• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
Lifestylegoogle doodle

Happy Birthday, B.B. King: Today’s Google Doodle Honors the King of Blues

By
Chris Morris
Chris Morris
Former Contributing Writer
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Chris Morris
Chris Morris
Former Contributing Writer
Down Arrow Button Icon
September 16, 2019, 5:00 AM ET
Courtesy of Google

The thrill is back for a special Google Doodle today.

Recommended Video

The search giant is honoring Blues legend B.B. King with a special animated Doodle made in conjunction with the B.B. King Museum in Mississippi. And that Doodle, of course, features his iconic hit “The Thrill Is Gone.”

The world knows him as B.B., but King was born Riley B. King on this date in 1925 on the Mississippi Delta in a town called Itta Bena. A sharecropper’s son, he was raised singing gospel music and playing on street corners, eventually leaving Mississippi for Memphis, where he got a job at a radio station.

The locals called him “Beale Street Blues Boy.” That later was shortened to “Bee Bee,” which became “B.B.”

Nearly as famous as King is his guitar—Lucille—which he once rescued from a fire in an Arkansas nightclub that started after two men began fighting. King ran back into the building, which was starting to collapse around him, to recover the initial instrument.

It turned out that the fight between the men was over a woman named Lucille. King says he never met the woman, but chose to honor her by giving that name to his guitar (to remind him to never do thing again).

In 2015, King passed away at the age of 89 in Las Vegas of complications from diabetes. He was buried in Memphis, with thousands lining Beale Street for his funeral procession as a brass band played “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

More must-read stories from Fortune:

—Change the World 2019: See which companies made the list
—America’s CEOs seek a new purpose for the corporation
—Why the next recession may feel very different than 2008
—After the Capital One breach,
should big business fear the public cloud?
—10 questions to ask in a job interview to really stand out

Join us at the Fortune Workplace Innovation Summit May 19–20, 2026, in Atlanta. The next era of workplace innovation is here—and the old playbook is being rewritten. At this exclusive, high-energy event, the world’s most innovative leaders will convene to explore how AI, humanity, and strategy converge to redefine, again, the future of work. Register now.
About the Author
By Chris MorrisFormer Contributing Writer

Chris Morris is a former contributing writer at Fortune, covering everything from general business news to the video game and theme park industries.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Lifestyle

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Economy
'Some form of crisis is almost inevitable': The $38 trillion national debt will soon be growing faster than the U.S. economy itself, watchdog warns
By Nick LichtenbergJanuary 22, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Energy
Elon Musk warns the U.S. could soon be producing more chips than we can turn on. And China doesn’t have the same issue
By Sasha RogelbergJanuary 22, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Europe
Denmark offered to trade Greenland to the U.S. in 1910—and America thought it was crazy
By Steven Lamy and The ConversationJanuary 22, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Politics
Jamie Dimon tells Davos: ‘You didn’t do a particularly good job making the world a better place’
By Eleanor PringleJanuary 21, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says ‘a lot’ of six-figure jobs in plumbing and construction are about to be unlocked because someone needs to build all these new AI centers
By Preston ForeJanuary 21, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
McDonald’s CEO shares tough love career advice he’d give Gen Z and young millennial workers: ‘No one cares about your career’
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJanuary 22, 2026
1 day ago

Latest in Lifestyle

swift
Lawsexual harassment
Taylor Swift’s secret text messages to Blake Lively revealed in court, relevance in dispute
By Safiyah Riddle, Sarah Brumfield, Rebecca Boone and The Associated PressJanuary 23, 2026
6 hours ago
Walmart's CEO Doug McMillon
Successchief executive officer (CEO)
Walmart CEO started his career unloading trailers at the warehouse. He says he got promotion after promotion by raising his hand when his boss was out
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJanuary 23, 2026
7 hours ago
SuccessFortune The Good Life
Meet the 36-year-old founder of Gen Z stationery brand Papier, who avoids stocks and shares—or as he puts it, ‘a financial roller coaster I can’t control’
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJanuary 23, 2026
11 hours ago
valentino
SuccessObituary
Valentino, one of the first Italian designers to succeed in France, defined the iconic female with bold reds and silhouettes—sometimes problematically
By Jye Marshall and The ConversationJanuary 22, 2026
1 day ago
swift
Arts & EntertainmentTaylor Swift
Taylor Swift’s political polarization Rorschach Test: why young women love her and young men really don’t
By Laurel Elder, Jeff Gulati, Mary-Kate Lizotte, Steven Greene and The ConversationJanuary 22, 2026
1 day ago
rutte
EuropeNATO
From ‘Teflon Mark’ to ‘Trump Whisperer’: Meet the NATO Secretary General with the golden touch
By Mike Corder and The Associated PressJanuary 22, 2026
1 day ago