Obama mourns loss of B.B. King

President Obama on Friday mourned the passing of legendary blues guitarist B.B. King.

“The blues has lost its king, and America has lost a legend,” the president said in a statement. “There’s going to be one killer blues session in heaven tonight.”

{mosads}King died in his sleep in Las Vegas on Thursday at the age of 89, according to his website.

Obama noted King’s humble beginnings as a sharecropper’s son in Mississippi to his rise as one of America’s most influential musicians.

“No one worked harder than B.B. No one inspired more up-and-coming artists,” the president said. “No one did more to spread the gospel of the blues.”

The president recalled singing a few lines of “Sweet Home Chicago” on stage with King during a concert at the White House in 2012. 

“That was the kind of effect his music had, and still does,” he said. “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. B.B. may be gone, but that thrill will be with us forever.”