Musical Career of B.B. King

Table of Contents Abstract Introduction Conclusion Works Cited Abstract Riley B. King was born in Mississippi Delta to parents whose only profession was sharecropping. While at a tender age of five years, his parents were divorced and he ended up living with his mother in downtown Mississippi. By the time he was celebrating his seventh birthday, the young boy was performing chores that were befitting an adult.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Musical Career of B.B. King specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More When he turned nine years, he had to live on his own after his mother and grandmother passed away. With his mother who was his sole source of inspiration gone, King turned to the church for solace. While attending church, King got inspiration from the music presented during worship. This inspiration gave him the desire to become a gospel musician when he grew up. His preacher taught him how to play the guitar and through his employer, he acquired his first guitar at the age of 12. Life presented many challenges for him and he had to sing for a small fee in street corners for survival. This humble beginning later on became a stepping-stone for a great musical career spanning many years. This research paper talks about the musical background and musical career of B.B. King. The paper also examines his achievements and awards. Introduction Riley B. King was born in Mississippi Delta to parents whose only profession was sharecropping. While at a tender age of five years, his parents were divorced and he ended up living with his mother in downtown Mississippi. By the time he was celebrating his seventh birthday, the young boy was performing chores that were befitting an adult. When he turned nine years, he had to live on his own after his mother and grandmother passed away. With his mother who was his sole source of inspiration gone, King turned to the church for solace. While attendin g church, King got inspiration from the music presented during worship. This inspiration gave him the desire to become a gospel musician when he grew up. His preacher taught him how to play the guitar and through his employer, he acquired his first guitar at the age of 12. Life presented many challenges for him and he had to sing for a small fee in street corners for survival. This humble beginning later on became a stepping-stone for a great musical career spanning many years. (Academy of Achievement) Historians agree that B.B. King has made much contribution in making blues gain acceptance and reverence across nations. King has combined his tenacity, character, and style to bridge the great differences created by political opinions, economics, race and cultural differences. All throughout the globe, King is hailed as an idol and representative of American customs. Historians agree that King is a musician of his own class. The rising disintegration of music, coupled with Kingâ€⠄¢s gift, character and ability to endure for long all indicate that it will be hard to get another blues icon that is immediately identifiable in popular culture. King’s real journey toward stardom can be traced back to 1946 when he was only 20 years old. Armed with only $2.50, he set out on a journey from his hometown for Memphis in search of a better life.Advertising Looking for research paper on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This turned out to be a journey that would transform his life and music career. By the time King began performing blues it was confined to its origins, jukebox joints. King helped change this trend and took blues to the deluxe concert halls across the globe. This is seen as the first and the most important of King’s achievements. (Cooksey) King is believed to be farsighted when it came to blues. He is credited for having been the first to experiment the connection betwee n widespread tours and music sales. While King was working hard to make money through music sales, he was also inventing ways to make blues more acceptable to the world. He did this by fusing many genres in his music. His style of music became a great inspiration to various musicians in the blues industry. Even in old age, this trend has not stopped and he is still bringing new creations in the music. He is credited with fusing elements of waltz, funk, pop, and soul to blues. Another achievement and one that is often overlooked in King’s life is his ability to deal with adversity. Although he has chosen to travel a forlorn journey for both himself and his career, he has lost many fellow musicians, acquaintances and even lovers. In his life, King has never been known to have much luck with wives and even children. Despite these personal and tragic misfortunes, he has not lost hope in life. King has been termed as one of the people with the greatest desires to learn and accompl ish the goals they have set out for themselves. Even in old age, King has sworn not to change his lifestyle or to scale down his schedule of performances. This is despite the fact that the aging musician is struggling with diabetes. This can only be termed as a great achievement and motivation not only for other musicians but for the public as well. (King Ritz 12) Despite taking blues to a higher level and his unmatched ability to deal with personal issues, King has other numerous accomplishments and awards. Towards the 1970’s, almost all the new generation of musicians claimed that they were inspired to enter in to music by B.B. King. His 1965 albums Live at the Regal and the 1966 Don’t Answer the Door Part 1 remained on top of the Rhythm and Charts for the longest period than any other music in history. In 1969, he opened a record 18 concerts for a single group, the Rolling Stones. In the 70’s and throughout the 80’s, King was making an average of 300 appearances per year.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Musical Career of B.B. King specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This translated to almost one appearance per day, a record for any living musician. These dates were scattered all around the globe. In 1984, he was included into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame (BFHF), which is the highest honor for Rhythm and Blues musicians. Three years later, he was incorporated in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHF), which is also a highest honor. (Universal Music Group) In 1987 the same year that he was inducted into the RRHF, he also earned his music achievements also earned him a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement. This Grammy Award was a great boost for his career. In recognition of his achievements, great music schools like the University of Mississippi, Yale, and Berklee College of Music have all awarded him honorary doctorates for his immense contribut ion to the music industry. In total, the King of Blues has received close to 18 Grammy Awards and the coveted Presidential Medal of the Arts. On top of this, he has also been awarded the Kennedy Center Honors. He has also opened clubs bearing his B.B. King Trademark in every major American city. He has also published an autobiography, Blues All Around Me, which remains a bestseller around the world. Due to old age, he has scaled down his performances from an estimated 300 to 250. This is still a high number for a musician who is well into his eighties. (Sharp) Conclusion B.B. King’s influence into the world of blues is unquestionable. The musician boasts of 75 albums to his feather. However, lovers of blues music have questioned his character in the recent past. Some critics claim that King does everything including compromising his art just to arouse public interest. On top of this, some blues musicians claim that King has left his traditional role of mentoring them since at taining the celebrity status. This is not strange considering that King has his whole life lived a secluded life. Whether the skeptics and critics claims hold any truth is still a debatable subject. However, one undisputable thing is that King’s every move opens further doors for the advancement of blues music. This is in keeping with his traditional role of opening more doors for blues musicians to sell their music. This therefore makes it hard to claim that B.B. King has abandoned his role and fellow musicians. Works Cited Academy of Achievement. B.B. King Biography, 2010. Web. Cooksey, Gloria. B.B. King Biography, 2010. Web.Advertising Looking for research paper on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More King, B.B, Ritz, David. Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King. Avon Books, New York, 1996. 10-15. Print. Sharp, Steven. Long Live the King of the Blues, n.d. Web. Universal Music Group. B.B. King, 2010. Web. This research paper on Musical Career of B.B. King was written and submitted by user OldLace to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Descartes and Meditations on Philosophy essays

Descartes and Meditations on Philosophy essays Rene Descartes, a French philosopher, departed to Holland in order to pursue his dream of writing. During this period while he was in Holland, he wrote many works including one of his most known, Meditations on First Philosophy. In this work Descartes uses a specific method, sometimes referred to as the Cartesian Method and the Method of Universal Doubt, in order to reach a certain goal. In this paper I will be discussing the basic steps and goals of his method, while referring to the first four meditations in Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy, to show how the method has been put into action. Descartes method begins immediately in the first meditation, in Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy, when he explains, I have freed my mind of all cares, secured for myself a period of leisurely tranquility, and am with drawing into solitude (Descartes 13). Descartes wants to be alone and have peace while writing his meditations so that he can be able to concentrate and look at every aspect of his argument, to make sure the his logic and reason makes sense. He is not going to procrastinate anymore. The main goal of the first meditation was that Descartes wants to demolish all opinions (Descartes 13). He decides to wipe out everything that he once believed in, in order to establish a foundation for his argument that is sturdy. He knows it will be hard not to go back to these old opinions that he used to believe in as a child and young adult, but the only way to get to the truth is to doubt all these opinions and start a completely new form of thought. For example, he does th is by looking at the argument of the dream. He explains that when we dream the experience we have seems to be true and because of this how will anyone be able to distinguish being awake from being asleep (Descartes 14). This is why Descartes thinks we should doubt all things because our senses are not reliable. Furthermore, t...

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Civil War Position Paper Essay Example for Free

Civil War Position Paper Essay The American Civil War almost tore early America and its population apart. Still today people debate weather slavery was the primary cause for the war. In this paper I will explain why I believe slavery was not the primary cause of the American Civil War. Also I will point out many other factors that may have played a bigger role in the cause of the Civil War. Southern states believed STRONGLY in states’ rights. States’ rights are the belief that one should be loyal to their state instead of the country as a whole, also they believed that states should be able to make their own laws to their liking without having to answer to the country. This alone created tension between the southern states and the northern states for northern states felt that the constitution clearly stated that states can create laws as long as they do not conflict with the laws of the country. In addition to the tension between the north and south congress placed a tax on goods bought outside of the country otherwise known as tariffs. In 1828 and 1832, congress raised tariffs higher and higher. These taxes were hated by the southern states for they did not have many factories unlike they’re northern counterparts, and thus they paid tariffs more often. In one instance a southern state refused to pay the tariff nullifying the tax congress had placed this event known as the nullification crisis drove the wedge between the north and south further The bloody fighting between northern and southern voters in Kansas was another step in the path of the civil war. Due to the popular sovereignty act suggested by Senator Stephen Douglas the people where able to vote on whether that territory would’ve been a free state or a slave state, this caused voters from both the north and the south to pour into these states hoping to tip the scale in their favor in doing this conflict between the two erupted as homes were burned and people were murdered. In conclusion I do not believe that slavery was the primary cause of the civil war. My reason for thinking this is because of all the events that the country had to push though on top of slavery. For starters states rights, tariffs, nullification crisis, the Kansas Nebraska act, and the bleeding Kansas scare all played a bigger part in the cause of the civil war rather then slavery.

Lord of the Rings :: essays research papers

It is easy for the reader who enters the enchanted realm of Tolkien's own work to be lost in the magic of the Middle-Earth and to forbear to ask questions. Surrounded by elves, hobbits, dragons and orcs, wandering the pristine fields and woods, described with such loving care they seem almost real, it is easy to forget there is another world outside, the world in which John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, an Oxford don, lived and wrote his monumental series of fantasy novels. It is, after all, natural to want to escape humdrum reality. Literature that offers a simple pleasure of a different time, a different place has nothing to be ashamed of. Tolkien in the same essay describes "escape and consolation" as one of the chief functions of the fairy-tale by which term he understands also what we would call "literary fantasy" today. "Escape and consolation" seem to be self-evident terms. What is there to discuss? Perhaps all that I have to do today is to praise Tolkie n's fertile imagination and to step modestly aside. But the sentence I just quoted suggests that asking questions about the fairy-tale realm is not so much unnecessary as dangerous. You risk not merely boredom and disenchantment but the actual expulsion from the Fairyland. Why? Is there, perhaps, more to the magic land than meets the eye? What if the "escape" it offers is fake; what if Middle-Earth lies not "in a galaxy long ago and far away", as Star Wars put it, but much closer to home, right on the border with Tolkien's war-stricken England of the 1940s and perhaps even not so far from our own turbulent Middle East. What if the further away we travel, the more inevitably we come home? These are the questions I want to discuss today.And if the result of this inquiry will be the loss of the key to the gates of Paradise, I'm willing to take this risk. Therefore the focus of this talk will be the question that Tolkien himself emphasized as central to our perception of works of fantasy: what is "the effect produced now by these old things in the stories as they are" (32); in other words, how are the elves, orcs, the Dark Lord and the magic ring relevant to the here and now? However, I do not believe that the answer to this question should be sought in the circumstances of the author's own life.

A Soft Drink Tax According to John Stuart Mill Essay

The Coca-Cola brand has built itself into a staple of American culture. This is a terrifying thought for public health advocates who see Coke and other soft drinks as being major culprits behind a growing national health crisis. Empirical evidence shows that over-consumption of soft drinks clearly causes harm to the individuals who consume them, however, the waging battle over soda legislation will not be won on the grounds of health alone. The argument that Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and other soft drink firms present is deeply rooted in American values and cannot easily be trumped. What they argue for is freedom of choice. In his book On Liberty, John Stuart Mill states, â€Å"over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign† (9). If an individual chooses that he wants to drink soda pop, he should be allowed a high degree of liberty to make that decision. Such is the foundation of a soft drink firm’s purported right to exist. If consumers demand it, Coca-Cola executives will get as red in the face as their soda cans stating that they play an innocent and vital role in fulfilling that demand. One method through which public health advocates wish to regulate soft drinks is in the implementation of a soda tax. Advocates for such a tax may argue that individuals who harm themselves by overindulging in soda should be limited in their consumption. Since supply and demand are sensitive to market conditions, a tax would undoubtedly lower the quantity of soda demanded, particularly in low-income families where obesity and diabetes are most common. Mill claims that â€Å"to tax stimulants for the sole purpose of making them more difficult to be obtained is a measure differing only in degree from their entire prohibition, and would be justifiable only if that were justifiable. Every increase of cost is a prohibition to those whose means do not come up to the augmented price; and to those who do, it is a penalty laid on them for gratifying a particular taste† (99). Soft drink firms would cite Mill here in their argument that individuals’ â€Å"choice of pleasures and their mode of expending their income, after satisfying their legal and moral obligations to the State and to the individuals, are their own concern and must rest with their own judgment† (99). While Mill’s line of reasoning would appear to speak against a soft drink tax, he goes on to remind us that â€Å"taxation for fiscal purposes is absolutely inevitable†¦ It is hence the duty of the State to consider, in the imposition of taxes, what commodities the consumers can best spare†¦ [and] to select in preference those of which it deems the use, beyond a very moderate quantity, to be positively injurious† (100). Being that over-consumption of soda pop is certainly injurious to the consumer, and especially in light of the current economic downturn in this country, Mill would approve of a soft drink tax as an effective means through which to produce revenue for the State. While a tax on soft drinks would be permissible by Mill’s standards, some proponents of soft drink legislation would go so far as to ban their sale altogether. However, even if the vast majority of the public were motivated to impose such a ban, Mill would hesitate to condone such a severe form of coercion. The basis for Mill’s harm principle is that â€Å"the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any members of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others† (9). Although soft drink firms have a clear interest in â€Å"promoting intemperance† (99) in order to generate profit, those firms will argue fervently that the consumption of soda is not such a great evil that the State would be justified in â€Å"imposing restrictions and requiring guarantees which†¦ would be infringements of legitimate liberty† (99). Therefore, in order to present a stronger argument for a ban on soft drinks, advocates would do well to prove that in drinking soda pop, individuals cause harm not only to themselves, but also to others. To consume soft drinks to the point of excess can lead to the deterioration of an individual’s health. This may appear to be a self-regarding action until one considers the cost such individuals impose on taxpayers. Citizens whose unhealthy lifestyles regularly land them in the hospital eat up government health care, at which point their actions cease to be self-regarding and become harmful to society at large. With this in mind, are we still to protect individuals’ liberty to drink soda pop? Soft drink firms may point to Mill in arguing that the accountability for such harm lies not with soda, but with the society that raises gluttonous individuals. If grown people are incapable of properly taking care of themselves, society must consider that it â€Å"has had absolute power over them during all the early portion of their existence; it has had the whole period of childhood and nonage in which to try whether it could make them capable of rational conduct in life† (80). It is on this point that we must consider the role that mass media plays in the world today. The pervasiveness of corporate advertising in the U. S. manipulates children’s impressionable faculties of reason, subverting the ability of even responsible parents and educators to impart rational consumption habits on their young ones. Mill writes that he could not see how people could witness an act of self-harm and think it â€Å"more salutary than hurtful, since, if it displays the misconduct, it displays also the painful or degrading consequences which, if the conduct is justly censured, must be supposed to be in all or most cases attendant on it† (81). This argument is undermined by the fallacy of soft drink advertising, which positively portrays the act of drinking soda without showing the adverse long-term effects of its consumption. When a world-class athlete endorses soda pop, susceptible consumers, particularly children, are inclined to associate soft drinks with scoring goals and dunking basketballs rather than with cancer and heart disease. In arguing against the proliferation of soft drinks, one should appeal to a fundamental component of Mill’s doctrine, which states that his harm principle does not apply to â€Å"children or of young persons below the age which the law may fix as that of manhood or womanhood. Those who are still in a state to require being taken care of by others must be protected against their own actions as well as against external injury† (9). In other words; children do not have the maturity to make rational, informed decisions that lead to actions that could potentially cause them harm, for instance, the act of guzzling down a 99 cent Coke. The American Beverage Association would echo John Stuart Mill in saying that â€Å"human beings owe to each other help to distinguish the better from the worse, and encouragement to choose the former and avoid the latter† (74). It is their argument that parents and educators, not government, are responsible for dissuading children to consume soft drinks. Indeed, parents and educators can form a partnership in banning the sale of soft drinks in schools, but it is beyond their power to prevent a non-responsible child from seeing a deviously enticing soda ad on TV and irrationally choosing to spend his or her allowance on soda pop. Therefore, the State would be justified in regulating children’s access to soft drinks by legally coercing soft drink firms to discontinue their advertisements geared toward children, as well as by imposing a minimum age requirement for the purchasing of soft drinks.