Hundreds bid farewell to blues great BB King

Indianola: Hundreds of people filled a church in the Mississippi Delta for the funeral today of BB King, who rose from sharecropper in the area's flat cotton fields to worldwide fame as a blues singer and guitarist who influenced generations of entertainers.

 King was 89 when he died May 14 in Las Vegas. At his request, his body was returned to his native Mississippi for a final homecoming.

 Amid rain, about 500 people filled the sanctuary of Bell Grove Missionary Baptist Church, a red brick structure that sits in a field off of BB King Road in Indianola.

 More than 200 people who couldn't get into the sanctuary watched a live broadcast of the funeral in the church's fellowship hall, many waving hand-held fans with a black-and-white photo of a smiling King hugging his black electric guitar, Lucille.

 At the beginning of the service, family members filed past King's open casket, which had an image of Lucille embroidered on the padded white cloth inside the lid. Later, the casket was closed and covered with a large arrangement of red roses.