For more than half a century, Riley B. King - better known as B.B. King - has defined the blues for a worldwide audience. Since he started recording in the 1940s, he has released over fifty albums, many of them classics. He was born September 16, 1925, on a plantation in Itta Bena, Mississippi, near Indianola. In his youth, he played on street corners for dimes, and would sometimes play in as many as four towns a night. In 1947, he hitchhiked to Memphis, TN, to pursue his music career. Memphis was where every important musician of the South gravitated, and which supported a large musical community where every style of African American music could be found. B.B. stayed with his cousin Bukka White, one of the most celebrated blues performers of his time, who schooled B.B. further in the art of the blues.

 

For tickets or performance information please call the Florida Theatre Box Office at (904) 355-2787 or visit us at floridatheatre.com.  Tickets are $70, $55 and $45.  The Florida Theatre is conveniently located at 128 East Forsyth Street in Downtown Jacksonville.  Tickets are also available through TicketMaster.