The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi was an American post-war
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
quartet. They started with lead singer
Archie Brownlee
The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi was an American post-war gospel quartet. They started with lead singer Archie Brownlee, their single "Our Father" reached number ten on the Billboard R&B charts in early 1951. Then the screams of their new lea ...
, their single "Our Father" reached number ten on the Billboard R&B charts in early 1951. Then the screams of their new lead singer Big Henry Johnson captivated audiences all over the world. Jimmy was the heart of the group and the longest standing member. It was one of the first gospel records to do so.
John Fogerty
John Cameron Fogerty (born May 28, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. Together with Doug Clifford, Stu Cook, and his brother Tom Fogerty
Thomas Richard Fogerty (November 9, 1941 – September 6, 1990) was an American mu ...
's goal for the line, "Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river," in the song "
Proud Mary
"Proud Mary" is a song written by John Fogerty and first recorded by his band Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was released by Fantasy Records as a single from the band's second studio album, ''Bayou Country'', which was issued by the same rec ...
" was to evoke male gospel harmonies, as exemplified by groups such as the
Swan Silvertones
The Swan Silvertones are an American gospel music group that first achieved popularity in the 1940s and 1950s under the leadership of Claude Jeter. Jeter formed the group in 1938 as the "Four Harmony Kings" while he was working as a coal miner in ...
, the
Sensational Nightingales
The Sensational Nightingales are a traditional black gospel quartet that reached its peak of popularity in the 1950s, when it featured Julius Cheeks as its lead singer. The Nightingales, with several changes of membership, continue to tour and r ...
, and the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi.
History
The group originated in 1936 as a quartet of students from the
Piney Woods School
The Piney Woods Country Life School (or The Piney Woods School) is a co-educational independent historically African-American boarding school for grades 9–12 in Piney Woods, Mississippi, Piney Woods, unincorporated area, unincorporated Rankin ...
near
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...
. The students — Brownlee,
Joseph Ford,
Lawrence Abrams, and
Lloyd Woodard
Lloyd Woodard (born November 12, 1984) is an American professional mixed martial artist, currently competing in Titan FC's Lightweight division. A professional competitor since 2005, Woodard has also formerly competed for Bellator and King of th ...
— originally sang under the name "the Cotton Blossom Singers", performing
jubilee quartet Jubilee quartets were popular African-American religious musical groups in the first half of the 20th century. The name derives from the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a group of singers organized by George L. White at Fisk University in 1871 to sing Negro ...
and secular material, to raise money for the school. Their teacher,
Martha Louise Morrow Foxx
Martha Louise Morrow Foxx (October 9, 1902 – 1985) was an American educator who worked at the Piney Woods Country Life School campus of the Mississippi Blind School for Negroes for forty years, from 1929 to 1969.
Early life
Martha Louise Morrow ...
,
[Harrison, Alferdteen B. (1983) ''Piney Woods School: An Oral History''. University Press of Mississippi, p.83. .] helped organize the blind singers at the behest of the school founder
Laurence C. Jones
Laurence Clifton Jones (November 21, 1882 – July 13, 1975), was the founder and long-time president of Piney Woods Country Life School in Rankin County, Mississippi. A noted educational innovator, Jones spent his adult life supporting the ed ...
. On March 9, 1937, Brownlee and the others recorded sacred tunes (as the Blind Boys) and three secular numbers (as Abraham, Woodard, and Patterson) for
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
researcher
Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a musician himself, as well as a folklorist, archivist, writer, sch ...
. After graduation in the early forties, they began performing professionally singing pop music as the
Cotton Blossom Singers
The Cotton Blossom Singers is the musical group of The Piney Woods School in Piney Woods, Mississippi. The first iteration performed during the 1920s and the Cotton Blossom Singers still operate. During its early years, up to 13 groups toured ...
and religious material under the name
The Jackson Harmoneers. They were often backed by a female
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
band which originated from the same country school known as "
The International Sweethearts of Rhythm
The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was the first integrated all-women's band in the United States. During the 1940s the band featured some of the best female musicians of the day. They played swing and jazz on a national circuit that incl ...
." In the early 1940s,
Melvin Henderson
Melvin is a masculine given name and surname, likely a variant of Melville and a descendant of the French surname de Maleuin and the later Melwin. It may alternatively be spelled as Melvyn or, in Welsh, Melfyn and the name Melivinia or Melva may ...
, also known as
Melvin Hendrix
Melvin is a masculine given name and surname, likely a variant of Melville and a descendant of the French surname de Maleuin and the later Melwin. It may alternatively be spelled as Melvyn or, in Welsh, Melfyn and the name Melivinia or Melva may ...
, joined the group making them—like many so-called quartets—actually a quintet.
In the mid-1940s, Brownlee and the others relocated to Chicago, and changed their name to the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi. Under the influence of
R.H. Harris
Rebert H. Harris (March 23, 1916 – September 3, 2000) was an American gospel artist and lead singer of the Soul Stirrers. He had a pure tenor three-octave voice that he utilized for moans and slurs and leaps into falsetto. He was instrumental in ...
of the
Soul Stirrers
The Soul Stirrers were an American gospel music group, whose career spans over eighty years. The group was a pioneer in the development of the quartet style of gospel, and a major influence on soul, doo wop, and Motown, some of the secular musi ...
, Brownlee moved away from the jubilee style of singing and towards a more popular
hard gospel
Hard may refer to:
* Hardness, resistance of physical materials to deformation or fracture
* Hard water, water with high mineral content
Arts and entertainment
* ''Hard'' (TV series), a French TV series
* Hard (band), a Hungarian hard rock super ...
style. Even though Harris' influence was persuasive—the Blind Boys at first covered Soul Stirrers songs almost exclusively—Brownlee's high voice, which could move from a sweet croon to a devastating scream, was one of the most recognizable in gospel. Though blind from birth, he would also sometimes leap from a stage into the audience below .
With the addition of hard gospel shouter Rev.
Percell Perkins (1917-2003) (who replaced Henderson), the Blind Boys moved into their period of greatest fame. Perkins, who was not blind, became the group's manager, and they began to record, first for Excelsior in 1946, then for Coleman in 1948. Ford was replaced by another blind bass singer who later regained his sight and had to leave the group. He was replaced by
J.T. Clinkscales
JT may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Jakobstads Tidning'', a Finland-Swedish newspaper
* Jimma Times, owner of the Ethiopian newspaper ''Yeroo''
* ''Jornal da Tarde'', a Brazilian newspaper from São Paulo
* ''JT'' (album), 1977 album by James Ta ...
, in that year, and in 1950 the group moved to
Peacock Records
Peacock Records was an American record label, started in 1949 by Don Robey in Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United Stat ...
where they recorded the hit "Our Father" at their first session.
And over the course of 10 years the Blind Boys recorded such hits as "Old Ship Of Zion", "Coming Home", "Will Jesus Be Waiting?", "Song Of Praise", "I Wonder, Do You?", "In The Wilderness", "I Never Heard A Man", "Let's Have Church", "Leave You In The Hands Of The Lord", and "Someone Watches". Brownlee died of pneumonia while touring in New Orleans on February 8, 1960, at the age of 34, and not long after Perkins left as well to go into the ministry.
Brownlee was, at first, replaced by
Roscoe Robinson and, after Robinson left the group to go out on his own, by the very able lead
Henry Johnson, who, like Brownlee, made devastating screams. Quartet veteran
Willmer Broadnax
Willmer M. "Little Axe" Broadnax (December 28, 1916 – June 1, 1992) was an American hard gospel quartet singer during the golden age of traditional black gospel. His most common nickname was "Little Axe," due to both his small stature and his b ...
took the position of second lead. He was later replaced by
Willie Mincey
Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to:
People Given name or nickname
* Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scree ...
. Broadnax, in particular, had a high voice which was comparable, in some respects, to Brownlee's. Other singers who worked with the group for a time included Rev.
Sammy Lewis, Rev.
George Warren,
James Watts, and
Vance Powell
Vance Powell is an American six-time Grammy Award winning record producer, engineer and mixer. His credits include Phish, Chris Stapleton, Jack White, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, The White Stripes, Arctic Monke ...
. By the end of the 1960s, the group had released 27 singles and 2 albums for Peacock. In the 1970s and early 1980s, they recorded some material for Jewel, and they continued to tour into the 1990s. Of the three remaining members of the original group, Lloyd Woodard died in June 1973, Lawrence Abrams passed on in August, 1982, and Henry Johnson passed on December 10, 1999.
The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi should not be confused with
The Blind Boys of Alabama
The Blind Boys of Alabama, also billed as The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, and Clarence Fountain and the Blind Boys of Alabama, is an American gospel group. The group was founded in 1939 in Talladega, Alabama, and has featured a changing roster ...
, a group led by
Clarence Fountain
The Blind Boys of Alabama, also billed as The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, and Clarence Fountain and the Blind Boys of Alabama, is an American gospel group. The group was founded in 1939 in Talladega, Alabama, and has featured a changing roster ...
. There is some dispute as to which of the two groups was named first. Some sources say that the Five Blind Boys took their name when Percell Perkins joined them in the mid-1940s. According to Fountain, however, the two groups were actually christened simultaneously during a Newark, New Jersey quartet contest in 1948.
References
Further reading
*
Anthony Heilbut
Anthony Heilbut (born November 22, 1940) is an American writer, and record producer of gospel music. He is noted for his biography of Thomas Mann, and has also won a Grammy Award.
Life
Anthony Heilbut, the son of German Jewish refugees Bertha and ...
, Liner Notes to ''Kings of the Gospel Highway'' CD, Shanachie, c. 2000
*Lee Hildebrand and Opal Nations, Liner Notes to ''The Original Five Blind Boys of Alabama'' CD, Specialty, 1993
*Dorothy Moore, original source, 2008
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Five Blind Boys Of Mississippi, The
Blind musicians
American gospel musical groups
Musical groups from Chicago
Piney Woods Country Life School
Checker Records artists
Musical groups established in 1936
Musical groups disestablished in 1994