Google honors blues singer BB King with interactive doodle

What is a Google Doodle?

Have you peeped Google today? It's all about the famed blues musician B.B. King.

» RELATED: Photos of B.B. King through the years

The search engine site, which sometimes uses its homepage to honor prominent figures, is highlighting the artist on what would have been his 94th birthday.

Born Riley B. King on September 16, 1925 near Berclair, Mississippi, the guitarist was raised singing gospel music in church. King, the son of a sharecropper, eventually took his talents to street corners before landing a job on air at a Memphis radio station.

By 1949, he was recording his own music, and hits such as “Three O’Clock Blues,” “The Thrill is Gone” and “Every Day I Have the Blues” helped solidify him as the “King of the Blues.”

In 1987, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2012, former president Barack Obama honored him at the White House Music Series.

Throughout his 50-year career, he won 15 Grammys and earned several honorary degrees from universities across the nation.

King died peacefully in his sleep in 2015 at age 89.

Google is now paying tribute to the singer with an interactive doodle that follows King from the cotton field to stages across the world. In a three-minute video, the creators of the animation explained the importance of the illustration.

“I hope people watch this Google doodle and feel like they’ve been on an emotional journey with B.B.,” said doodle artist Steve Spencer. “He didn’t start at the top. He worked his way and found his own unique voice. And maybe they can do that, too.”

» RELATED: From the archives: B.B. King still feels the thrill of playing blues