Clarence Fountain

Born in Tyler, Alabama on November 28, 1929, Clarence Fountain grew up in a churchgoing and musical family in Selma. At age eight he was enrolled at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Deaf and Blind in Talladega. There he and five friends decided to start their own singing group, calling themselves the Happy Land Jubilee Singers. Under Fountain's direction, the Blind Boys had their first hit recording in 1948 on the Vee-Jay label with the song "I Can See Everybody's Mother But Mine.” In 1983, they received national acclaim for their performance in the Off-Broadway stage production of Gospel at Colonus, a contemporary musical adaptation of the Greek traged Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles. Morgan Freeman played the young Oedipus, and the Blind Boys, with Clarence in the lead, sang the role of the blinded Oedipus. The play, was lauded as a landmark in American musical theater, receiving two OBIE Awards and nominations for a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award. Fountain recorded with an astounding array of artists, including Lou Reed, Bonnie Raitt, Tom Waits, Marvis Davis and many others. He also recorded on various record labels, including Jewels, Specialty Wajji, Elektra, Gregota, Tyscot and many more. Fountain & The Blind Boys musical achievement includes winning five Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and an NEA National Heritage Fellowship, as well as being inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and performing at the White House.