Legendary blues musician B.B. King dies at 89

B.B. King, whose velvety voice and touching guitar skills made him widely regarded as the acme of American blues, died in Las Vegas, Nevada, Thursday night at the age of 89.

His youngest daughter Claudette King confirmed his death. The cause of death was not released. It is reported that he died during sleep.

The news came after King moved back to home with hospice care after treating in hospital last month due to diabetes-related dehydration.

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, King was ranked the third at Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all, behind only Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman.

"The blues has lost its king, and America has lost a legend," U. S. President Obama said in a statement. "B.B. King was born a sharecropper's son in Mississippi, came of age in Memphis, Tennessee, and became the ambassador who brought his all-American music to his country and the world."

"No one worked harder than B.B. No one inspired more up-and- coming artists. 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."

Former President Bill Clinton also expressed his consolation in a statement with his wife Hillary. "He was a brilliant blues guitarist and a kind, good man. I will always be grateful that twice I had the chance to play with him, and that he received the Kennedy Center Honor when I was president. While an American legend has gone to his greater reward, the thrill of his gifts to us will never be gone."

B.B. King was born Riley B. King on a plantation near Indianola, Mississippi, on Sept.16, 1925. His parents separated when he was four, and his mother died when he was nine, leaving him to be brought up by his maternal grandmother. King dropped out of school in the tenth grade and earned a living picking cotton.

King got his start in radio with a gospel quartet in Mississippi, but he soon moved to Memphis, Tennessee to be a DJ at WDIA. This job gave him the access to a wide range of recordings. He studied the great blues and jazz guitarists and played live music a few minutes each day as "the Blues Boy of Beale Street," then the Beale Street Blues Boy, and later simply B.B. King.

King has spent over 65 years in career, during which he won 15 Grammy Awards including a lifetime achievement award. He recorded more than 50 albums, often playing more than 300 shows a year until slowly cutting back in his last decade, though, he still played about 100 shows a year.

"He is without a doubt the most important artist the blues has ever produced and the most humble and genuine man you would ever wish to meet," Eric Clapton, a musician, singer-song writer and guitarist, wrote in his 2008 biography.

In the latest video he posted, Clapton said, "I just wanted to express my sadness and to say thank you to my dear friend BB King. I wanted to thank him for all the inspiration and encouragement he gave me as a player over the years and for the friendship that we enjoyed." Endite