Claudette King, daughter of B.B. King, coming to Riverfront Blues Festival

Claudette King, the youngest daughter of blues legend B.B. King, is coming to the Riverfront Blues Festival this summer.

King, also known as Claudette “The Bluz Queen” King, will be among the acts performing during the Riverfront Blues Festival on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 8 and 9. King is expected to be the headline act.

During Monday’s City Council meeting, Blues Festival volunteer Jennifer Nelson requested and was granted a variance by the City Council from the  noise ordinance for the sixth annual festival. It was at that time, an exchange between Nelson and City Councilwoman Robin Benson, also a festival volunteer, that the announcement leaked of King’s upcoming performance.

“The best part is she contacted us,” Benson said. “The word has gotten out about the blues festival, and she wants to be a part of it.”

King, a longtime Californian now living in Atlanta, is quick to cite her father as her main inspiration.

Trained in the gospel of the Baptist church from age 13, King says her mentors, in addition to her father, are Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Koko Taylor, Chaka Khan, Mavis Staples, Mahalia Jackson, even Michael Jackson.

On her Facebook page, King says, “I got a bit of everybody inside of me.”

Born Riley B. King, B.B. King was born Sept. 16, 1925, in Berclair, Miss. He is 88.

Trent and Peggy Oelberg are founders of the Riverfront Blues Festival.