Larry Busacca/Getty ImagesThe thrill is gone.
Blues legend B.B. King died Thursday at his home in Las Vegas. He was 89.
Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg confirmed King's death to NBC News Friday. Earlier, the musician's attorney, Brent Bryson, said King died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Las Vegas. King's death came two weeks after he said that he was in home hospice care after suffering from dehydration.
King had 15 biological and adopted children. Family members say 11 survive.
Although King continued to perform well into his 80s, the 15-time Grammy winner—who released more than 50 albums during his lifetime—suffered from diabetes. He had also been in declining health during the last year. He collapsed during a concert in Chicago in October, blaming dehydration and exhaustion.
Born Riley B. King on Sept. 16, 1925, in Mississippi, he was raised by his grandmother after his parents separated and his mother died. He released his first album in the 1940s and would go on to inspire some of the world's greatest guitarists, including Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix and Keith Richards.
"B.B. King taps into something universal," Clapton told The Times in 2005. "He can't be confined to any one genre. That's why I've called him a 'global musician.'"
King's career spanned more than 65 years. Nicknamed "King of the Blues," he was known for hits like "My Lucille," " Rock Me Baby," "Sweet Little Angel" and "The Thrill Is Gone," among countless others. From 1950 to 1970, King toured about 300 days a year. In 1956 alone, he performed 342 shows. King's love of music and work ethic was infamous, and he played more than 100 shows a year well into his 80s.
King played a Gibson guitar he affectionately called Lucille, creating a style that included single-string runs punctuated by loud chords, subtle vibratos and bent notes, building on the standard 12-bar blues.
During his career, he was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone placed King behind only Hendrix and Duane Allman in its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. Additionally, one of his albums, Live at the Regal, was declared a historic sound. It was permanently preserved in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.
King was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. He was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush in 2006. King's life was the subject of the 2012 documentary B.B. King: The Life of Riley, and the inspiration for the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center.
Sitting President Barack Obama issued a statement Friday, saying, "The blues has lost its king, and America has lost a legend. B.B. King was born a sharecropper's son in Mississippi, came of age in Memphis, Tennessee, and became the ambassador who brought his all-American music to his country and the world. No one worked harder than B.B. No one inspired more up-and-coming artists. No one did more to spread the gospel of the blues.Three years ago, [Michelle Obama] and I hosted a blues concert at the White House. I hadn't expected that I'd be talked into singing a few lines of 'Sweet Home Chicago' with B.B. by the end of the night, but that was the kind of effect his music had, and still does. 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. And there's going to be one killer blues session in heaven tonight."
As news of King's death spread, stars shared their condolences via social media: