Q 01/05

What was B.B. King's real first name?

A) Robert

B) Rufus

C) Riley

D) Reginald

Answer · why

C) Riley

He was born Riley B. King on 16 September 1925 to sharecropper parents Albert and Nora Ella King.

Q 02/05

What did B.B. King name every guitar he owned?

A) Bessie

B) Rosie

C) Lucille

D) Della

Answer · why

C) Lucille

He also wrote a song called 'Lucille' explaining how the guitar got its name.

Q 03/05

King named his guitar after a woman two men fought over in a dance hall in which state?

A) Tennessee

B) Arkansas

C) Alabama

D) Louisiana

Answer · why

B) Arkansas

He ran back into the burning hall in Twist to rescue his $30 Gibson and vowed never to do anything that stupid again.

Q 04/05

What was knocked over to start the Twist dance-hall fire that gave B.B. King's guitar its name?

A) An open hearth

B) A barrel of burning kerosene

C) A coal brazier

D) A wood-burning stove

Answer · why

B) A barrel of burning kerosene

A half-filled barrel in the middle of the dance floor was a common heating method at the time.

Q 05/05

King's nickname 'B.B.' was shortened from what radio moniker?

A) Beale Street Blues Boy

B) Bluesman of Berclair

C) Boogie Boy of Memphis

D) Big Bad Boy of Beale

Answer · why

A) Beale Street Blues Boy

He earned it working as a singer and DJ at Memphis station WDIA, where he first met T-Bone Walker.