The Blind Boys of Alabama
The Blind Boys of Alabama are recognized worldwide as living legends of gospel music. They were founded in 1939 in Talladega, Alabama, and has featured a changing roster of musicians over its history, the majority of whom are or were vision impaired. The founding members were Clarence Fountain, George Scott, Velma Bozman Traylor, Johnny Fields, Olice Thomas, and the only sighted member, J.T. Hutton. They all attended the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind and singing in its glee club. They were first called the “Happyland Jubilee Singers.”
During their early teens, in 1944, they left school and began singing and making money in local churches and community activities. However, they did not record until 1948, releasing their debut single, “I can see everybody’s mother but mine,” on the Veejay label. During the 1950s, Black gospel music was popular and the Blind Boys were one of the better known groups. Over the next coming years their personal changed, but the band has persevered through seven decades to become one of the most recognized and decorated roots music groups in the world.
Touring throughout the South during the Jim Crow era of the 1940s and 1950s, the Blind Boys flourished thanks to their unique sound, which blended the close harmonies of early jubilee gospel with the more fervent improvisations of hard gospel. As the 1950s went on, gospel artists like Ray Charles and Sam Cooke crossed over into secular pop music, and The Blind Boys felt increasing pressure to do the same, but they stayed true to their roots.
Their list of albums, performances, soundtrack appearances, and collaborators is long and distinguished. The group was a highly visible part of the burgeoning of civil rights movement in the early 1960s, performing at benefits for Martin Luther King Jr., among others. But as the years passed, gospel fans started to drift away and follow the many singers who had originated in the church but were now recording secular popular music.
And the Blind Boys, who refused many offers to ‘cross over’ to secular music, also saw their audiences dwindle. But their true fans stayed loyal to them and they continued to make music and perform shows and concerts and proved as productive and as musically ambitious as ever. They have received numerous awards and accolades. The group is easily among the most lauded in gospel music, with ten GRAMMY nominations and five wins along with a 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award.