Biography
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Born
28 November 1929
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Born In
Tyler, Dallas County, Alabama, United States
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Died
3 June 2018 (aged 88)
Clarence Fountain (Tyler, Alabama, November 28, 1929 - June 3, 2018) was an American gospel singer and songwriter.
Blind since birth, Clarence Fountain attended Talladega Institute for the Blind and Deaf. His performing life will always be intertwined with the immortal group, The Five Blind Boys of Alabama.
The Blind Boys of Alabama first sang together in the school chorus in 1939 at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in Talladega, Alabama. All around nine years old at the time, the founding members were Clarence Fountain, Jimmy Carter, George Scott, Velma Bozman Traylor, Johnny Fields, Olice Thomas, and the only sighted member, J. T. Hutton. The earliest version of the group was known as “The Happyland Jubilee Singers” and originally performed for World War II-era soldiers at training camps in the South. The group’s first professional performance was on June 10, 1944. In 1945, the members dropped out of school and began touring the gospel circuit.
In 1948, a Newark, New Jersey promoter booked two sets of blind gospel singers - the Happy Land Jubilee Singers from Alabama and the Jackson Harmoneers from Mississippi - and advertised the program as "Battle of the Blind Boys." A friendly rivalry sprouted between the two groups and continued henceforth. The two acts soon changed their names to the Five Blind Boys of Alabama and the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi and often toured together, occasionally swapping members. In 1948, The Blind Boys of Alabama recorded their first single, “I Can See Everybody’s Mother But Mine” on the Veejay label. It was a hit and led to a series of recordings on various record labels.
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