[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 97 (Friday, June 15, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1313]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   COMMENDING RILEY B. KING, ALSO KNOWN AS BB KING, FOR HIS RENOWNED 
        ACHIEVEMENTS AND LASTING INFLUENCE ON THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

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                         HON. RODNEY ALEXANDER

                              of louisiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 15, 2007

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate Riley B. 
King's, also known as BB King, accomplished career and influential 
musical legacy.
  Riley B. King has been acknowledged as the ``King of the Blues'' 
worldwide. BB King and Charles Evers founded the Medgar Evers 
Homecoming in Mississippi to memorialize the principles and ideals for 
which civil rights leader Medger Evers died. He was appointed 
Mississippi's World Ambassador of the Blues in 2003, and was named 
United States Ambassador of Music to the World during the World's Fair 
in Lisbon, Portugal. Mr. King has received honorary degrees from many 
universities including Tougaloo College, Yale University, Berklee 
College of Music, Rhodes College of Memphis, Mississippi Valley State 
University, and in May of 2007, Brown University.
  BB King's accomplishments include multiple Grammy awards, a Grammy 
Lifetime Achievement Award, the Songwriters' Hall of Fame Lifetime 
Achievement Award, and a Presidential Medal of the Arts, a National 
Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Kennedy 
Center Honors, the B'nai Brith Humanitarian Award, and a 2006 
Presidential Medal of Freedom.
  He, along with the BB King Blues Band, has performed over 10,000 
concerts in 90 countries, including frequent appearances at the New 
Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and numerous other Louisiana venues, 
including the Paragon Casino in Avoyelles Parish.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in celebrating the 
accomplishments of Riley B. King. I acknowledge his invaluable talent 
and significant contribution to not only the State of Louisiana, but 
our Nation as well.

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