Larry Busacca/Getty ImagesB.B. King was honored on Saturday at a funeral in Indianola, Mississippi, his "spiritual hometown."
The Grammy-winning blues legend died on May 15 at age 89 after suffering strokes, complications of his Type 2 diabetes, He is survived by 11 children.
Hundreds of people attended his funeral at the Bell Grove Missionary Baptist Church, which featured a gospel choir. A massive display of red roses was draped over a bronze coffin. Rev. Herron Wilson delivered the eulogy.
"For those of us here in Indianola and around the world, B.B. King is a legend, an icon, a musical giant, a world class entertainer," he said. "But to those of you seated before me, he is family and for that reason, we and the world extend our deepest sympathy to you."
Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, a friend of King, read out a letter from President Barack Obama, identical to a White House statement he had issued on the day of the musician's death, and from former President Bill Clinton.
"The blues has lost its king and America has lost a legend," he quoted Obama as saying. "There's going to be one killer blues session in Heaven tonight."
Obama had joined King on stage at the White House in 2012 to sing "Sweet Home Chicago."
In his letter, Clinton said he is a "life-long fan" of King, "starting when I was a young boy in Arkansas, listening to the "Three O'clock Blues."
"I got to play on stage with him twice," he wrote. "I was his back-up sax man."
King was touted not only for his music, but for his ability to bring people together. In his letter, Clinton praised his "simple human kindness and bright-eyed smile he shared with all of us." He had said in a previous statement that King was "a brilliant blues guitarist and a kind, good man."
The musician, who as a teenager, had a job picking cotton, lived in the area at a time of racial segregation. In 1980, a white radio DJ helped bring King back to play a concert, which then spurred an annual series of "homecoming" shows for decades, which many residents said helped erode racial barriers, The New York Times said.
On Friday, thousands of fans flocked to Indianola to view his open bronze casket at the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center, The New York Times reported, adding that the musician was laid out in a purple satin shirt and a floral tuxedo jacket, next to two black Gibson guitars, each named Lucille, and two "Mississippi Highway Patrol officers who stood heads cast downward." King was born in a town near Indianola, which the outlet called his "spiritual hometown."
Public viewings of King's casket also took place in Las Vegas, where he spent his final days, and Memphis, where he launched his career.
King's death was preceded by controversy. Weeks ago, several of his children had challenged his longtime business manager over guardianship, claiming he was being abused while in hospice care, and were denied. After his death, two of his daughters had alleged that their father was poisoned. An attorney for King's estate had told reporters that the daughters' allegations are "ridiculous."
The coroner's office in Clark County, Nevada conducted an autopsy of King's body last weekend.
"At this point, we don't have evidence that these allegations of foul play will be substantiated," Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg told NBC News this week. "However, we are taking them very seriously and will be conducting a thorough investigation. We are coordinating our investigative efforts with the Homicide Division of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. I expect the investigation will take a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks."