MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – The city of Memphis is saying farewell to blues legend B.B. King with a tribute and processional down Beale Street.
The processional began Wednesday afternoon, and was to make its way down Beale Street before turning onto B.B. King Blues Highway.
Tributes in music and words were also being offered at W.C. Handy Park on Beale Street near B.B. King’s Blues Club.
Afterward, King’s body will be taken to Indianola, Mississippi, which King considered his hometown, for his funeral on Saturday.
Early in his career, King was nicknamed “Beale Street Blues Boy,” and the name was soon shortened to “B.B.”
King died May 14 in hospice care at home in Las Vegas at age 89.