Las Vegas, May 31 (IANS) Family members of the late legendary Blues singer and guitarist B.B. King came together at his funeral service at Bell Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Indianola, Mississippi, a town he considered his home.
King, who influenced generations of singers and guitarists, died aged 89 on May 14 at his residence here.
At the ceremony, which took place on Saturday, relatives, friends and Mississippi’s governor Phil Bryant were among the guests who mourned King ahead of his final resting place at the B.B. King Museum in his beloved Indianola, reports dailymail.co.uk.
Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson read a letter from US President Barack Obama at the funeral.
“The blues has lost its king and American has lost a legend. No one worked harder than BB. No one did more to spread the gospel of the blues. He gets stuck in your head, he gets you moving, he gets you doing the things you probably shouldn’t do – but will always be glad you did.
“BB may be gone but that thrill will be with us forever. There’s going to be one killer blues session in heaven tonight,” Obama wrote in the letter.
Born in Mississippi, King began performing in the 1940s. He went on to influence a generation of musicians, working with Eric Clapton and U2.
Once considered the third greatest guitarist of all time, King was awarded his 15th Grammy award in 2009 for his album “One Kind Favour”.
The entertainer is survived by 11 children, from different partners, and around 40 grandchildren, according to his eldest daughter Shirley King, 65, also a musician.