose to his billing "King of the Blues" without compromising his style or musicianship. His fusion of acoustic country blues with jazz set the stage for a half century of development in African American music. No blues or rock 'n' roll musician in the postwar era in America could escape his influence, either directly or indirectly. King is the literal personification of blues. ![]()
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