--- title: B.B. King: Quincy Jones Remembers the Blues Legend description: The legendary producer remembers the king of the blues, their work on a Sidney Poitier film and B.B.'s relationship with Maya Angelou canonical: https://time.com/3889749/bb-king-quincy-jones-maya-angelou/ author: Quincy Jones article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-19T21:10:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T09:08:01.758Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Quincy Jones: Why B.B. Was the King og:description: The legendary producer remembers the king of the blues og:url: https://time.com/3889749/bb-king-quincy-jones-maya-angelou/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3339c36b2c5089c3/698850d235ba6f2a4dc0d5e5/quincy-bb.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Thelonious Monk Institute Honors B.B. King - Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Quincy Jones: Why B.B. Was the King twitter:description: The legendary producer remembers the king of the blues twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3339c36b2c5089c3/698850d235ba6f2a4dc0d5e5/quincy-bb.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Quincy Jones: Why B.B. Was the King > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=80afe8a9-b0fa-4eb4-b8c4-d1ed62c3d3b4&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: B.B. King Passes Away at 89 [Watch (HLS stream): B.B. King Passes Away at 89](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/wbb1hKeu.m3u8) (1:22)  _Published 2015-05-15. Blues icon B.B. King has died at the age of 89, following a 20-year battle with diabetes._ by [Quincy Jones](https://time.com/author/quincy-jones/) ## Quincy Jones May 19, 2015 9:10 PM UTC by [Quincy Jones](https://time.com/author/quincy-jones/) ## Quincy Jones May 19, 2015 9:10 PM UTC Everything B.B. ever did, I loved — just the way he’d bend his notes. Everything. He represented all the different stages of blues, and I don’t think anybody resonated more emotionally and spiritually than B.B. He took the essence of the culture of what blues and R&B was, and he brought it around the world — until he was 89. I first met B.B. King working on the film _For Love of Ivy,_ starring Sidney Poitier. I did the score to that, and Maya Angelou, who was in her 30s at the time, wrote the lyrics. She wrote two songs, “B.B. Jones” and “You Put it on Me,” and B.B. recorded them. They were hits! That was a great trio, the three of us. I think they had a little romantic relationship, there, too — she didn’t tell me until about four years ago. I said, “Honey, if you’d talked to me first, I would have told you that blues singers don’t get the blues, they give the blues!” B.B. was the king because he took the blues from dirt-poor, smoke-in-the-air juke joints all the way to the big concert halls. He started out picking cotton — he was all the way back in the dark side of our country. And his music came from the dark side — it’s a positive way of escaping that darkness. When I was studying with Nadia Boulanger, the legendary composer and teacher, in Paris, she used to say, “Your music can never be more than you are as a human being.” And B.B. King was a great human being. It’s painful to know that he’ll never answer the phone again. _Quincy Jones is a producer, composer and philanthropist._ ## Transcript Blues singer and musician BB King has passed away at the age of 89 according to his daughter Patty King. King was recently rushed to the hospital after suffering from a diabetes related emergency. The singer has been battling the condition for over 20 years. Born Riley B King in 1925. King left work on a plantation to pursue a music career in Memphis. According to King's website the singer's first big break came in 1948 when he performed on Sonny Boy Williamson's radio program. King soon decided he needed a unique stage name. He started out as the Beale Street Blues Boy. The name went through several revisions, and he ended up being called B. B. King. Throughout his career, King released 43 studio albums. King is also the only performer to have won a Fifteen Grammy Awards in the blues genre. The King of Blues was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in the 1980s. He was even included in Rolling Stones 100 Greatest Guitars of all time ranking at number six. The Publication called him a genuine soloist. In 2010, King sat down with the Academy of Achievement and spoke about what blues music means to him. Blues singing, is just like signing any other kind of song. You still try to tell a story. Your music is life. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3889749/bb-king-quincy-jones-maya-angelou/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3889749/bb-king-quincy-jones-maya-angelou/"},"headline":"Quincy Jones: Why B.B. 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