Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Tuesday 5 June 2018
Clarence Fountain, a founder of Blind Boys of Alabama, dies

Associated Press we were going to go pop or
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) rock," Fountain said. "Who
— A founding member needed it? Our bellies were
of the Grammy-winning full, we had no headaches,
gospel group the Blind we were happy. At least
Boys of Alabama has died. I was happy, singing real
Clarence Fountain was 88. gospel."
Fountain died Sunday in a They signed with Specialty
hospital in Baton Rouge, Records in 1953, but left
Louisiana, where he after five years because
had been taken Friday, of more pressure to sing
manager Charles Driebe secular music. They sang in
of Atlanta said in an email 1960s benefits for the Rev.
Monday. Martin Luther King Jr., and
The group won four kept singing hard-driving
Grammys, a Grammy gospel, even as it became
Lifetime Achievement less popular.
Award and a National They won national acclaim
Endowment for the in 1983 for the Off-Broadway
Arts National Heritage stage production of Gospel
Fellowship, and were at Colonus, an adaptation
members of the Gospel of Sophocles' tragedy
Music Hall of Fame. Oedipus at Colonus set
Fountain is survived by his in a black Pentecostal
wife, Barbara. The family church. Morgan Freeman
planned a private viewing played young Oedipus,
Monday at their church, In this Jan. 11, 2001 file photo, Clarence Fountain, founder of the Grammy-winning gospel group and the Blind Boys sang
with a public funeral The Blind Boys of Alabama, appears before a show in San Francisco. the part of the blinded
Tuesday at a larger church, Associated Press Oedipus. The play received
which had not yet been two OBIE awards and was
chosen, Driebe wrote. Driebe's Blind Ambition original members. 1944 while still in their teens," nominated for a Pulitzer
Fountain stopped touring Management. It said "These men were both Driebe wrote in the news Prize and a Tony Award.
with the group in 2007 the album grew out of raised as blind, African release about Fountain's The group's first Grammy
because of complications the realization that only American males in the death. nomination came in 1992,
from diabetes, but sang Fountain, the group's Deep South during the Jim They were still called the and they won their first
on their 2017 album, longtime leader, and its Crow years, and they were Happy Land Jubilee Singers Grammy for best traditional
"Almost Home," according current leader, Jimmy sent to a school where the when they had their first hit gospel album in 2001 with
a statement from Carter, remained of the expectation for them was single in 1948, "I Can See "Spirit of the Century,"
to one day make brooms Everybody's Mother But their first release with
or mops for a living," Mine." Peter Gabriel's Real World
Driebe said "But they've The name they used for Records.
transcended all that. The the rest of their careers They won Grammys in
arc of their lives and of the came from a double billing 2002, 2003 and 2004 for
band reflects the arc of a later in 1948 with another "Higher Ground," ''Go Tell
lot of changes in American group of blind singers, the It on the Mountain" and
society, and we wanted to Jackson Harmoneers — an "There Will Be A Light," the
find a way to capture their event promoted as a battle last a collaboration with
experiences in songs." between the Five Blind Boys Ben Harper. The lifetime
Fountain and friends of Alabama and the Five achievement came in
started their first singing Blind Boys of Mississippi. 2009. They recorded with
group as students at the "The crowd loved us, the artists including Lou Reed,
Alabama Institute for the name stuck, and things Bonnie Raitt, Tom Waits,
Negro Deaf and Blind in took off for us," Fountain k.d.lang, Justin Vernon of
Talladega, where Fountain said, as quoted in the news Bon Iver, Susan Tedeschi,
was enrolled when he release. Aaron Neville and Mavis
was 8. The Happy Land After a series of concerts Staples.
Jubilee Singers sneaked off with the Jackson Driebe quoted Fountain:
campus to sing for soldiers Harmoneers, he said, Ray "My theory is do something
at a nearby training camp. Charles's manager offered good in the end and that
"Buoyed by the praise (and a big touring deal if they will close out your longevity.
money) they received, the would cross over to other After that, you can go on
group left the school in genres. "There was no way home and sit down."q