On This Day In Alabama History: Sun Ra Died In Birmingham

By Alabama NewsCenter Staff

May 30, 1993

On May 30, 1993, 79-year-old Herman Blount died of pneumonia alongside family in Birmingham and he was buried in Elmwood Cemetery. Blount’s legacy lives on through his better-known name: Sun Ra. The musician influenced countless others, and his mark can be seen on bands such as Pink Floyd and Parliament Funkadelic, as well as many current jazz bands. Born on May 22, 1914, in Birmingham, he began traveling as a pianist after graduating high school. He attended Alabama A&M for a year, during which he said he was abducted by a UFO and transported to Saturn. Sun Ra saw himself as an outer-space visionary even as his reputation for music grew. He formed the progressive “Arkestra,” celebrating black history while experimenting with new jazz sounds and recording more than 100 albums. He moved from Chicago to New York in the early 1960s and to Philadelphia in 1968. Sun Ra was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1979 and kept up a grueling tour schedule until his health declined.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.

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