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BB King, a name synonymous with the blues for more than half a century, will headline the inaugural Blues at the Beach festival in a show Sunday, June 5, at Rehoboth Beach Convention Center.
Delaware Celebration of Jazz, a nonprofit organization that produces the Rehoboth Beach Autumn Jazz, is producing the event. King, 76, is famous for songs including “Payin’ The Cost To Be the Boss” and “Why I Sing The Blues.”
Tickets for King’s concert will go on sale Thursday, March 1, at 800-29MUSIC, and will be $135 and $110. The higher ticket price applies to the first 12 rows of the convention center, the site of performances by the likes of the Rippingtons, Patti Austin and Chaka Khan during the jazz festival.
For blues fans the show will be a unique chance to see the luminary perform in one of the last shows of his career.
“It’s B.B. King’s last full year of touring,” said Sydney Arzt, festival entertainment and media coordinator. “He normally does about 250 concerts a year. In 2006, he’s booked only 12 concerts.”
Arzt said the show is a fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, of which King, a diabetic, is a major supporter and spokesman, and the Beebe Medical Center Wound Care Services, the hospital’s diabetes unit.
The announcement of another performer for the Saturday, June 4, show is pending confirmation. No other events are planned, although organizers are encouraging restaurants and hotels to participate with special events during the festival.
The festival has already received support from The Peninsula, a luxury resort community in Long Neck with a Jack Nicklaus golf course.
Hailed as the unprecedented king of the blues by critics and fans, King started recording in the 1940s and has more than 50 albums. He was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1984, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and received a Lifetime Grammy Award in 1987. His daughter, singer Shirley King, has performed several times at Sydney’s Blues & Jazz Restaurant in Rehoboth Beach.
Putting together a festival of this magnitude is an ambitious endeavor, requiring intense planning. The Delaware Celebration of Jazz is a board made up of four members working year-round to plan the jazz fest, an event held in October that annually attracts thousands to Delaware’s Cape Region. Organizers have similar aspirations for the blues festival.
“We are thrilled to be able to present an event of this caliber,” said Delaware Celebration of Jazz President Dennis Santangini. “We ask for the community’s support in helping diabetes research and invite everyone to this show for a chance of a lifetime to see BB King perform.”
The other two member of Delaware Celebration of Jazz are Kas Naylor and Leon Galitzin.
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