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Blind Boy Fuller

Blind Boy Fuller (born Fulton Allen, July 10, 1904[1] – February 13, 1941)[2] was an American blues guitarist and singer. Fuller was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists, rural African Americans, along with Blind Blake, Josh White, and Buddy Moss.

Blind Boy Fuller
Studio portrait of Fuller
Background information
Birth nameFulton Allen
Born(1904-07-10)July 10, 1904
Wadesboro, North Carolina, U.S.
Died(1941-02-13)February 13, 1941 (aged 36)
Durham, North Carolina, U.S.
GenresCountry blues, Piedmont blues, East Coast blues
Instrument(s)Guitar, vocals
Years active1928–1940

Life and career edit

Allen was born in Wadesboro, North Carolina, United States,[3] one of ten children of Calvin Allen and Mary Jane Walker. Most sources date his birth to 1907, but the researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc indicate 1904.[1] After the death of his mother, he moved with his father to Rockingham, North Carolina. As a boy he learned to play the guitar and also learned from older singers the field hollers, country rags, traditional songs and blues popular in poor rural areas.

He married young, to Cora Allen, and worked as a laborer. He began to lose his eyesight when he was in his mid-teens.[3] According to the researcher Bruce Bastin, "While he was living in Rockingham he began to have trouble with his eyes. He went to see a doctor in Charlotte who allegedly told him that he had ulcers behind his eyes, the original damage having been caused by some form of snow-blindness." Only the first part of this diagnosis was correct. A 1937 eye examination attributed his vision loss to the long-term effects of untreated neonatal conjunctivitis.[4]

By 1928 he was completely blind. He turned to whatever employment he could find as a singer and entertainer, often playing in the streets.[3] By studying the records of country blues players like Blind Blake and live performances by Gary Davis, Allen became a formidable guitarist, playing on street corners and at house parties in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Danville, Virginia; and then Durham, North Carolina.[3] In Durham, playing around the tobacco warehouses, he developed a local following, which included the guitarists Floyd Council and Richard Trice, the harmonica player Saunders Terrell (better known as Sonny Terry), and the washboard player and guitarist George Washington.

 
Bull City Blues historical marker, Durham, North Carolina

In 1935, James Baxter Long, a record store manager and talent scout in Burlington, North Carolina, secured Allen a recording session with the American Recording Company (ARC).[5] Allen, Davis and Washington recorded several tracks in New York City, including the traditional "Rag, Mama, Rag".[6] To promote the records, Long credited Allen as Blind Boy Fuller and Washington as Bull City Red.[6]

Over the next five years Fuller recorded over 120 sides, which were released by several labels. His style of singing was rough and direct, and his lyrics were explicit and uninhibited, drawing on every aspect of his experience as an underprivileged, blind black man on the streets—pawnshops, jailhouses, sickness, death—with an honesty that lacked sentimentality. Although he was not sophisticated, his artistry as a folk singer lay in the honesty and integrity of his self-expression. His songs expressed desire, love, jealousy, disappointment, menace and humor.[7]

In April 1936, Fuller recorded ten solo performances and also recorded with guitarist Floyd Council. The following year, after auditioning for J. Mayo Williams, he recorded for Decca Records, but then reverted to ARC. Later in 1937, he made his first recordings with Sonny Terry.[6]

In 1938 Fuller, who was described as having a fiery temper,[8] was imprisoned for shooting a pistol at his wife, wounding her in the leg. His imprisonment prevented him from performing in "From Spirituals to Swing", a concert produced by John Hammond in New York City that year. Sonny Terry performed in his place; it was the beginning of Terry's long career in folk music. After Fuller was released from prison, he held his last two recording sessions, in New York City in June 1940, but by then he was increasingly physically weak, and much of the material did not match the quality and energy of his earlier recordings.[9]

Fuller's repertoire included a number of popular double-entendre "hokum" songs, such as "I Want Some of Your Pie", "Truckin' My Blues Away" (1936) (the inspiration for Robert Crumb's "Keep On Truckin' " comic), "Let Me Squeeze Your Lemon", and "Get Your Yas Yas Out" (1938)[3] (adapted as Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out for the title of an album by the Rolling Stones), and the autobiographical "Big House Bound", about his time in prison. Much of his material was culled from traditional folk and blues songs. He possessed a formidable fingerpicking guitar style. He played a steel National resonator guitar.[10] He was criticised by some as a derivative musician, but his ability to fuse together elements of traditional and contemporary songs and reformulate them in his own performances attracted a broad audience.[6] He was an expressive vocalist and a masterful guitar player, best remembered for his up-tempo ragtime hits, including "Step It Up and Go". At the same time he was capable of deeper material; his versions of "Lost Lover Blues", "Rattlesnakin' Daddy" and "Mamie" are as deep as most Delta blues.[3] Because of his popularity, he may have been overexposed on records, but most of his songs stayed close to tradition, and much of his repertoire and style is kept alive by other Piedmont artists to this day.

 
Allen's death certificate

Death edit

Fuller underwent a suprapubic cystostomy in July 1940, probably due to the urethral stricture noted on Fuller's death certificate, a narrowing or blockage of the urethra which can be caused by syphilitic chancres, infections from gonorrhea, or chlamydia,[11] but continued to require medical treatment. He died at his home in Durham, North Carolina, on February 13, 1941.[3] The cause of death was pyemia, due to an infected bladder, gastrointestinal tract and perineum, plus kidney failure.[3]

He was so popular when he died that his protégé, Brownie McGhee, recorded "The Death of Blind Boy Fuller" for Okeh Records, and then reluctantly began a short-lived career as Blind Boy Fuller No. 2, so that Columbia Records could profit from the deceased musician's popularity.[12]

Grave location edit

 
Grove Hill Cemetery, Durham, North Carolina
 
The only remaining stone at Grove Hill Cemetery

Fuller's grave is Grove Hill Cemetery, located on private property in Durham. State records indicate that this was once an official cemetery, and Fuller's interment is recorded. Only one headstone remains, that of one Mary Caston Langey. The funeral arrangements were handled by McLaurin Funeral Home of Durham, and the burial took place on February 15, 1941.[13]

Fuller has been recognized with two plaques in Durham. A plaque placed by the North Carolina Division of Archives and History is located a few miles north of Fuller's gravesite, along Fayetteville St. The city of Durham officially recognized Fuller on July 16, 2001, with a commemorative plaque located along the American Tobacco Trail, adjacent to the property where Fuller's unmarked grave is located (several hundred feet east of Fayetteville St.).

Posthumous recognition edit

Blind Boy Fuller was, with Reverend Gary Davis, recognized as one of two Main Honorees by the Sesquicentennial Honors Commission at the Durham 150 Closing Ceremony in Durham, NC on November 2, 2019. The posthumous recognition was bestowed upon them for their contributions to the Piedmont Blues.[14] His influence is acknowledged by many rock artists whose styles draw from the blues, including the Rolling Stones, Rory Gallagher, Eric Clapton and others.

References edit

  1. ^ a b Eagle, Bob; LeBlanc, Eric S. (2013). Blues: A Regional Experience. Santa Barbara, California: Praeger. p. 278. ISBN 978-0313344237.
  2. ^ "Kansas City Blues Society". March 28, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 147. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
  4. ^ "Blind Boy Fuller: His Life, Recording Sessions, and Welfare Records". Jas Obrecht Music Archive. Jasobrecht.com. Retrieved December 28, 2013.
  5. ^ Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-85868-255-6.
  6. ^ a b c d Giles Oakley (1997). The Devil's Music. Da Capo Press. pp. 190/2. ISBN 978-0-306-80743-5.
  7. ^ Oliver, Paul (1984). Blues Off the Record. New York: Da Capo Press. pp. 95–98. ISBN 978-0-306-80321-5.
  8. ^ Clifford E. Olstrom (2012). Undaunted by Blindness (revised ed.). eBookIt.com. ISBN 9780982272190.
  9. ^ Santelli, Robert (1997). The Best of the Blues. New York: Penguin Books. p. 274. ISBN 978-0-14-02-3755-9.
  10. ^ [1] August 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ Blandy, J. P (1980). "Urethral stricture". Postgraduate Medical Journal. 56 (656): 383–418. doi:10.1136/pgmj.56.656.383. PMC 2425711. PMID 6997851.
  12. ^ Oliver, Paul (1998). The Story of the Blues. University Press of New England. p. 151. ISBN 9781555533540.
  13. ^ "262 Grove Hill Cemetery Durham County North Carolina Cemeteries". Cemeterycensus.com. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  14. ^ Durham 150 (November 2, 2019). Durham 150 Closing Ceremony Program.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
 
A plaque commemorating Fuller in Durham, North Carolina

External links edit

  • Blind Boy Fuller at Discogs.com

blind, fuller, born, fulton, allen, july, 1904, february, 1941, american, blues, guitarist, singer, fuller, most, popular, recorded, piedmont, blues, artists, rural, african, americans, along, with, blind, blake, josh, white, buddy, moss, studio, portrait, ful. Blind Boy Fuller born Fulton Allen July 10 1904 1 February 13 1941 2 was an American blues guitarist and singer Fuller was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists rural African Americans along with Blind Blake Josh White and Buddy Moss Blind Boy FullerStudio portrait of FullerBackground informationBirth nameFulton AllenBorn 1904 07 10 July 10 1904Wadesboro North Carolina U S Died 1941 02 13 February 13 1941 aged 36 Durham North Carolina U S GenresCountry blues Piedmont blues East Coast bluesInstrument s Guitar vocalsYears active1928 1940 Contents 1 Life and career 2 Death 3 Grave location 4 Posthumous recognition 5 References 6 External linksLife and career editAllen was born in Wadesboro North Carolina United States 3 one of ten children of Calvin Allen and Mary Jane Walker Most sources date his birth to 1907 but the researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc indicate 1904 1 After the death of his mother he moved with his father to Rockingham North Carolina As a boy he learned to play the guitar and also learned from older singers the field hollers country rags traditional songs and blues popular in poor rural areas He married young to Cora Allen and worked as a laborer He began to lose his eyesight when he was in his mid teens 3 According to the researcher Bruce Bastin While he was living in Rockingham he began to have trouble with his eyes He went to see a doctor in Charlotte who allegedly told him that he had ulcers behind his eyes the original damage having been caused by some form of snow blindness Only the first part of this diagnosis was correct A 1937 eye examination attributed his vision loss to the long term effects of untreated neonatal conjunctivitis 4 By 1928 he was completely blind He turned to whatever employment he could find as a singer and entertainer often playing in the streets 3 By studying the records of country blues players like Blind Blake and live performances by Gary Davis Allen became a formidable guitarist playing on street corners and at house parties in Winston Salem North Carolina Danville Virginia and then Durham North Carolina 3 In Durham playing around the tobacco warehouses he developed a local following which included the guitarists Floyd Council and Richard Trice the harmonica player Saunders Terrell better known as Sonny Terry and the washboard player and guitarist George Washington nbsp Bull City Blues historical marker Durham North CarolinaIn 1935 James Baxter Long a record store manager and talent scout in Burlington North Carolina secured Allen a recording session with the American Recording Company ARC 5 Allen Davis and Washington recorded several tracks in New York City including the traditional Rag Mama Rag 6 To promote the records Long credited Allen as Blind Boy Fuller and Washington as Bull City Red 6 Over the next five years Fuller recorded over 120 sides which were released by several labels His style of singing was rough and direct and his lyrics were explicit and uninhibited drawing on every aspect of his experience as an underprivileged blind black man on the streets pawnshops jailhouses sickness death with an honesty that lacked sentimentality Although he was not sophisticated his artistry as a folk singer lay in the honesty and integrity of his self expression His songs expressed desire love jealousy disappointment menace and humor 7 In April 1936 Fuller recorded ten solo performances and also recorded with guitarist Floyd Council The following year after auditioning for J Mayo Williams he recorded for Decca Records but then reverted to ARC Later in 1937 he made his first recordings with Sonny Terry 6 In 1938 Fuller who was described as having a fiery temper 8 was imprisoned for shooting a pistol at his wife wounding her in the leg His imprisonment prevented him from performing in From Spirituals to Swing a concert produced by John Hammond in New York City that year Sonny Terry performed in his place it was the beginning of Terry s long career in folk music After Fuller was released from prison he held his last two recording sessions in New York City in June 1940 but by then he was increasingly physically weak and much of the material did not match the quality and energy of his earlier recordings 9 Fuller s repertoire included a number of popular double entendre hokum songs such as I Want Some of Your Pie Truckin My Blues Away 1936 the inspiration for Robert Crumb s Keep On Truckin comic Let Me Squeeze Your Lemon and Get Your Yas Yas Out 1938 3 adapted as Get Yer Ya Ya s Out for the title of an album by the Rolling Stones and the autobiographical Big House Bound about his time in prison Much of his material was culled from traditional folk and blues songs He possessed a formidable fingerpicking guitar style He played a steel National resonator guitar 10 He was criticised by some as a derivative musician but his ability to fuse together elements of traditional and contemporary songs and reformulate them in his own performances attracted a broad audience 6 He was an expressive vocalist and a masterful guitar player best remembered for his up tempo ragtime hits including Step It Up and Go At the same time he was capable of deeper material his versions of Lost Lover Blues Rattlesnakin Daddy and Mamie are as deep as most Delta blues 3 Because of his popularity he may have been overexposed on records but most of his songs stayed close to tradition and much of his repertoire and style is kept alive by other Piedmont artists to this day nbsp Allen s death certificateDeath editFuller underwent a suprapubic cystostomy in July 1940 probably due to the urethral stricture noted on Fuller s death certificate a narrowing or blockage of the urethra which can be caused by syphilitic chancres infections from gonorrhea or chlamydia 11 but continued to require medical treatment He died at his home in Durham North Carolina on February 13 1941 3 The cause of death was pyemia due to an infected bladder gastrointestinal tract and perineum plus kidney failure 3 He was so popular when he died that his protege Brownie McGhee recorded The Death of Blind Boy Fuller for Okeh Records and then reluctantly began a short lived career as Blind Boy Fuller No 2 so that Columbia Records could profit from the deceased musician s popularity 12 Grave location edit nbsp Grove Hill Cemetery Durham North Carolina nbsp The only remaining stone at Grove Hill CemeteryFuller s grave is Grove Hill Cemetery located on private property in Durham State records indicate that this was once an official cemetery and Fuller s interment is recorded Only one headstone remains that of one Mary Caston Langey The funeral arrangements were handled by McLaurin Funeral Home of Durham and the burial took place on February 15 1941 13 Fuller has been recognized with two plaques in Durham A plaque placed by the North Carolina Division of Archives and History is located a few miles north of Fuller s gravesite along Fayetteville St The city of Durham officially recognized Fuller on July 16 2001 with a commemorative plaque located along the American Tobacco Trail adjacent to the property where Fuller s unmarked grave is located several hundred feet east of Fayetteville St Posthumous recognition editBlind Boy Fuller was with Reverend Gary Davis recognized as one of two Main Honorees by the Sesquicentennial Honors Commission at the Durham 150 Closing Ceremony in Durham NC on November 2 2019 The posthumous recognition was bestowed upon them for their contributions to the Piedmont Blues 14 His influence is acknowledged by many rock artists whose styles draw from the blues including the Rolling Stones Rory Gallagher Eric Clapton and others References edit a b Eagle Bob LeBlanc Eric S 2013 Blues A Regional Experience Santa Barbara California Praeger p 278 ISBN 978 0313344237 Kansas City Blues Society March 28 2018 a b c d e f g h Colin Larkin ed 1997 The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music Concise ed Virgin Books p 147 ISBN 1 85227 745 9 Blind Boy Fuller His Life Recording Sessions and Welfare Records Jas Obrecht Music Archive Jasobrecht com Retrieved December 28 2013 Russell Tony 1997 The Blues From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray Dubai Carlton Books p 13 ISBN 978 1 85868 255 6 a b c d Giles Oakley 1997 The Devil s Music Da Capo Press pp 190 2 ISBN 978 0 306 80743 5 Oliver Paul 1984 Blues Off the Record New York Da Capo Press pp 95 98 ISBN 978 0 306 80321 5 Clifford E Olstrom 2012 Undaunted by Blindness revised ed eBookIt com ISBN 9780982272190 Santelli Robert 1997 The Best of the Blues New York Penguin Books p 274 ISBN 978 0 14 02 3755 9 1 Archived August 13 2007 at the Wayback Machine Blandy J P 1980 Urethral stricture Postgraduate Medical Journal 56 656 383 418 doi 10 1136 pgmj 56 656 383 PMC 2425711 PMID 6997851 Oliver Paul 1998 The Story of the Blues University Press of New England p 151 ISBN 9781555533540 262 Grove Hill Cemetery Durham County North Carolina Cemeteries Cemeterycensus com Retrieved August 30 2015 Durham 150 November 2 2019 Durham 150 Closing Ceremony Program a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint numeric names authors list link nbsp A plaque commemorating Fuller in Durham North CarolinaExternal links editDiscography Blind Boy Fuller at Discogs com Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Blind Boy Fuller amp oldid 1189075156, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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