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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 20. 29th August 1973

Biography

Biography

Saunders Terrel (Sonny Terry) was born in Greensboro, Georgia, in October 1911. At the age of 11 he was blinded in one eye in a children's game and later he lost the sight of his other eye when a piece of iron was thrown at his face. His blindness stimulated his study of the harmonica which he had been 'fooling around with' since early childhood.

He teamed up with Blind Gary Davis and they played on the streets of the tobacco towns together. Later Sonny met Blind Boy Fuller with whom he became close friends. All three blind musicians played together for some time on the streets of Durham and Raleigh led by a local albino named George Washington who played guitar and washboard. The mayor of the town acted as their manager and arranged their first recording dates with the Vocation company in the late 'thirties.

Washington met up with Brownie McGhee son of a farmer and 'wheeler'. Brownie was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1914. He learned his first tunes on a banjo made from a marshmallow tin. At the age of four he was afflicted with polio which permanently affected the growth of his right leg. As he was unable to do normal field work he played guitar for vacation resorts in the Smoky Mountains until he joined the Rabbit Foot Minstrels. Like many other singers at the time he travelled with 'doctor' shows and with the Mighty Haag Carnival, playing roadhouses and jukes, 'runnin', 'wild'.

It was while travelling that Brownie was introduced to Sonny Terry, Blind Boy Fuller and co. McGhee formed a band of six members, including Sonny on harmonica.

Sonny travelled to New York where he landed a part in 'Finian's Rainbow', Brownie later joined him and shared a small spot in Tennessee William's 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'. Since then the two have almost become legendary figures of the blues as a duo, although they insist that they are still individual artists.

Photo of Saunders Terrel