America
Family bids adieu to B.B. King, Obama pays tribute
Las Vegas, May 31
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 Favourâ€.
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.