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Last night, American blues legend B.B. King died in his home in Las Vegas.

“The blues has lost its king, and America has lost a legend,” President Barack Obama said in a statement on the passing of the 89-year-old King. “B.B. King was born a sharecropper’s son in Mississippi, came of age in Memphis, Tennessee, and became the ambassador who brought his all-American music to his country and the world. No one worked harder than B.B. No one inspired more up-and-coming artists. No one did more to spread the gospel of the blues.”

And he’s right. King, along with his trusted guitars, whom he called “Lucille,” was not just a masterful guitar player, but a powerful singer and songwriter, whose songs are among the best American music ever written.

“Three years ago, Michelle and I hosted a blues concert at the White House,” Obama said. “I hadn’t expected that I’d be talked into singing a few lines of “Sweet Home Chicago” with B.B. by the end of the night, but that was the kind of effect his music had, and still does. He gets stuck in your head, he gets you moving, he gets you doing the things you probably shouldn’t do – but will always be glad you did. 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.”