B.B. King service recalls happy memories

LAS VEGAS – A standing ovation for B.B. King and more cheers than tears marked a family-and-friends memorial of the late blues great’s life and legacy Saturday in Las Vegas.

“B.B. was energetic, Amen?” Pastor Pamela Myrtis Mason said to open the service that drew more than 350 to the Palm Mortuary chapel.

“Amen,” they said.

King’s closed casket lay framed by an array of floral arrangements, two of his guitars named Lucille and a tapestry showing him in eyes-clenched reverie picking a note from a section of the guitar frets dubbed by followers the “B.B. King Box.”

“Why don’t you put your hands together for the King of the Blues, B.B. King!” the pastor said.

As the applause ended, granddaughter Landra Williams dubbed him “the backbone of our family King.”

More than 10 of King’s 35 grandchildren and eight of the blues icon’s 11 surviving adult children spoke during a two-hour service that was distinct for its intimacy and notable for its lack of acrimony.

Several sang a cappella versions of King classics. From Claudette King Robinson, it was, “(Someone Really Loves You) Guess Who?”

Williams, who lives in Houston, remembered her grandfather calling every woman in the family “pretty girl” and spoiling them all, while making himself their confidante and protector.

“To everyone else, he was a legend,” she said. “But for us, he was love.”

Rock guitarists Carlos Santana and Richie Sambora attended, although Santana left early.

“Buddy Guy and B.B. let me into the blues,” said Sambora, longtime part of the band Bon Jovi. “That’s why I’m here. He made me family.”

King’s onstage drummer for 37 years, Tony Coleman, provided another upbeat note on a day full of them.

“He fired me five times,” Coleman said, drawing laughter. “But he hired me six times. He said, ‘Once you’re with me, you’re always with me.’ ”

King was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, won 15 Grammys and sold more than 40 million records worldwide.

Several of King’s surviving children are feuding with LaVerne Toney, his longtime business agent and power-of-attorney, who is now executor of his estate.

The feud wasn’t directly addressed by the dozens of speakers.

Toney watched Saturday from the back row of the chapel and didn’t speak during the service.