Jesse Fuller

Biography

Blues singer/musician Jesse Fuller was born in Jonesboro, GA, in 1896. He learned to play guitar as a youth, but didn't really embark on a career as a professional musician until he was in his 50s. In his 30s he drifted across the US and wound up in Los Angeles, where he got a succession of odd jobs--including a stint as a movie extra--and then headed upstate towards the San Francisco Bay area. He sang and performed at parties and on street corners there, until in 1951--at age 55--he decided to become a full-time musician. In 1954 he wrote what would become his best-known tune, "San Francisco Bay Blues". He combined his ability to play a variety of musical instruments and to sing and became a one-man band, playing a 12-string guitar, a "fotdella"--a homemade bass that used piano strings and was played with a foot pedal--a cymbal, a harmonica and a kazoo, and basically turned himself into a one-man jug band. In 1955 he cut an album, "Folk Blues: Working on the Railroad with Jesse Fuller". His heyday was in the 1960s and 1970s. He toured extensively--including Europe--and played at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival in addition to a host of other blues and folk festivals around the country, and became a staple on the college coffeehouse circuit. He died in Oakland, CA, in 1976.