The Blind Boys of Alabama performing at Cosmopolite Scene Oslo in 2018.
Background information
Origin
Talladega, Alabama, U.S.
Genres
Gospel, traditional black gospel, blues, soul
Years active
1939–present
Members
Ricky McKinnie
Joey Williams
Reverend Julius Love[1]
Past members
Ben Moore
Clarence Fountain
Johnny Fields
George Scott
Olice Thomas
Vel Bozman Traylor
Reverend J.T. Hutton
Bishop Billy Bowers
Caleb Butler
Samuel Butler Jr
Roscoe Robinson
Charles Porter
Dwight Fields
Paul Beasley
Jimmy Carter
Website
blindboys.com
The Blind Boys of Alabama, also billed as The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, and Clarence Fountain and the Blind Boys of Alabama,[2] is an American gospel group. The group was 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.[2][3][4][5]
The Blind Boys found mainstream success following their appearance in the 1983 Obie Award-winning musical The Gospel at Colonus.[2][6][7] Since then, the group has toured internationally and has performed and recorded with such artists as Prince, Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel, Bonnie Raitt, Ben Harper, Bon Iver, and Amadou & Mariam.[2][3][6][8][9] The group's cover of the Tom Waits song "Way Down in the Hole" was used as the theme song for the first season of the HBO series The Wire.[3][8]
The Blind Boys have won five Grammy Awards in addition to being presented with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.[10] They were endowed with a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1994,[11] they were inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2003,[12] and they were inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 2010.[13] The group was also invited to the White House during the Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama administrations.[6][14]
Group member Ricky McKinnie said in a 2011 interview with the magazine Mother Jones: "Our disability doesn't have to be a handicap. It's not about what you can't do. It's about what you do. And what we do is sing good gospel music."[6]
^Butler, Harry D. "Gadsden's Julius Love newest member of Blind Boys of Alabama". Gadsden Times. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
^ abcdKenneth Roberts, Charles (June 5, 2018). "Blind Boys of Alabama". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Alabama Humanities Foundation. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
^ abcCatlin, Roger (March 17, 2017). "After 75 years of touring, the Blind Boys of Alabama are still reaping blessings". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
^Aiges, Scott (April 7, 2001). "Blind Boys and Real World Give Contemporary Voice to Old-time Gospel". Billboard. New York City. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
^Ruggieri, Melissa (July 9, 2012). "Ricky McKinnie is keeping the faith with the Blind Boys of Alabama". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Atlanta, Georgia. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
^ abcdLevintova, Hannah (November 21, 2011). "2-Stepping With the Blind Boys of Alabama". Mother Jones. San Francisco, California. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
^"Picks and Pans Review: I Brought Him with Me". People. United States. September 25, 1995. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
^ ab"Clarence Fountain, Founding Member of Blind Boys of Alabama, Dies at 88". Billboard. New York City. June 4, 2018. Retrieved December 1, 2019. {{cite magazine}}: Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help)
^Denselow, Robin (July 14, 2019). "Amadou and Mariam; the Blind Boys of Alabama review – soulful energy". The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
^Kreps, Daniel (June 5, 2018). "Clarence Fountain, Blind Boys of Alabama Leader, Dead at 88". Rolling Stone. New York City. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
^"Clarence Fountain & the Blind Boys: African-American Gospel Singers". National Endowment for the Arts. n.d. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
^"2003 Inductees Blind Boys of Alabama". Gospel Music Hall of Fame. January 2018. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
^"Inductees". Alabama Music Hall of Fame. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
^"The Blind Boys of Alabama perform in the East Room". The White House. February 14, 2002. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
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