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50 free B.B. King trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This B.B. King trivia quiz covers the whole life of the King of the Blues, from a cotton plantation near Itta Bena, Mississippi to a funeral procession down Beale Street. The easy questions are the ones every music fan should know: the name he gave every guitar he owned, the instrument he played, the city whose radio station gave him his nickname, and the 1970 hit that became his signature song. From there it gets harder: what B.B. actually stands for, the cousin who first took him to Memphis, the dance-hall fire in Twist, Arkansas, the record label where Sam Phillips produced his early sides, the year he played 342 concerts, why he was released from the Army, the album Clapton and Santana use as a warm-up, the Pope he handed a guitar to, the pilot's licence, the Sinatra obsession and the fast-food chains he advertised for. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries on King, his guitars, his key albums and his best-known songs before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, try our blues, Bob Marley and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame quizzes next.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What was B.B. King's real first name?
Riley
He was born Riley B. King on 16 September 1925 to sharecropper parents Albert and Nora Ella King.
Q 02What did B.B. King name every guitar he owned?
Lucille
He also wrote a song called 'Lucille' explaining how the guitar got its name.
Q 03King named his guitar after a woman two men fought over in a dance hall in which state?
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 04What was knocked over to start the Twist dance-hall fire that gave B.B. King's guitar its name?
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 05King's nickname 'B.B.' was shortened from what radio moniker?
Beale Street Blues Boy
He earned it working as a singer and DJ at Memphis station WDIA, where he first met T-Bone Walker.
Q 06Which Memphis radio station employed King as a singer and disc jockey early in his career?
WDIA
His ten-minute spot grew so popular it was expanded into the Sepia Swing Club.
Q 07Along with Albert King and Freddie King, B.B. King is counted among the 'Three Kings' of what?
The blues guitar
None of the three Kings were related to one another.
Q 08How many concerts did King play in 1956, his record-breaking year?
342
He kept up more than 200 shows a year into his seventies.
Q 09King was born on a cotton plantation near which Mississippi town?
Itta Bena
He later called Indianola his hometown; a museum dedicated to him opened there in 2008.
Q 10Which Mississippi town did King regard as his hometown, and where he is buried?
Indianola
The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center opened there in September 2008.
Q 11How much did King's employer Flake Cartledge pay for his first guitar, deducting it from his wages?
$15
The local minister, who played a Sears Silvertone in church, had taught him his first three chords.
Q 12Which Delta blues radio show, first aired on KFFA in 1941, made young Riley want to be a radio musician?
King Biscuit Time
He listened to it during breaks on the plantation.
Q 13King was released from World War II Army service because his civilian skill was deemed essential - what was it?
Tractor driving
He had left Kilmichael in 1943 to drive tractors and sing with the Famous St. John's Gospel Singers.
Q 21What was the name of the record label King founded in 1956 with headquarters on Beale Street?
Blues Boys Kingdom
There he produced artists such as Millard Lee and Levi Seabury.
Q 22King's celebrated 1965 album Live at the Regal was recorded at a theatre in which city?
Chicago
Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, John Mayer and Mark Knopfler have all used it as a primer before shows.
Q 23In 2005 Live at the Regal was selected for permanent preservation in what?
The National Recording Registry
Rolling Stone ranked it 141st on its 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums.
Q 14Which blues musician, his cousin, took King in when he first went to Memphis in 1946?
Bukka White
White housed him for ten months before King went home to Mississippi to prepare for a second attempt.
Q 15Which musician's radio programme on KWEM in West Memphis gave King his first regular audience?
Sonny Boy Williamson
That exposure led to steady gigs at the Sixteenth Avenue Grill.
Q 16Hearing which guitarist for the first time made King decide he had to have an electric guitar?
T-Bone Walker
King said he 'had' to have one, 'short of stealing'.
Q 17King performed with Bobby Bland, Johnny Ace and Earl Forest in a Memphis group known as what?
The Beale Streeters
'Beale Street was where it all started for me,' King said.
Q 18Which future rock-and-roll star, then a talent scout, introduced King to the Bihari brothers?
Ike Turner
King's very first recordings, in 1949, were for Nashville's Bullet label with Phineas Newborn on piano.
Q 19Which producer, who later founded Sun Records, produced many of King's early recordings for RPM?
Sam Phillips
RPM was a Los Angeles-based subsidiary of Modern Records.
Q 20What was King's first Billboard R&B chart-topper, in February 1952?
3 O'Clock Blues
His weekly earnings jumped from about $85 to $2,500 and he began playing the Howard and the Apollo.
Q 24King opened for which band on their 1969 American tour, winning new rock fans?
The Rolling Stones
His manager Sid Seidenberg was steering him toward the venues where Clapton and Paul Butterfield were bringing blues to white audiences.
Q 25Which song, a 1951 Roy Hawkins hit, became B.B. King's signature after his 1970 Grammy-winning version?
The Thrill Is Gone
His slow B-minor version with strings reached number 15 on the Hot 100 and launched producer Bill Szymczyk's career.
Q 26King's 1970 signature hit peaked at what position on the Billboard Hot 100?
15
It went to number three on the Best Selling Soul Singles chart.
Q 27King recorded 'When Love Comes to Town' with which Irish band for their 1988 album Rattle and Hum?
U2
The track was cut at Sun Studio in Memphis and topped the Irish singles chart.
Q 28'When Love Comes to Town' was recorded at which historic Memphis recording facility?
Sun Studio
The song reached number six in the UK and number two on the US Mainstream Rock chart.
Q 29King's 2000 album Riding with the King was a collaboration with which British guitarist?
Eric Clapton
It won the 2001 Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album and went double platinum in the US.
Q 30King and Clapton first performed together in 1967 at which New York club, when Clapton was 22 and in Cream?
Cafe Au Go Go
They didn't record together until 'Rock Me Baby' on King's 1997 duets album Deuces Wild.