Blind Boy Fuller (Born Fulton Allen)
July 10, 1907 – February 13, 1941
Blind Boy Fuller was a singer and guitarist who was a practitioner of what is known as Piedmont blues, a finger picking style of guitar playing that is not dissimilar in sound to the music made by ragtime pianos. Blind since his late teens, Fuller mostly earned his living playing on either the streets, house parties, or outside the local tobacco warehouses. It is not known how Fuller lost his sight. In 1935, he was given his first recording contract and went on to make more than 120 recordings over the next five years. Later, he made a series of records with the great Sonny Terry. Blind Boy Fuller was 33 when he died as a result of an infected bladder and liver failure on February 13, 1941. It is believed that heavy alcohol consumption may have played a role in his death.
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