Paul Beasley, tenor for the Blind Boys of Alabama, died final Monday (13) on the age of 78. The falsetto had joined the famed gospel collective in 2013.
The group’s Ricky McKinnie, Jimmy Carter, Joey Williams, Rev. Julius Love, and Sterling Glass stated in an announcement: “In life there are some issues that solely come as soon as, and the legacy and voice of Paul Beasley is a type of issues. Thank God for him. He was usually imitated, however by no means duplicated.
“The Blind Boys have been friends and soulmates with Paul for many years. The memories that we shared are unsurpassed. Our deepest sympathy goes out to all of his family and friends. God bless you all.”
Beasley was born in DeRidder, Louisiana on December 11, 1944 and have become a member of the Gospel Keynotes and the Mighty Clouds of Joy earlier than he misplaced his sight and joined the Blind Boys, whose Alabama origins date from 1939. Co-founder Clarence Fountain died at 88 in 2018. Asked about his falsetto fashion, Beasley stated: “It just came naturally. When I was about 12 or 13 years old me and my sister used to sit down and see who could go the highest.”
His album debut with them got here on 2013’s I’ll Find a Way, for which Justin Vernon of Bon Iver introduced the group to his Wisconsin studio to provide the set. In his assessment, American Songwriter’s Lee Zimmerman singled out “the enduring gospel standard ‘Take Me to the Water,’ featuring the sextet’s new newest member Paul Beasley contributing his soaring and stately falsetto.”
I’ll Find a Way was the primary of 4 Blind Boys albums to which Beasley contributed; he was additionally with them on the 2021 single model of “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free,” with Bela Fleck. During his time with the group, Beasley and the Blind Boys acquired 4 Grammy nominations, together with Best American Roots Performance for “Let My Mother Live,” from the Almost Home album, on the sixtieth annual ceremony in 2018. A funeral service for Beasley might be held in DeRidder on March 25.