B.B. King celebrates 60 years of singing the blues.

Nineteen eighty seven was a big year for B.B. King. In January, he was among the second group of musicians to be inducted into the then-new Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a recognition of his place as one of the music’s most significant pioneers. In February, he won a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement, making him the first blues artist to be so honored.

That double win was a pretty stunning feat, never done before or since, but nobody was surprised. B.B. King had already been a force of nature in American culture for 30 years. His ferocious voice and searing guitar were the very definition of the blues, and the rock-and-roll world had adopted him as a godfather two decades earlier, when he opened for the Rolling Stones on their national tour and nearly blew them off the stage. Even today it seems like little more than a pretty cool coincidence that he would be honored simultaneously as a master of two universes.

But here’s something remarkable: In the 20 years since he was declared a living legend, B.B. King has hardly slowed down. The high-points of the second half of his career – the work he has done since he hit retirement age – would by themselves be enough to make him a hero.

That might have been predictable in 1987. While he was being honored by the The Recording Academy for his past work, his brand-new record, My Guitar Sings the Blues, won a Grammy of its own as the Best Traditional Blues Album of the year.

He topped that immediately. In 1988, King joined the band U2 on the single “When Love Comes to Town,” which went to Number 2 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts – no mean feat for a 63-year-old bluesman.

King recorded three live albums between 1991 and 1994 – Live at San Quentin, Live at the Apollo, and Blues Summit, all three of which won Grammy Awards. He was, however, taking a break from the recording studio. He focused instead on his live show, which, then as now, was a big-band spectacle that showcased his enormous range. Throughout the 1990s, he toured relentlessly, playing 300 dates a year in big and small venues, from nightclubs to sports arenas to Las Vegas hotels.

In 2000, King decided to return to the studio. To make Blues on the Bayou, he brought his touring band – guys he’d been playing with for 10 years – to the little dockside town of Maurice, Louisiana, near Lafayette, in the heart of Bayou country. He produced the album himself, wrote several new songs, dusted off some old gems, did most of the arranging and showed that he was still one of the best guitarists alive. It’s a masterful piece of work, and earned him another Grammy.

The following year, Eric Clapton invited King to join him for a collaborative album. This was a project Clapton had been dreaming about for years, and the result, Riding with the King, was even better than fans might have expected from the two giants. The album was met with huge critical acclaim – widely considered a breakthrough for King and Clapton’s best work in years. It was also a huge commercial success, going double-platinum after debuting at Number 3 on the charts. Not surprisingly, it won King another Grammy. As did 2003’s A Christmas Celebration of Hope, and 2005’s B.B. King & Friends: 80, a birthday celebration featuring duets with a rather unlikely collection of stars, from Roger Daltrey to John Mayer.

To recap: seven Grammys, a dozen groundbreaking artistic successes; more than 5,000 live shows – all after being honored for a lifetime of achievement.