From Sesame Street to Bel-Air: BB King's TV cameos
With a career almost as long as the history of American television, the late BB King made plenty of entertaining appearances on the small screen
Blues guitar legend BB King sadly passed away this week at the age of 89. He had been making music for pretty much as long as America has had television so perhaps it should come as no surprise that a look back at his many cameo appearances on the small screen is like a condensed history of US TV.
Here are just a few highlights...
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
As Will and Carlton argue about who best understands the blues, a nameless guitar player in the corner turns Will's woes into a song...
Sesame Street
"I’m the ruler of B words so they call me BB King/the blues begin with a B so they’re the only kind of songs I sing." You get the picture...
General Hospital
The cast of the long-running medical soap got out of the hospital for a club opening, and who should be headlining but the King of Blues himself. If you want to skip straight to BB's performance, he's introduced at around the 2:20 mark – but if you're a fan of suspicious looks and dramatic camera zooms, you can savour the build-up...
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Music hero
BB King was a diabetic and appeared in this TV advert for a glucose blood monitoring product. It may be a commercial but we're sure the fellow musician who gets to meet up with her hero is not faking those nerves...
Lucille
Another well put together car ad sees a young woman discover an old guitar and return it to its rightful owner. Notice the inscription on the neck of the instrument – Lucille was indeed the name of BB King's beloved guitar, which he once saved from a burning building...
Married with Children
King brought this episode of the risque sitcom to a close with a fitting song. Play us out, BB...
