B.B. King 1925-2015

Legendary blues guitarist B.B. King passed away yesterday evening at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada at the age of 89.  He had been in home hospice care after experiencing dehydration.  King had suffered for decades from type II diabetes.

Riley King was born on September 16, 1925 on a cotton plantation near Indianola, Mississippi and spent much of his childhood working on cotton farms.  He sang in church choirs, and after learning some basic guitar chords from his uncle, often played on street corners.  In 1947, he moved to Memphis to stay with from his cousin Booker "Bukka" White, himself a noted blues performer at the time.  King developed his guitar skills by studying White and other blues guitarists.  He would be billed as "the Blues Boy from Beale Street", which was shortened to "Blues Boy" and again to "B.B.", the name under which he became famous.

Although talented as both a singer and a guitarist, King never developed the ability to sing and play at the same time.  His first hit on the R&B charts was 3 O'Clock Blues, recorded in 1951 at the Memphis YMCA.  In 1969, King had his first hit single with The Thrill Is Gone, which would become his most famous song.  His music would eventually influence many blues-rock guitarists, such as Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton and Peter Green.

Read more at CNN, The New York Times, USA Today, Fox News and Billboard.

In 1988, King teamed up with U2 to produce When Love Comes To Town.