B.B. King

The King of the Blues and perhaps the most influential pure blues guitarist of the 20th century, B.B. King transformed single-note soloing into an art of profound emotional expression from the late 1940s until his death in 2015. His trademark vibrato technique — shaking the string rather than bending it — and his beloved Gibson ES-355 named Lucille became instantly recognizable on recordings like The Thrill Is Gone and Live at the Regal. King brought blues guitar to mainstream audiences worldwide, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom and influencing every blues-rock guitarist from Clapton to Gary Moore.