Blind Boy Fuller

Fulton Allen (July 10, 1904 – February 13, 1941), known as Blind Boy Fuller, was an American blues guitarist and singer. Fuller was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists, along with Blind Blake, Josh White, and Buddy Moss.

Life and career Allen was born in Wadesboro, North Carolina, United States, one of ten children of Calvin Allen and Mary Jane Walker. Most sources date his birth to 1907, but the researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc indicate 1904.

By 1928 he was completely blind. He turned to whatever employment he could find as a singer and entertainer, often playing in the streets. Allen, Davis, and Washington recorded several tracks in New York City, including the traditional "Rag, Mama, Rag". To promote the records, Long credited Allen as Blind Boy Fuller and Washington as Bull City Red.

In April 1936, Fuller recorded ten solo performances and also recorded with guitarist Floyd Council. In 1937, after auditioning for J. Mayo Williams, he recorded for Decca Records, but then reverted to ARC. Later that year he made his first recordings with Sonny Terry. was imprisoned for shooting a pistol at his wife, wounding her in the leg. His imprisonment prevented him from performing in "From Spirituals to Swing", a concert produced by John Hammond in New York City that year. Sonny Terry performed in his place; it was the beginning of Terry's long career in folk music. After Fuller was released from prison, he held his last two recording sessions in New York City in June 1940, but by then he was increasingly physically weak, and much of the material lacked the quality and energy of his earlier recordings.

Fuller's repertoire included a number of popular double-entendre "hokum" songs, such as "I Want Some of Your Pie", "Truckin' My Blues Away" (1936) (the inspiration for Robert Crumb's comic "Keep On Truckin'"), "Let Me Squeeze Your Lemon", and "Get Your Yas Yas Out" (1938) but continued to require medical treatment. He died at his home in Durham, North Carolina, on February 13, 1941.

Grave location

Fuller's grave is Grove Hill Cemetery, on private property in Durham. According to state records, this was once an official cemetery, and Fuller's interment is recorded. Only one headstone remains, that of one Mary Caston Langey. The funeral arrangements were handled by McLaurin Funeral Home of Durham, and the burial took place on February 15, 1941.

Fuller has been recognized with two plaques in Durham. The North Carolina Division of Archives and History placed a plaque a few miles north of Fuller's gravesite, along Fayetteville St. The city of Durham officially recognized Fuller on July 16, 2001, with a commemorative plaque along the American Tobacco Trail, adjacent to the property containing Fuller's unmarked grave (several hundred feet east of Fayetteville St.).

Posthumous recognition Blind Boy Fuller and Reverend Gary Davis were the Sesquicentennial Honors Commission's two main honorees at the Durham 150 Closing Ceremony in Durham on November 2, 2019. They were recognized for their contributions to the Piedmont blues. Fuller's influence is acknowledged by many rock artists whose styles draw from the blues, including the Rolling Stones, Rory Gallagher, and Eric Clapton. Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd named the band after seeing the names of blues singers Pink Anderson and Floyd Council in the liner notes of a 1962 album by Fuller (Philips BBL-7512).