Guitarist B.B. King, who took the blues from rural juke joints to the mainstream and influenced a generation of rock guitarists from Eric Clapton to Stevie Ray Vaughan on Thursday night died as he slept in Las Vegas. He was 89.
Born in Mississippi, King began performing in the 1940s, going on to influence a generation of musicians from blues to R&B and pop, with his influence stretching to hip-hop and many other genres and cultures from America to Europe and Africa.
King, who will forever be linked with the Gibson guitars he named Lucille, was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in the 1980s.
He was hospitalised in April for a few days after suffering from dehydration related to the disease. In May he said in a Facebook post that he was in hospice care at his home.
King had a deep, resonant singing voice and, despite having what he called “stupid fingers,” an immediately recognizable guitar sound.
His unique style of trilling the strings with a fluttering left-hand vibrato, which he called it “the butterfly,” helped shape early rock. He delivered stinging single-note licks that brimmed with emotion and were copied by white rock guitarists including Jeff Beck and Bonnie Raitt.