--- description: B.B. King died after having a series of mini strokes stemming from his type 2 diabetes title: B.B. King Died From Mini Strokes, Coroner Says image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2606df2067e0d672/69884ce6e53aba05f54dd59a/bb-king3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [remembrance](/tag/remembrance/) ## remembrance Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # B.B. King Died From Mini Strokes, Coroner Says  by [Mandy Oaklander](/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. May 16, 2015 4:10 PM CUT  B.B. King performs on stage during Frampton's Guitar Circus at Route 66 Casino's Legends Theater on August 21, 2013 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. B.B. King performs on stage during Frampton's Guitar Circus at Route 66 Casino's Legends Theater on August 21, 2013 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.Steve Snowden—Getty Images  by [Mandy Oaklander](/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. May 16, 2015 4:10 PM CUT B.B. King died after having a series of mini strokes stemming from his type 2 diabetes, the Associated Press reports. The musician’s physician, Dr. Darin Brimhall, and Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg [told the AP](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/a7469f5cdfe2428d8f9fba404b97ed42/coroner-doctor-bb-king-died-after-series-mini-strokes "undefined") that King’s cause of death was multi-infarct dementia—also known as vascular dementia—a condition caused by a series of small strokes. Brimhall attributed King’s strokes to the 89-year-old musician’s chronic diabetes, which caused reduced blood flow. King was mourned this week by [Barack Obama](http://time.com/3860240/president-obama-bb-king/ "undefined"), [Eric Clapton,](http://time.com/3860032/eric-clapton-bb-king/ "undefined")[Morgan Freeman](http://time.com/3860418/bb-king-morgan-freeman/ "undefined") and many more celebrities and musicians. **_Read next:_** [_T Bone Burnett Remembers B.B. King: ‘He Conjured the Very Soul of Our Country’_](http://time.com/3881619/bb-king-tbone-burnett/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3881679/bb-king-stroke/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3881679/bb-king-stroke/"},"headline":"B.B. King Died From Mini Strokes, Coroner Says","datePublished":"2015-05-16T16:10:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:23:35.414Z","description":"The blues legend was remembered by celebrities and musicians this week","url":"https://time.com/3881679/bb-king-stroke/","keywords":["remembrance","Stroke","b.b. king"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2606df2067e0d672/69884ce6e53aba05f54dd59a/bb-king3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mandy Oaklander","jobTitle":"Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2606df2067e0d672/69884ce6e53aba05f54dd59a/bb-king3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"B.B. King performs on stage during Frampton's Guitar Circus at Route 66 Casino's Legends Theater on August 21, 2013 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.","caption":"B.B. King performs on stage during Frampton's Guitar Circus at Route 66 Casino's Legends Theater on August 21, 2013 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.","creditText":"Steve Snowden—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3881679/bb-king-stroke/","name":"B.B. King Died From Mini Strokes, Coroner Says"}}]}] ```