VIDEO: Obama joins B.B. King on ‘Sweet Home Chicago’; Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, others remember King

B.B. King brought blues from Mississippi to the mainstream. Through his velvety voice and his guitar, Lucille, he influenced the most famous musicians in the world, but more importantly, his music comforted people when they needed it most. Anyone could sing a song about falling in love, but only Mr. King could sing a song about heartbreak. Today, everyone’s hearts are heavier with the passing of the greatest bluesman in history. May he and Lucille continue to play on in eternity.

When you lose someone like [B.B. King] there’s always a little pain in the neck, but like my mother told me as a youngster, son if you don’t want to leave here you better not come here. … It’s a loss to the world –– I see these people come up with these guitar lists and put us in order, 1 to 100, and I think he was always No. 5, but if all the guitar players in the world of rock and blues have something to say he should be No. 1. He was the father of squeezing strings on guitar and those shoes will never be fulfilled – almost like great athletes Joe Lewis, Rocky Montana, Muhammad Ali, the good ones come along but nobody will ever be able to play like BB King. Of course we have the ones that come up and get to be superstars playing special effects, but he didn’t have effects. His effect was his left hand.