Blind Boy Fuller
Blind Boy Fuller | |
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East Coast blues | |
Instrument(s) |
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Years active | 1928–1940 |
Fulton Allen (July 10, 1904[1] – February 13, 1941),[2] known as Blind Boy Fuller, was an American blues guitarist and singer. Fuller was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists, along with Blind Blake, Josh White, and Buddy Moss.
Life and career
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.
In 1935,
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,
Fuller's repertoire included a number of popular double-entendre "
Death
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
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
Blind Boy Fuller was, with
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0313344237.
- ^ "Kansas City Blues Society". March 28, 2018.
- ^ 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.
- ISBN 978-1-85868-255-6.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-306-80743-5.
- ISBN 978-0-306-80321-5.
- ISBN 9780982272190.
- ISBN 978-0-14-02-3755-9.
- ^ [1] Archived August 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- PMID 6997851.
- 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.
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ WRAL (June 25, 2019). "Pink Floyd's name traces back to NC". WRAL.com. Retrieved January 16, 2020.