| Blind Boy Fuller | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Fulton Allen |
| Born | July 10, 1907 |
| Origin |  Wadesboro, North Carolina, USA |
| Died | February 13, 1941 |
| Genre(s) | Country blues Piedmont blues East Coast blues |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, Vocals |
| Years active | 1928 - 1940 |
Blind Boy Fuller (born Fulton Allen) (July 10, 1907[1] - February 13, 1941) was an American blues guitarist and vocalist. Events 48 BC - Battle of Dyrrhachium, Julius Caesar barely avoids a catastrophic defeat to Pompey in Macedonia. Year 1907 ( MCMVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Wadesboro is a town in Anson County, North Carolina, United States. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Events 1258 - Baghdad falls to the Mongols, and the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed Year 1941 ( MCMXLI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (the link will display 1941 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) refers to all The Piedmont blues (also known as Piedmont fingerstyle or East Coast' blues) is a type of Blues music characterized by a unique fingerpicking method on the East Coast blues casts a wide net covering all of Piedmont blues --a style that relied on fast virtuosic Fingerpicking and added influences such as Ragtime A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making Music. The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, which is often contrasted with Speech. Events 48 BC - Battle of Dyrrhachium, Julius Caesar barely avoids a catastrophic defeat to Pompey in Macedonia. Year 1907 ( MCMVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Events 1258 - Baghdad falls to the Mongols, and the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed Year 1941 ( MCMXLI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (the link will display 1941 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Blues is a vocal and instrumental form of Music based on the use of the Blue notes It emerged as an accessible form of self-expression A guitarist is a Musician who plays the Guitar. Guitarists may perform solo pieces or play with ensembles and bands of a wide variety of genres He was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists with rural Black Americans, a group that also included Blind Blake, Josh White, and Buddy Moss. The Piedmont blues (also known as Piedmont fingerstyle or East Coast' blues) is a type of Blues music characterized by a unique fingerpicking method on the "Blind" Blake (born Arthur Blake, circa 1893 Jacksonville Florida; died circa 1933 was an influential Blues Singer and Guitarist Joshua Daniel White ( February 11, 1914 –- September 5, 1969) best known as Josh White, was a legendary American
Contents |
Life and career
Fulton Allen was born in Wadesboro, North Carolina to Calvin Allen and Mary Jane Walker. Wadesboro is a town in Anson County, North Carolina, United States. He was one of a family of 10 children, but after his mother's death he moved with his father to Rockingham. Rockingham is a city in Richmond County, North Carolina, United States named after the Marquis of Rockingham. As a boy he learned to play the guitar and also learned from older singers the field hollers, country rags, and traditional songs and blues popular in poor, rural areas. The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles Ragtime (alternately spelled Rag-time) is an American musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918 The Blues is a vocal and instrumental form of Music based on the use of the Blue notes It emerged as an accessible form of self-expression
He married Cora Allen young and worked as a labourer, but began to lose his eyesight in his mid-teens. According to researcher Bruce Bastin, "While he was living in Rockingham he began to have trouble with his eyes. Bruce Bastin (born September 19 1939, in Chelmsford, England) is one of the few leading experts on the Blues styles of the South Eastern 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"[2]. However, there is an alternative story that he was blinded by an ex-girlfriend who threw chemicals in his face[1].
By 1928 he was completely blind, and turned to whatever employment he could find as a singer and entertainer, often playing in the streets. By studying the records of country blues players like Blind Blake and the "live" playing of Gary Davis, Allen became a formidable guitarist, and played on street corners and at house parties in Winston-Salem, Danville, and then Durham, North Carolina. "Blind" Blake (born Arthur Blake, circa 1893 Jacksonville Florida; died circa 1933 was an influential Blues Singer and Guitarist Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis, ( April 30, 1896 &ndash May 5, 1972) was a Blues and gospel singer Winston-Salem is a city in the US state of North Carolina. As of the 2000 census the city population was 185776 in 2004 the city annexed an additional 17483 Danville is an Independent city in Virginia, bounded by Pittsylvania County Virginia and Caswell County North Carolina. Durham is a city in the US state of North Carolina. It is the County seat of Durham County In Durham, playing around the tobacco warehouses, he developed a local following which included guitarists Floyd Council and Richard Trice, as well as harmonica player Saunders Terrell, better known as Sonny Terry and washboard player/guitarist George Washington. Floyd Council ( September 2 1911 &ndash May 9 1976) was an American Blues guitarist and singer Saunders Terrell, better known as Sonny Terry ( 24 October 1911, Greensboro, North Carolina - 11 March 1986,
In 1935, Burlington record store manager and talent scout James Baxter Long secured him a recording session with the American Recording Company (ARC). Durham is a city in the US state of North Carolina. It is the County seat of Durham County North Carolina ( is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States Burlington is a city in Alamance and Guilford counties in the U James Baxter Long, Sr ( December 25, 1903 &ndash February 25, 1975) was an American store manager owner and record company talent scout responsible Allen, Davis and Washington recorded several tracks in New York City, including the traditional "Rag, Mama, Rag". The City of New York To promote the material, Long decided to rename Allen as "Blind Boy Fuller", and also named Washington "Bull City Red"[2].
Over the next five years Fuller made over 120 sides, and his recordings appeared on several labels. His style of singing was rough and direct, and his lyrics explicit and uninhibited as he drew from every aspect of his experience as an underprivileged, blind Black person 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 contained desire, love, jealousy, disappointment, menace and humor. [3]
Blind Boy Fuller
In April 1936, Fuller recorded ten solo performances, and also recorded with guitarist Floyd Council. Floyd Council ( September 2 1911 &ndash May 9 1976) was an American Blues guitarist and singer The following year, having auditioning for J. Mayo Williams, he recorded for the Decca label, but then reverted to ARC. Jay Mayo "Ink" Williams (September 25 1894 - January 2 1980 was a pioneering African-American producer of recorded Blues music Decca Records is a British Record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Later in 1937, he made his first recordings with Sonny Terry. In 1938 Fuller, who was described as having a fiery temper[2], was imprisoned for shooting a pistol at his wife, wounding her in the leg, causing him to miss out on John Hammond's "Spirituals to Swing" concert in NYC that year. While Fuller was eventually released, it was Sonny Terry who went in his stead, the beginning of a long "folk music" career! Fuller's last two recording sessions took place in New York City during 1940.
Fuller's repertoire included a number of popular double entendre "hokum" songs such as "I Want Some Of Your Pie", "Truckin' My Blues Away" (the origin of the phrase "keep on truckin'"), and "Get Your Yas Yas Out" (the origin of a later Rolling Stones album title), together with the autobiographical "Big House Bound" dedicated to his time spent in jail. This article refers to a particular song type of American Blues music and a comedic style prevalent in Blues and Country music. Though much of his material was culled from traditional folk and blues numbers, he possessed a formidable finger-picking guitar style. He played a steel National resonator guitar[4]. A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar whose sound is produced by one or more metal cones ( Resonators ' instead of the He was criticised by some as a derivative musician, but his ability to fuse together elements of other traditional and contemporary songs and reformulate them into his own performances, attracted a broad audience. [2] He was an expressive vocalist and a masterful guitar player, best remembered for his uptempo ragtime hits including "Step It Up and Go. " At the same time he was capable of deeper material, and his versions of "Lost Lover Blues", "Rattlesnakin' Daddy" and "Mamie" are as deep as most Delta blues. Because of his popularity, he may have been overexposed on records, yet most of his songs remained close to tradition and much of his repertoire and style is kept alive by other Piedmont artists to this day.
Death
Fuller underwent a suprapubic cystostomy in July 1940 (probably an outcome of excessive drinking) but continued to require medical treatment. Durham is a city in the US state of North Carolina. It is the County seat of Durham County North Carolina ( is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States A suprapubic cystostomy (also known as a vesicostomy) is a surgically-created connection between the Urinary bladder and the skin which is used to drain He died in Durham, North Carolina on February 13, 1941 at 5:00 PM of pyemia due to an infected bladder, GI tract and perineum, plus kidney failure. Pyaemia (or pyemia) is a type of septicaemia that leads to widespread Abscesses of a metastatic nature
He was so popular that when he died that his protégé Brownie McGhee recorded "The Death of Blind Boy Fuller" for the Okeh label, and then reluctantly began a short lived career as Blind Boy Fuller No. Walter Brown ("Brownie" McGhee ( November 30 1915 - February 16 1996) was a folk - Blues Singer 2 so that Columbia Records could cash in on his popularity.
Burial location
Blind Boy Fuller's final resting place is Grove Hill Cemetery, located on private property in Durham, North Carolina. State records indicate that this was once an official cemetery, and Fuller's interment is recorded. The only remaining headstone is that of Mary Caston Langey. The funeral arrangements were handled by McLaurin Funeral Home of Durham, North Carolina, and the burial took place on February 15, 1941.
Blind Boy Fuller has been recognized on two different plaques in the City of Durham. The North Carolina Division of Archives and History plaque is located a few miles north of Fuller's gravesite, along Fayetteville St. North Carolina ( is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States in Durham. Durham is a city in the US state of North Carolina. It is the County seat of Durham County The City of Durham officially recognized Fuller on July 16, 2001, and the commemorating plaque is located along the American Tobacco Trail, adjacent to the property where Fuller's unmarked grave is located (several hundred feet east of Fayetteville St. Durham is a city in the US state of North Carolina. It is the County seat of Durham County Events 622 - The beginning of the Islamic calendar. 1054 - Three Roman legates fractured relations between the Western and Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. The American Tobacco Trail (ATT is a long Rails-to-Trails project located in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina, running along an abandoned ).
References
- ^ a b East Coast Piedmont Blues - Blind Boy Fuller
- ^ a b c d Blind Boy Fuller Biography - Discography, Music, Lyrics, Album, CD, Career, Famous Works, and Awards
- ^ Oliver, Paul (1984). Blues Off the Record. New York, N. Y. : Da Capo Press, p. 95-98. ISBN 0-306-80321-6.
- ^ History of National Reso-Phonic Guitars - Part One
External links
- Biography at www.musicianguide.com
- Biography
- Comprehensive biography (in French)
- Remembering Blind Boy Fuller (interviews with Boo Hanks, Glenn Hinson, Joe Newberry, and Tim Duffy)
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic