JACKSON — The Mississippi Blues Commission has designated music legend B.B. King as Mississippi’s Secretary of State of the Blues. Mississippi is the first and only state to recognize the contributions of a musician in this manner. The Commission will present the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center with a resolution to this effect signed by Gov. Phil Bryant and the four living previous governors of Mississippi, Gov. William F. Winter, 1984-1988; Gov. Ray Mabus, 1988-1992; Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, 2000-2004; and Gov. Haley Barbour, 2004-2012. The resolution will be part of the permanent collection at the B.B. King Museum & Interpretive Center in Indianola.
The resolution will be presented at the International Conference on the Blues at Delta State University in Cleveland. The conference, presented by the International Delta Blues Project and a diverse array of regional partners, includes a Blues Brunch featuring a panel discussion moderated by noted Blues scholar Dr. William Ferris and comprised of members of the Mississippi Blues Commission and Blues legends Bobby Rush and James “Super Chikan” Johnson. The presentation of the resolution will take place during the conference’s Blues Brunch event on Oct. 6.
“On behalf of the entire Mississippi Blues Commission, it is a privilege to honor B.B. King as our Mississippi Secretary of State of the Blues,” said J. Kempf Poole, chairman of the Mississippi Blues Commission. “Mr. King is one of Mississippi’s most influential sons, and with this designation I am proud to say that B.B. King has taken his rightful place at the head of the blues table.”
Known worldwide as “The King of the Blues,” B.B. King was considered one of the most influential musicians of all time. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the R&B Music Hall of Fame, King received more than a dozen Grammy Awards between 1970 and 2010, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a Grammy Hall of Fame Award for his historically significant recording “The Thrill is Gone.”
During the 1990s, he was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Medal of Arts, and the Kennedy Center Honors. During the 2000s, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music awarded him the Polar Music Prize, and President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A recipient of honorary doctorate degrees from Tougaloo College, Yale University and Brown University, King was ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as No. 6 on its 2011 list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.
“Mississippi is known the world over as the birthplace of America’s music, and B.B. King is one of its founding legends and one of our state’s most treasured gifts to the music world,” said Gov. Phil Bryant.
Former Gov. Haley Barbour echoes Bryant’s sentiments. “B.B. King was a wonderful ambassador for Mississippi, said Barbour. “The King of the Blues never forgot Mississippi was home, and he graced us often with his presence. He will be missed. Marsha and I had him for lunch at the Governor’s Mansion on a day he was honored by the Legislature. He was warm and delightful, but I will never forget how he gave credit to the people that had helped him throughout his career. He had a big heart as well as big talent.”
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