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B.B. King Laid to Rest in Mississippi as Obama Praises the Blues Legend; Cause of Death not Poisoning?

Jun 01, 2015 08:44 AM EDT

Blues legend B.B. King was laid to rest at a memorial service in his hometown of Indianola, Mississippi on Saturday with about 500 people filling the sanctuary of Bell Grove Missionary Baptist Church.

Family and friends, together with the fans, said their goodbyes to the Blues legend B.B. King at a funeral on Saturday in Mississippi. Amid the rain, 500 people crowded the said sanctuary and more than 200 folks who were unable to get into the venue watched a live broadcast of the Blues legend in the church's fellowship hall, NYPost reports.

King died at the age of 89 on May 14 in Las Vegas. As per request, the iconic singer's remains were returned to his hometown in a small town in Mississippi where his career as a musician started.

The famed musician's open casket held an image of his black electric guitar named Lucille. Thousands of people went to Indianola for the public viewing on Friday and funeral last Saturday. In fact, a total of more than 4,000 people viewed his open casket at the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center.

Letters from Bill Clinton and President Barrack Obama were read aloud by Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, whom is King's friend. The president described King as an inspiration to all new artists. "The blues has lost its king and American has lost a legend," Obama wrote. "No one worked harder than B.B. No one did more to spread the gospel of the blues ... B.B. may be gone but that thrill will be with us forever. And there's going to be one killer blues session in heaven tonight," the president continued.

The iconic singer's family claimed last month that B.B. King's cause of death is due to poisoning or insufficient medical attention and not of natural causes. The family believes that King's longtime manager LaVerne Toney is to blame for the singer's passing, The Wrap reports. King's daughters' lawyer even has evidence sufficient to open up an investigation.

In additional report by Rolling Stone, personal assistant Myron Johnson was also accused of the said "crime." However, King's son countered the allegations and exclaimed via the said website's report that his sisters "went to the extreme" when they held the indictments. Johnson even delivered a eulogy at King's funeral.