B.B. King - Blues Legend and Nice Guy

I was at the gym yesterday (May 15, 2015) when someone asked me if I ever listen to The Blues. I replied in the affirmative, and he told me that B.B. King had passed away. That made me really sad.

Many years ago, while I was still working at WJBF-TV in Augusta, Georgia, I met B.B. King at the airport and asked him if he would be kind enough to do an interview with me. He said, no problem, anything you want, please go ahead. We talked for a long time, and of course, one of my questions was about the name he gave his guitar, "Lucille". The gist of the story was that one night while he was playing in a nightclub a fight broke out and a heating barrel was knocked over and set the place on fire. He got out safely but realized he'd left his guitar behind. He rushed back into the burning building and saved his guitar. He later learned that the original fight was over a woman named "Lucille" and named that guitar (and subsequent guitars) "Lucille" in order to remind himself never to do anything that stupid again.

I will always cherish that memory of the time I got to spend with The King of the Blues. He was a kind and gentle individual. With his passing the world lost an icon.