Legendary Blues Artist BB King Dies at 89: Writer of Songs 'Sweet Sixteen,” “Thrill has Gone”

Legendary blues artist B.B. King passed away at the age of 89 years old Thursday night. For six decades, King brought us songs such as "Sweet Sixteen," "Lucille," "Paying the Cost to be the Boss," and "Thrill has Gone." It's songs like these that made King the undeniable king of the blues for so long.

King's influence reached generations upon generations of artists. The likes of Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Sheryl Crow and John Mayer all say that King was pivotal in their evolution as artists.

His first big break took place in 1948 after performing on the Sonny Boy Williamson radio show in West Memphis. This lead to a few gigs at the Sixteenth Avenue Grill and since then, he never looked back. His first album was released a few years later in 1951, and had such hits as "Miss Martha King/Take a Swing with Me" and "How do you Feel When Your Baby Packs Up and Goes/I've got the Blues."

This particular album stood atop the Billboard charts for a few months. After his first official album, he won more than 15 Grammys - with the most recent of which coming in 2009 for his album One Kind Flavor.

King was full of life for most of his time here, but decades of living with Type II diabetes finally slowed him down last year. After two bad showings in St. Louis and in Chicago, King had to finally put the guitar down. For the St. Louis show, his representatives apologized for the "shaky performance" and in Chicago he collapsed due to dehydration. The collapse prompted one of the few tour cancellations in his career.

What was your favorite song by the King?