Hundreds of friends, family and fans gathered outside the BB King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Mississippi on Friday (December 11) to commemorate the life and work of BB King.
The blues singer and guitarist, who was born in Berclair, Mississippi, passed away in his sleep aged 89 in Las Vegas on May 14.
King was buried outside the museum, which is named after him, in Indianola on May 30. The black granite slab that has been laid outside is the start of a memorial garden in honour of the late blues player, which is part of a large, $4.5m renovation of the museum.
During the dedication ceremony Mississippi’s state senator John Horhn said: “Some folks might argue that the blues is the greatest export from Mississippi… and the greatest purveyor of that music was BB King.”
Two months after his death, King’s coroner reported that there was no evidence that King was poisoned.
King’s daughters Karen Williams and Patty King previously alleged that his business manager LaVerne Toney prevented family members from visiting, as well as claiming that Toney and his personal assistant Myron Johnson hastened their father’s death.
“I believe my father was poisoned and that he was administered foreign substances,” King and Williams said at the time. “I believe my father was murdered”.
Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg confirmed on July 13 that an autopsy showed the cause of death as Alzheimer’s disease and other physical conditions.
Official investigations into King’s death have now been closed.