Charlie Sawyer: It Occurred to Me

This book documents a great American story, that of B. B. King, the “King of the Blues” and one of America’s most important popular musicians. With fascinating images and history—most published for the first time—it traces his migration from his hometown of Indianola, Mississippi, to the Chitlin’ Circuit (the national network of Black theaters and roadhouses), and eventually to Carnegie Hall. What was it about Riley B. King that enabled him to become the worldwide “King of the Blues”? The author’s quest to answer that question is chronicled here and tells the story of the once impossible friendship between someone who grew up poor and Black in Mississippi and the white middle-class New Englander who fell in love with the blues and was determined to tell the story of his musical hero.

First published in 1980 by Doubleday, this landmark book appeared in the UK in 1981 from Blandford Press, then in a paperback edition in the US in 1982 from Da Capo Press; then in German translation in 1995 from Hannibal Verlag under the title B.B. King Der Legendäre König des Blues; finally it was translated to Japanese and published by P-Vine in Tokyo in 2015. Officially it is now out of print but used copies can be purchased through Amazon  (https://www.amazon.com/Arrival-B-B-King-Authorized-Biography/dp/0385159293/ref=sr_1_1) The Arrival of B.B. King The Authorized Biography