(Los Angeles, Calif., Feb. 8, 2006)---Blues legend
B.B. King, who recently turned 80, has won his 14th GRAMMY®
Award.
B.B. King, who won his first GRAMMY® in 1970, again won the "Best Traditional Blues
Album" prize at today's Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles for his "BB King &
Friends-80" (UME/Geffen).
This is the ninth time that the "King of the Blues" has landed a GRAMMY® in the
"Best Traditional Blues Album" category.
His "Live At The Regal" album was also inducted this year into the Grammy® Hall
of Fame.
"The thrill isn't gone when you win an honor like this," said B.B.
King, as he
learned of the award while on his way to an engagement in St. Louis.
"Every time my peers recognize the work, it's an honor, a reason to go on. In my lifetime, blues music has certainly grown in its universal appeal and I'm
forever grateful for that."
In honor of his 80th birthday last September 16, B.B. King celebrated the occasion
with a few of his musical compatriots on the new studio album of duets.
Featuring some of today’s biggest stars--from Eric Clapton, Elton John, Sheryl
Crow, John Mayer, and Gloria Estefan to Roger Daltrey, Glenn Frey, Mark
Knopfler, Billy Gibbons, Bobby Bland, and Daryl Hall—B.B. King & Friends - 80 is
yet another landmark in the career of one of the most influential guitarists of
the 20th Century and the blues’ greatest ambassador.
In 1987, B.B. King received a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from NARAS, which produces
the GRAMMY® Awards, and the veteran showman, who got his first break as a
musician on a radio show in Memphis in 1948, last received a GRAMMY® Award in
2002 for “Best Pop Instrumental Performance.”
Among his many classics are “The Thrill Is Gone,” “Payin’ The Cost To Be The
Boss,” “Everyday I Have The Blues,” “You Don’t Know Me” and “Why I Sing The
Blues.”
He’s preparing to headline an international tour, starting on March 29 with a
swing through the UK, concluding with a concert at the famed Wembley Arena.
Long known for his prolific performance schedule, one time numbering as many as
250 stops in a year, B.B. King plans to make a "big swing” around the globe beginning
this year.
B.B. King’s 2006 domestic tour gets going in earnest on Feb. 16 when he headlines a
two night sold-out stand at the House of Blues in Chicago, amazingly, a venue in
which he’s never before performed.
After so many years, live performances remain close to his heart.
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