In the mid-1950s, a legend was born from the ashes of a burnt club in Twist, Arkansas. The club caught fire when a kerosene stove was knocked over during a fight between two men.

Riley B. King was playing at the club that evening and he will never forget how the club was evacuated and how he almost left his prized $30 guitar to burn in the flames.

But King rushed into the inferno and saved the cheap guitar, almost dying in the process. Later on that evening, he discovered the fight was over a woman named Lucille. In tribute to the destroyed club and his own bravery, King named his guitar Lucille and created a legend.

King was born on September 16, 1925, on a cotton plantation in Itta Bena, Mississippi. He lived a fairly hard life that seemed devoid of meaning or purpose until he discovered the music of famed blues musicians Lonnie Johnson, T-Bone Walker and Charlie Christian.

Amazed by the amount of heart and soul he found in the music, he decided to learn how to play the guitar so he could create blues songs himself. From that point on, he never looked back.

The “King of the Blues” first became famous for his 10-minute radio spot — called “King’s Sport” — on a local Mississippi radio station. Due to the segment’s popularity, it was given an increase in air-time and a new, hip name — “Sepia Swing Club.”

The only problem was Riley B. King wasn’t exactly a catchy radio personality name. The programmers realized this problem and chose Beale Street Blues Boy after a street where King used to play guitar for spare change.

This name was eventually shortened to Blues Boy King, and then cut again to B.B. King. It was this final condensation that finally stuck and still remains almost 50 years later.

King is now 72 years old, but his age hasn’t slowed him down any. He still plays an average of 275 concerts per year, often playing two or more gigs in a single day, according to his publicist and press releases. He recently wrapped up his first U.K. tour, a European jazz festival tour and his “Blues Music Festival ’97” tour.

He has just released a new CD, “Deuces Wild,” which features his “mixture of traditional blues, jazz, swing and mainstream pop” in collaboration with 13 different musicians, including Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, D’Angelo, the Rolling Stones, Joe Cocker, Heavy D., Willie Nelson and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd.

Throughout the span of King’s illustrious career, he has released more than 50 records, including such masterpieces as “Live at the Regal” (’65), “Together For the First Time” (’76’s collaboration with Bobby “Blue” Band), “Live at San Quentin” (’90) and “Live at the Apollo” (’90s collaboration with Ray Charles).

He has enough greatest hits to fill a 10-disc box set. Some of the better known tunes are “How Blue Can You Get,” “The Thrill Is Gone,” “Lucille,” “Three O’Clock Blues,” “Sweet 16, Part One,” “You Upset Me Baby,” “Paying the Cost To Be the Boss,” “Caldonia” and “When Love Comes To Town” (his collaboration with U2 from the band’s classic album “Rattle and Hum”).

King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in ’87, put his handprints into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in ’91 and was recognized for “his extraordinary contributions and enrichment to American life” with a Kennedy Center Honor, according to a press release.

Altogether, King has received four honorary doctorates, six honorariums, 19 music awards (plus another 16 Grammy nominations), 25 magazine awards and three lifetime achievement awards. He has also been inducted into two halls of fame, has his handprints in three walks of fame and has gotten two humanitarian awards.

But all of the honors and awards can diminish King’s magical blues music.

B.B. King will be playing at the Civic Center in Des Moines tonight at 7:30 p.m. Tickets to see the “Ambassador of Blues” and his legendary guitar, Lucille, are $27.50 and $22.50.

Up-and-coming blues maestro Corey Harris — who some people have likened to Robert Johnson — will be opening.