Editing Sun Ra (section)

===Early life===
He was born Herman Blount on May 22, 1914, in [[Birmingham, Alabama]], as discovered by his biographer, [[John F. Szwed]], and published in his 1998 book, ''Space Is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra''.<ref name="szwed">{{cite web|last=Szwed|first=John F.|title=CHAPTER ONE - Space Is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/szwed-space.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=1997|access-date=November 17, 2019}}</ref> He was named after the popular [[vaudeville]] stage magician [[Black Herman]], who had deeply impressed his mother.<ref name="szwed"/> He was nicknamed "Sonny" from his childhood, had an older sister and half-brother, and was doted upon by his mother and grandmother.{{cn|date=February 2024}}

For decades, very little was known about Sun Ra's early life, and he contributed to its mystique. As a self-invented person, he routinely gave evasive, contradictory or seemingly nonsensical answers to personal questions, and denied his birth name.<ref name="szwed"/> He speculated, only half in jest, that he was distantly related to Elijah Poole, later known as [[Elijah Muhammad]], leader of the [[Nation of Islam]].<ref name="szwed"/><ref>{{cite web|last=Jacobson|first=Mark|title=The Journey of Khalil Islam, the Man Who Didn't Shoot Malcolm X |url=https://nymag.com/news/features/38358/index4.html|work=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|date=October 8, 2007|access-date=November 17, 2019}}</ref> His birthday for years remained unknown, as his claims ranged from 1910 to 1918. Only a few years before his death, the date of Sun Ra's birth was still a mystery. Jim Macnie's notes for ''Blue Delight'' (1989) said that Sun Ra was believed to be about 75&nbsp;years old. This turned out to be correct; Szwed was able to uncover a wealth of information about his early life, and confirmed a birth date of May 22, 1914.<ref name="szwed"/>{{rp|4}}

As a child, Blount was a skilled pianist. By the age of 11 or 12, he was composing<ref>Szwed (1998), p. 12.</ref> and [[sight reading]] music. Birmingham was an important stop for touring musicians and he saw prominent musicians such as [[Fletcher Henderson]], [[Duke Ellington]], and [[Fats Waller]], and other less well known performers. Sun Ra once said, "The world let down a lot of good musicians".<ref>Szwed (1998), p. 17.</ref>

In his teenage years, Blount demonstrated prodigious musical talent: many times, according to acquaintances, he went to [[big band]] performances and then produced full transcriptions of the bands' songs from memory. By his mid-teens, Blount was performing semi-professionally as a solo pianist, or as a member of various ''ad hoc'' jazz and [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]] groups. He attended Birmingham's segregated Industrial High School (now known as [[A. H. Parker High School|Parker High School]]), where he studied under music teacher John T. "Fess" Whatley, a demanding disciplinarian who was widely respected and whose classes produced many professional musicians.<ref name="szwed"/>{{rp|18–22}}

Though deeply religious, his family was not formally associated with any Christian church or sect. Blount had few or no close friends in high school but was remembered as kind-natured and quiet, an [[Honors student|honor roll]] student, and a voracious reader. He took advantage of the Black [[Prince Hall Freemasonry|Masonic Lodge]] as one of the few places in Birmingham where African Americans had unlimited access to books. Its collection on [[Freemasonry]] and other esoteric concepts made a strong impression on him.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Szwed|first=John F.|title=Space Is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra|publisher=Pantheon|year=1997|isbn=0679435891|location=New York|pages=21–22}}</ref>

By his teens, Blount suffered from [[cryptorchidism]].<ref>Szwed (1998), p. 10.</ref> It left him with a nearly constant discomfort that sometimes flared into severe pain.<ref name="szwed"/> Szwed suggests that Blount felt shame about it and the condition contributed to his isolation.<ref name="szwed"/>