Q 01/05

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

A) Robert

B) Rufus

C) Riley

D) Reginald

Answer · why

C) Riley

Riley B. King busked on Mississippi street corners as a teenager and found that gospel songs earned him praise while blues earned tips, which, he like...

Q 02/05

What name did B.B. King give his guitars?

A) Bessie

B) Rosie

C) Lucille

D) Della

Answer · why

C) Lucille

Lucille was the woman two men were brawling over when they set a dance hall ablaze; King ran back in for his $30 guitar, then named it after her as a ...

Q 03/05

The dance-hall fight that named B.B. King's guitar broke out in Twist, near his Memphis base, in which state?

A) Tennessee

B) Arkansas

C) Alabama

D) Louisiana

Answer · why

B) Arkansas

Arkansas: the hall in Twist burned, and only the next day did King learn what the two men had been fighting over. He never met the woman whose name we...

Q 04/05

At which rock ballroom did a crowd of hippies give B.B. King a standing ovation before he had played a note?

A) Whisky a Go Go

B) The Fillmore

C) The Troubadour

D) CBGB

Answer · why

B) The Fillmore

The Fillmore's queue of long-haired white fans made King think he had been booked into the wrong place; when promoter Bill Graham introduced him, ever...

Q 05/05

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

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

Beale Street Blues Boy was the on-air name he took as a Memphis disc jockey, a job he wanted mainly to advertise his club dates; it was soon trimmed t...