Blues icon B.B. King died in Las Vegas after several recent hospital stays, his attorney announced Thursday. The 89-year-old was a 15-time Grammy Award winner and was a member of the Rock and Roll and Blues Foundation halls of fame. VPC

His home state mourns, as does the rest of the world. King died Thursday in Las Vegas at the age of 89.

At last count, he had played in 90 countries, including the former Soviet Union. He won 15 Grammy Awards and was given the Grammy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. Two of his songs — Sweet Little Angel and The Thrill Is Gone — were selected among the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame's 500 songs that shaped Rock 'n' Roll.

He was a pioneer on the electric guitar. Upon hearing T-Bone Walker play, King knew the sound he was chasing wouldn't come through acoustic instruments. His first electric licks on Three O'Clock Blues in 1951 shook the blues world.

Buddy Guy, a bluesman 11 years younger than King, told Rolling Stone magazine: "Before B.B., everyone played the (electric) guitar like an acoustic."

Meaning: King was one of the first to discover how to make an electric moan and cry and beg. It would become his signature style, one that intrigued many of the artists who were part of the British Invasion in the early 1960s, such as the Rolling Stones and the Beatles.

"Those guys from England opened the doors for a lot of (blues players)," King said. "When the British bands talked, white America listened. I'll praise those boys forever. I congratulate them on being real people."

In a September 2003 interview, King told me his love of music crossed many genres. He grew up on gospel music but became obsessed with the blues as a teenager.

King also found beauty in country music, especially the weeping sound of a steel guitar.

"Ain't nothin' in the world prettier than that," he said.....read the full story here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2015/05/15/bb-king-mississippi-mourns/27361575/?hootPostID=860cd49a5ecf5d981ffc14d50496a7c0