Guitarist B.B. King says blues music doesn’t get much airplay on radio stations, so he continues to bring it to the people with 200 shows a year.
“My fun is usually nights on stage, watching the people,” said King, 78. “I pay attention to them and how they respond to the music. That’s my biggest fun when I see the people out there enjoying themselves.”
King was scheduled to perform at the Shrine Auditorium on Tuesday night.
He says he doesn’t think his voice sounds very good.
“Nobody sounds as terrible as I do,” he said in a telephone interview from Jackson, Wyo. “Some people warm up before a show, but I never have. I get scared before I go on stage. I’m just a regular old guy.”
King, married twice and now divorced, has 14 living children, two of whom help manage his shows. He said his wish for his children is a good education.
“I didn’t finish high school, only went through the 10th grade,” he said. “There is never a day that comes up that I don’t regret not finishing school. If I’d gone to school, I might have gotten a degree in computers, or maybe music.
“I’m still tutoring myself. I still learn something new every day. If I didn’t, I figure it’s a day wasted.”