George Scott, 75; With Friends, Founded the Blind Boys of Alabama

George Scott, a founding member of the Grammy-winning gospel group the Blind Boys of Alabama, died Wednesday of heart failure at his home in Durham, N.C. He was 75.

Known for his booming baritone voice, Scott was regarded as a master of the jubilee style of gospel singing.

George Lewis Scott was born in Notasulga, Ala., on March 18, 1929. Blind from birth, he was sent by his parents to the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in Talladega, Ala., to learn Braille and gain early vocational training.

In 1936, Scott met the other founding members of the Blind Boys, Clarence Fountain and Jimmy Carter, at the school. In 1939, the three men formed the Happy Land Jubilee Singers, which Scott accompanied on guitar. The group changed its name to the Blind Boys of Alabama in the mid-1940s.

“The school was like a prison,” Scott recalled in an interview last year. “But they did teach us how to read music in Braille. Mainly, they taught us how to sing.”

In 1944, the three teenagers left the school, added two other friends to the group and began a gospel career that has lasted through various incarnations over six decades.

Fountain said Scott was feeling fine when he last spoke to him Tuesday night.

“He and I grew up together and sang together from little boys to old men,” Fountain said in a statement through the group’s publicist. “George was a great singer. He could sing any part in a song.”

Scott retired last year from the group’s touring schedule but still made recordings.

The latest album, “Atom Bomb,” is due in stores Tuesday.

Scott is survived by his wife, Ludie Lewis Mann Scott; his mother, Hassie Lou Scott; and a sister, Benzie Jackson.

The funeral service will be held Tuesday at 1 p.m. at Monument of Faith Church in Durham, N.C.

The family suggested memorial donations to the American Diabetes Assn., Box 1131 Fairfax, VA 22038-1131; or sending flowers to Holloway Funeral Home, 2502 North Carolina 55, Durham, NC 27713.