Percell Perkins

Only sighted member of the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi

Percell Perkins, singer and minister of the church: born Duncan, Mississippi 6 February 1917; married (one daughter, one adopted son, and one daughter deceased); died Helena, Arkansas 31 January 2003.

Percell Perkins was an important figure in the development of gospel music, shaping a sound that would prove influential in the careers of first generation soul acts like Ray Charles, Sam Cooke and James Brown. Best known for his association with the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, Perkins also passed through the ranks of several other key vocal groups in the field, including the Swan Silvertones, the Fairfield Four and the Five Blind Boys of Alabama.

Born in Mississippi's blues-infused north-west, Perkins learned music as a child and was drawn to the work of a local gospel act, the Delta Big Four. By 1941 he was performing as the lead vocalist with the Glorybound Singers and followed that with stints in both the Fairfield Four and the Soprocco Singers. It was whilst working with the latter (also known as the Chosen Five) in Chicago that Perkins met the members of the Blind Boys of Mississippi.

Fronted by the charismatic Archie Brownlee, the Blind Boys had first come together at the Piney Woods School near Jackson, Mississippi. By the mid-Thirties they were touring as the Cotton Blossom Singers and in 1937 recorded four sides for Alan Lomax during one of his Library of Congress field trips. In addition to Brownlee, the group featured Lawrence Abrams, Lloyd Woodward and the bass Joseph Ford. In 1944 a fifth member, Melvin Henderson, joined but his departure after only a few months left a vacancy.

They persuaded Perkins to join them as second lead tenor and, as the only sighted member of the group, he became their manager. He took them back to New Orleans, helped to organise a recording session for Excelsior Records and nurtured their characteristic sound: superb four-part harmonies supporting the sweet tenor lead that Brownlee habitually punctuated with soaring screams.

In 1948 J.T. Clinkscales replaced Ford, who had grown tired of touring. The group relocated to Houston and, in 1950, recorded Perkins' arrangement of "Our Father". They scored a Top Ten hit on the R&B chart with the song, one of the very few times that a gospel number has found its way onto the secular charts, and earned themselves a gold disc. They cut 27 further singles and several albums, but Brownlee's death in 1960 robbed them of something unique and they were never again a formative force.

Perkins left the quintet following his ordination as a Baptist minister. For the next four decades he dedicated his life to his parishioners in Helena, Arkansas, but retained a keen interest in music: celebrating the Blind Boys' induction into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2000 and recording five solo albums.

Paul Wadey