"The Thrill Is Gone" is a blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 song written by Rick Darnell and Roy Hawkins

Roy Hawkins

Roy Hawkins was an American pianist, songwriter and blues musician. After working in clubs and recording unsuccessful singles, he broke through with his song "Why Do Everything Happen to Me?," inspired by an auto accident which paralyzed his right arm.-Career:Little is known of Hawkins' early days...

 in 1951 and popularized by B.B. King in 1970.

History

The song was first recorded by Roy Hawkins, its co-author, and became a minor hit for the musician. B.B. King recorded his version of the song in June 1969 for his album Completely Well

Completely Well

Completely Well is a 1969 studio album by blues guitarist B. B. King. It is notable for the inclusion of "The Thrill Is Gone," which became a hit on both the pop and the R&B charts....

, released the same year. The song's polished production and use of strings

String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...

 marked a departure from both the original song and King's previous material. When released as a single in December 1969, the song became the biggest hit of King's career (#3 R&B / #15 Pop) and his signature song

Signature song

A signature song is the one song that a popular and well-established singer or band is most closely identified with or best known for, even if they have had success with a variety of songs...

. B. B. King's recording earned him a Grammy Award

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance

Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance

The Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance was awarded between 1968 and 2011. The award has had several minor name changes:*In 1968 it was awarded as Best R&B Solo Vocal Performance, Male...

 and a Grammy Hall of Fame award in 1998. King's version of the song was also placed at number 183 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs ever. Memorable live versions of the song were included on King's albums Live in Cook County Jail

Live in Cook County Jail

Live in Cook County Jail is a 1971 live album by B.B. King recorded in Cook County Jail, Chicago, Illinois. It was ranked as number 499 in the book version of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time...

(1971), Bobby Bland and B.B. King Together Again...Live

Bobby Bland and B.B. King Together Again...Live

Bobby Bland and B. B. King Together Again...Live is a live album recorded in 1976 at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles, California by Bobby Bland and B. B...

(1976), and Live at San Quentin

Live at San Quentin

Live at San Quentin is a 1990 live album by blues guitarist B. B. King performed at San Quentin State Prison in Marin County, California.-Track listing:#"B. B...

(1991).

Other versions

The song has been covered

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 by numerous artists since B. B. King's hit version, including Peggy Lee

Peggy Lee

Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...

 (2010), Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...

 from Spirit in the Dark (1970), Little Milton

Little Milton

James Milton Campbell, Jr. , better known as Little Milton, was an American electric blues, rhythm and blues, and soul singer and guitarist, best known for his hit records "Grits Ain't Groceries" and "We're Gonna Make It."-Biography:Milton was born James Milton Campbell, Jr., in the Mississippi...

 (1973), Stan Webb

Stan Webb

Stan Webb is the frontman and lead guitarist with the blues band, Chicken Shack.-Career:...

 (1973), Luther Allison

Luther Allison

Luther Allison was an American blues guitarist. He was born in Widener, Arkansas and moved with his family, at age twelve, to Chicago in 1951. He taught himself guitar and began listening to blues extensively. Three years later he began hanging outside blues nightclubs with the hopes of being...

 (1979), Barbara Mandrell

Barbara Mandrell

Barbara Ann Mandrell is an American country music singer best known for a 1970s–1980s series of Top 10 hits and TV shows that helped her become one of country's most successful female vocalists of the 1970s and 1980s...

 (...In Black and White

...In Black and White

- Sales chart positions :AlbumSingles...

, 1982), Steven Brown (Half Out, 1991), The Manhattan Transfer

The Manhattan Transfer

The Manhattan Transfer is an American vocal music group. There have been two manifestations of the group, with Tim Hauser being the only person to be part of both...

 (1995), Dishwalla

Dishwalla

Dishwalla is an American alternative rock band based out of Santa Barbara, CA. The band's name comes from a Hindi term for a person providing cable television to a neighborhood...

 (1995), Diamanda Galas

Diamanda Galás

Diamanda Galás is an American avant-garde composer, vocalist, pianist, organist, performance artist and painter.Galás has been described as "capable of the most unnerving vocal terror", with her three and a half octave vocal range. She often screams, hisses and growls...

 (1998), Jerry Garcia

Jerry Garcia

Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...

 and David Grisman

David Grisman

David Grisman is an American bluegrass/newgrass mandolinist and composer of acoustic music. In the early 1990s, he started the Acoustic Disc record label in an effort to preserve and spread acoustic or instrumental music.-Biography:Grisman grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey...

 (1990s), Harry Manx

Harry Manx

Harry Manx is a musician who blends blues, folk music, and Hindustani classical music. He was born in the Isle of Man where he spent his childhood and now lives on Saltspring Island, British Columbia, Canada....

 (1990s), Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson

Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...

 (2000), Mary Coughlan

Mary Coughlan (singer)

Mary Coughlan is an Irish jazz and folk singer and actress. She has received great acclamation in her native country, for her emotional and heartfelt jazzy musical renditions.-Background:...

 (2001), The Marshall Tucker Band

The Marshall Tucker Band

The Marshall Tucker Band is an American Southern rock band originally from Spartanburg, South Carolina. The band's blend of rock, rhythm and blues, jazz, country, and gospel helped establish the Southern rock genre in the early 1970s...

 (Stompin' Room Only 2003), Pappo

Pappo

-, 1968:-, 1969:# # # # # # # # # -Rock de la mujer perdida, 1970:...

 (Buscando un amor, 2003), Buckethead

Buckethead

Brian Carroll , better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 34 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists...

 (2004), The Eric Steckel Band (Havana, 2006), Leslie West

Leslie West

Leslie West is an American rock guitarist, singer and songwriter.-Biography:Originally named Leslie Weinstein, West was born in New York City, grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey, and in East Meadow, Forest Hills and Lawrence. After his parents divorced, he changed his surname to West...

 (Got BLOOZE 2005), Theo Sinton (Emerald Blues, 2008), Anthony Gardner (2009), Beverly McClellan (The Voice

The Voice (U.S. TV series)

The Voice is an American reality talent show that premiered on April 26, 2011 on the NBC television network. Based on the reality singing competition The Voice of Holland, the series was created by Dutch television producer John de Mol. It is part of an international series...

, 2011).

Roy Hawkins version

Year	Chart	Position
1951	Billboard Rhythm & Blues Singles Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...	6

B. B. King version

Year	Chart	Position
1970	Billboard Best Selling Soul Singles Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...	3
	Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	15