Lowell Fulson, 77, Who Took Texas-Style Blues to the West Coast
By JON PARELES
* 03/14/99
The New York Times
c. 1999 New York Times Company
Lowell Fulson, a major figure in West Coast blues, died March 6 in
Long Beach, Calif. He was 77 and lived in Los Angeles.
The cause was complications from kidney disease, diabetes and
congestive heart failure, said his companion, Tina Mayfield.
Mr. Fulson took the smooth, jazz-tinged jump-blues of Texas to
California, where he had rhythm-and-blues hits from the 1940's to the
60's. He wrote songs that were also recorded by Elvis Presley
(''Reconsider Baby''), Otis Redding and Carla Thomas (''Tramp'') and B.
B. King (''Three O'Clock Blues''). He was a member of the Blues Hall of
Fame and the Rhythm-and-Blues Hall of Fame.
Mr. Fulson was born in 1921 on a Choctaw Indian reservation in
Oklahoma; his grandfather was a Choctaw. Mr. Fulson played gospel and
* country music before turning to the blues. In 1939 he replaced Chester
Burnett (later known as Howlin' Wolf) in the band led by the
country-blues singer Texas Alexander, who was based in Gainesville,
Tex.
He served two years in the Navy in Oakland, Calif., and stayed on the
West Coast when he began his recording career in 1946.
He had his first rhythm-and-blues hit, ''Three O'Clock Blues,'' on
the Swingtime label in 1948, and went on tour in 1950 with a band that
included Ray Charles on piano. Other bands Mr. Fulson led included Ike
Turner on guitar and Stanley Turrentine or King Curtis on tenor
saxophone. He continued to have hits, including a version of Memphis
Slim's ''Nobody Loves Me'' that he retitled ''Everyday I Have the
Blues,'' and his own song, ''Blue Shadows,'' in 1950. Although he lived
in California, he began recording for the Chicago-based Checker label
(part of Chess Records) in 1954, when he had a hit with ''Reconsider
Baby.''
He moved in 1964 to Kent Records, recording as Lowell Fulsom, and
his
soul-styled ''Tramp'' reached No. 5 on the rhythm-and-blues chart in
1967. He continued to tour and record well into the 1990's, with albums
for European labels and, most recently, for the Rounder and Bullseye
Blues labels. He won five W. C. Handy blues awards in 1993 and his 1995
album, ''Them Update Blues'' (Bullseye Blues), was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues album.
In addition to Ms. Mayfield, he is survived by a sister, Norvell
Larney of Oklahoma; a brother, Jack Stewart; two sons, Lowell Jr. and
Richard; two daughters, Yvonne Penna and Edna Fulson, and 13
grandchildren, all of Los Angeles.
