Colonels_Wear_Blue Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 The Thrill Is Gone Riley "Blues Boy" King - B.B. King - has died at 89 years old. He went into hospice care last week after long-suffering from Type II diabetes. One of the all-time electric blues masters. He spent over 65 years in the music business, collected 15 Grammy Awards, was been inducted into both the Blues Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, received an honorary doctorate from Brown University, was awarded the US Congress' National Medal of Arts, a Kennedy Center Honor, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. King was well known for playing a signature semi-hollow Gibson electric guitar named "Lucille". The story famously goes that King was playing a show early on in his music career in an Arkansas dance hall, when the hall caught fire. Everyone quickly evacuated the building, and once outside, King decided to run back into the building to retrieve his guitar. After barely making it back out with his life (and his guitar), King came to learn that the fire, which killed two people, had been started when two men fighting over a woman named Lucille had kicked over a lit kerosene heater in the scuffle. King then decided to name his guitar, along with a long line of guitars to follow, "Lucille" to act as a constant reminder not to be dumb enough to ever run into a burning building or to fight over a woman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colonels_Wear_Blue Posted May 15, 2015 Author Share Posted May 15, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Run To State Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 A true legend! Rest in peace, B.B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jericho Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 I would like to think that Obama would recognize him as a National Treasure. He is truly a pioneer and great influence on so many people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJAlltheWay24 Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 King of Memphis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldweatherfan Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 Saw him at least a dozen times. One of the good ones. As a musician and a person. He influenced a lot of lives. RIP big man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
75center Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 Hate to hear this, will be sorely missed! RIP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mack The Knife Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 One of the true giants of the music industry... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justsayin Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 Damn .. now I've got the Blues. Legend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjs4470 Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 All day long tribute playing on the Bluesville Channel on Sirius. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Schue Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 This makes me very sad. Weird that somebody mentioned him the other day in that unknown guitarists thread I started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 I knew he'd been in hospice care for at least the last couple of weeks. From what I'd heard, he's been in poor health for a long while and his shows were extremely sad displays in recent years. RIP one of the legends of music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjs4470 Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 I knew he'd been in hospice care for at least the last couple of weeks. From what I'd heard, he's been in poor health for a long while and his shows were extremely sad displays in recent years. RIP one of the legends of music. He had been very frail, and performed sitting down most of the last 10 years or so. I caught him in Vegas 7 or 8 years ago, and really enjoyed being able to see him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts