‘Blues has lost its king and America has lost a legend’

Blues pioneer BB King was remembered in the Mississippi Delta as a man whose talent was equalled by his generous spirit.

King’s funeral took place Indianola, the small town where he first gained attention as a young singer and guitarist who had already been a sharecropper and worked in a cotton gin.

President Barack Obama, in a letter read at the service by Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson, called King an inspiration to blues lovers everywhere and to up-and-coming artists.