Contact: Harriet Laird
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A limited number of tickets remain at Mississippi State for the Oct. 11 concert by blues music legend B.B. King.
About 200 seats remain in Lee Hall's Bettersworth Auditorium for the 7:30 p.m. event sponsored by the university's Lyceum Series, according to Raymond Brooks.
"We have sold more than 700 tickets and the auditorium holds only 900," the Colvard Student Union associate director added.
Brooks said the individual reserved-seat tickets may be purchased for $40 and $50 at the union's Campus Activities Office, Suite 300; by telephone at 662-325-2930; or at www.lyceum.msstate.edu. There also is a purchase service fee.
Born on Sept. 16, 1925, near Indianola, Riley B. King has released more than 50 albums, many of them classics, since he began recording in the 1940s. After playing on street corners in his youth, he hitchhiked to Memphis, Tenn., in 1947 to pursue a music career.
The first big break came in 1948 when he performed on Sonny Boy Williamson's radio program on KWEM in the river city. With success on the radio and in local clubs, he adopted a catchy name, which first was "Beale Street Blues Boy," then "Blues Boy" King and finally "B.B." King.
King has toured extensively over his career and today averages more than 250 concerts annually around the world. His most popular hit came in the 1970s with the crossover tune "The Thrill Is Gone," which went to No. 15 on the pop chart. Other classics include "Payin' The Cost To Be The Boss," "How Blue Can You Get," "Everyday I Have The Blues," and "Why I Sing The Blues."
He is a member of the Blues Foundation and Rock and Roll halls of fame. In 1987, he received the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences' Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award and is ranked third on Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time."