How Joe Bonamassa involved Clapton in the BB King tribute

Joe Bonamassa speaking with American Songwriter he explained how he managed to involve Eric Clapton And Chaka Khan in the performance of the cover of the classic by B.B. King from 1969 “The thrill is gone” in the tribute album to the bluesman who passed away in 2015 “B.B. King’s Blues Summit 100”.

Bonamassa said: “First, you have to be an icon in your own right, and that’s OK. Because it’s a really iconic song. It’s BB’s signature song. Either you find some young, clueless bluesman, or you get an artist who has no idea what he’s doing and you make him the sacrificial lamb. So, I didn’t want to do it. I’m glad we ended up having… Chaka and Eric. I mean, come on… it’s the best. She sang it great. She really sang it. great.”

To enter the project Chaka Khan he had made a condition…” Chaka said, ‘I’ll only sing ‘The Thrill Is Gone’ if Eric Clapton plays it.’ Gone’, we used real strings, real horns was what it was, because you only get one chance to get it right.”

After all
Eric Clapton
he could not escape the call of
Joe Bonamassa
given his deep artistic and also personal connection with
B.B. King
. Together the two released the album in 1999
“Riding with the King”
(
read the review here
), a particularly successful album that won the Grammy Awards in 2001 in the category
‘Best Traditional Blues Album
‘.