B.B. King to be buried at Mississippi museum

The King of the Blues will be buried at the museum preserving his legacy.

Officials for the B.B. King Museum in Indianola confirmed the decision Monday as they make preparations for the funeral and burial expected to take place next week in Mississippi.

King, 89, died Thursday in Las Vegas after a series of strokes.

A public memorial service is set for Friday in Las Vegas, followed by a private memorial service on Saturday.

The decision to bury King on the museum grounds is not without precedent. Elvis Presley is buried at Graceland in Memphis.

The museum, which welcomes visitors from around the globe, will host the 35th annual B.B. King Homecoming Festival, "A Tribute to the King," on Sunday. The concert will be headlined by the North Mississippi Allstars.

"This is our first Homecoming without B.B., so it's a tough time for all of us, but we are left with priceless memories," museum board chairman Bill McPherson said in a release. "We are forever grateful for the many years he took time away from his schedule to perform for free and visit with anyone and everyone who wanted to greet him, especially the children he enjoyed welcoming up on the stage with him."

Dion Brown, executive director for the museum, said, "Our thoughts and prayers remain with Mr. King's family and legions of fans as they mourn his loss. We certainly will miss his infectious smile and warmth this year, but we have no doubt he would want us to carry on with this tradition."

The festival is a free event that will start at noon Sunday with food and art vendors on site. Music will follow at 2 p.m.

The 20th century's most influential blues musician was born Riley B. King, the son of sharecroppers, near Itta Bena in the Mississippi Delta in 1925. His parents separated when he was young, and he moved to Indianola as a teen. It was there his musical seeds took root, in a gospel group and blues performances.

King pursued his musical career with a late 1940s move to Memphis, where he worked at a radio deejay at WDIA, earning the catchy B.B. nickname for "Blues Boy." His rhythm and blues No. 1 hit "Three O'Clock Blues" was the first of dozens over the following decades.

Constant national touring took his music to the masses, even as his audiences remained African American in the segregated South. "White people always liked the blues, but they were not allowed to have Negroes in their clubs," said longtime friend and civil rights leader Charles Evers.

With the falling of segregation in the 1960s, King's fan base broadened to include young whites, and his unique, powerful guitar playing influenced musicians across the R&B, rock'n'roll and blues spectrum.

His major 1970 crossover hit "The Thrill Is Gone" won a Grammy Award (the first of more than a dozen) and became a signature song. But even as his travel and fame spread internationally, the roots of home were always held close.

King became one of the state's best promoters, Evers said. "He never denied he was from here. He was a great advocate of Mississippi and a great supporter of Mississippi."

State tourism director Malcolm White, who worked with King, too, over the years as a music promoter and as the state arts leader, praised the music legend as "the ambassador the living, breathing incarnation of this thing that we talk about, being the birthplace of America's music, he's always there to back up the facts, help us tell the story and show up when we needed him.

"He embodies, for me, the blues. And his impact is monumental," from the music he made to the way he shared it, White said. "If it weren't for B.B. King, there wouldn't be any, fill in the long line of names … Eric Clapton, Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Keb' Mo, Taj Mahal, on and on and on and on.

"It's one thing to be king, it's another to be benevolent, and he was both."

Contact Jerry Mitchell at jmitchell@jackson.gannett.com or (601) 961-7064. Follow @jmitchellnews on Twitter.