B.B. King- B.B. King plays a guitar that he calls Lucille. He was born with the name Riley B. King on September 16, 1925 in indianola , Mississippi. In the 1940s he had a job as a disc jockey in Memphis, Tennesse. There is where he became known as the "Blues boy from Beale Street." That name was shortened to B.B. In 1965 he released his first album called Live at the Regal. Some of his other albums are Confessin' the Blues, Indianola mississippi Seeds, Six Silver Strings, There Must Be a Better Wold Somewhere, My Guitar Sings the Blues, and Blue Summit. B.B. King has infulenced many other blues and rock and roll performers with his jazzy style.

Bessie Smith - Bessie Smith is an American blues singer. She was born in poverty in Chattanooga, Tennesse. In her career She was aided by Ma Rainey. Later on in her career when Hollywood music came around in the 1930s she came addicted to alcohol. She died in Clarksdale, Mississippi after an automobile accident.
 
 Muddy Waters - Muddy Waters was an American blues artist. He was thirteen when he began to play the harmonica and later learned how to play the guitar. He became know when a recording of his music was put in the Library fo Congress folk-music archives. He moved to Chicage in 1943 to began a career in music. He toured England in 1958 and inspired a group of young British musicans who later became the innovators in rock music.

Leadbelly- Real name, Huddie Ledbetter, he was one of the first black folk singers from the Deep South to win a national following and an international reputation. He was a convicted murderer and served several prison sentences- helped make him a living legend, the "Bad-man" blues singer.

W.C. Handy- The American composer and conductor W.C. Handy (1873-1958) by successfully symthesizing elements of contemporary ragtime compositions and Latin American and Southern music, helped establish and develop the musical genre known as the blues.
 
 
 
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