Sun Ra
AKA:
Le Sony'r Ra
Birth Name:
Herman Poole Blount
Birth Date:
May 22, 1914
Birth Place:
Birmingham, Alabama
Death Date:
May 30, 1993
Place of Death:
Birmingham, Alabama
Age:
79
Cause of Death:
Cumulative effects of congestive heart failure, respiratory failure, and multiple strokes
Cemetery Name:
Elmwood Cemetery and Mausoleum
Claim to Fame:
Music
With over 200 albums over his 6 decade career, Sun Ra was revered in Europe as a genius and staged hundreds of concerts, at times with a nearly 100-piece orchestra. Taking the stage with his Arkestra members wearing wild costumes and flowing cloaks, concerts would include extended percussion jams, poetry, light shows, dancers and wicked progressive jazz. In later years the Arkestra, with Ra's eccentric piano style, began to re- create Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington and Jimmy Lunceford jazz classics of the Thirties amongst its more contemporary works to remain somewhat commercially relevant.
Cemetery Information:
Final Resting Place:
Elmwood Cemetery and Mausoleum
600 Martin Luther King Jr Drive
Birmingham, Alabama, 35211
North America
Map:
Grave Location:
Block 25Grave Location Description
Driving towards the middle of this 400+ acre cemetery, look for Block 25 and circle around the section and park when you see the “Christu” monument about 40′ off the road. Herman Sonny Blount’s simple flat marker is just 2 rows in front of Christu.
Grave Location GPS
33.486446, -86.849373Photos:
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
Read More About Sun Ra:
Videos Featuring Sun Ra:
See More:
Back to Top