Some B.B. King family members get OK to visit body of blues legend a day before public viewing

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FILE - In this Aug. 27, 2008 file photo, blues legend B.B. King poses during an interview in Los Angeles. The body of blues legend B.B. King will be flown on Wednesday, May 20, 2015, to Memphis, Tennessee, the place where a young King won the nickname Beale Street Blues Boy, then will return to the Mississippi Delta where his life and career began. King, whose scorching guitar licks and heartfelt vocals made him the idol of generations of musicians and fans while earning him the nickname King of the Blues, died Thursday, May 14, at home in Las Vegas. He was 89. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Some immediate B.B. King family members will have a chance to visit his body at a Las Vegas funeral home ahead of a Friday public viewing and Saturday private memorial for the blues great.

Attorneys representing one of King’s daughters against King’s longtime business agent and power-of-attorney, LaVerne Toney, said Thursday’s family-only viewing was a compromise reached during a Monday meeting with a court probate commissioner.

Attorneys Russel Geist and Brent Bryson say Commissioner Wesley Yamashita set the date while rejecting a bid by daughter Karen Williams to take control of King’s estate.

King died May 14 at home in Las Vegas at age 89. Eleven of his 15 natural and adopted children survive.

Williams previously lost a May 7 effort in court to take her father’s guardianship from Toney.

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