B.B. King once said, “Everybody wants to go to Heaven, but no one wants to die to get there!”

Unfortunately, nobody can live forever, and B.B. King is the latest to pass. Legendary guitarist B.B. King died late Thursday evening. He was 89 years old. King’s family announced that he was in hospice care near his home in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 1st.

King grew up on a Mississippi cotton plantation, later moving to live with his grandmother. King began his musical career at the Elkhorn Baptist Church in Kilmichael, Mississippi, his hometown, as a gospel singer. At age 21, King moved to Memphis, Tennessee, residing in various towns as a disk jockey before finally recording songs in Los Angeles with RPM Records. From there, the rest is history.

King has the most Grammy wins in the blues genre (15). He also won the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987, among many other musical achievements. The Blues and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006 by George W. Bush.

His success in the music industry touched many musicians along the way. SHS jazz band guitarist Mike Nunziante said, “He was an indirect mentor to so many people, myself included. Safe to say he revolutionized human expression in a really profound way.” Another jazz guitarist, senior Sam Berkrot, called King “one of the greatest to ever pick up a guitar; knowing that I will never get to see him play is genuinely tragic to me.”

Stamford High School alumnus and local musician Larry Nardi III told The Round Table, “I can tell my kids in the future that I actually saw him. … It’s like asking my parents if they have ever seen Jimi Hendrix. He was such an amazing performer, possibly the best show I’ve ever seen.”

SHS music teacher George Beratis, who teaches the school’s guitar classes, said, “There is a famous saying ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ and B.B. King had the remarkable ability to say a thousand words through playing just one note. As sad as his passing is, it is also bitter-sweet because we luckily live in an era where we were able to record his brilliance, and his voice will stay with us for the rest of time.”

King annually performed in Stamford at the Palace Theater or Rich Forum, even into his late eighties. Nardi had the pleasure of getting to seem him multiple times in concert. “I saw him last year at 89, just to see a legend. His mannerisms, speech, and being comfortable in front of a crowd were amazing to me. To see him perform that long and stay relevant is extremely influential,” Nardi said.

King transformed the blues genre to a whole new level, and will be greatly missed.