June 24, 2008 Ira Tucker, Sr., lead singer for the Dixie Hummingbirds, died. Tucker was born May 17, 1925 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He joined the Hummingbirds in 1938 at the age of 13. In addition to his vocal skills, Tucker introduced energetic showmanship, including running through the aisles, jumping off the stage, and falling […]
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Fred Anderson – June 24th in African American History
June 24, 2010 Fred Anderson, jazz tenor saxophonist, died. Anderson was born March 22, 1929 in Monroe, Louisiana. He taught himself to play the saxophone as a teenager and moved with his family to Evanston, Illinois in the 1940s. In 1965, he was one of the founders of the Association for the Advancement of Creative […]
Elizabeth Louise “Betty” Allen – June 22nd in African American History
June 22, 2009 Elizabeth Louise “Betty” Allen, operatic mezzo-soprano, died. Allen was born March 17, 1927 in Campbell, Ohio. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the Hartford School of Music in vocal performance and her first major performance came in 1951 as the soprano soloist in “Jeremiah Symphony” with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
June 21st in African American History – John Lee Hooker
June 21, 2001 John Lee Hooker, singer, songwriter and blues guitarist, died. Hooker was born August 22, 1917 in Coahoma County near Clarksdale, Mississippi. At the age of 15, Hooker ran away from home and in 1948 landed in Detroit, Michigan, working at the Ford Motor Company and playing in the blues venues and saloons […]
June 20th in African American History – Lionel Brockman Richie
June 20, 1949 Lionel Brockman Richie, singer, songwriter and record producer, was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. Richie went to Tuskegee Institute on a tennis scholarship and graduated in 1974 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. In 1968, he became a singer and saxophonist with the Commodores who became popular with albums such as “Natural High” […]
June 16th in African American History – Tupac Amaru Shakur
June 16, 1971 Tupac Amaru Shakur, hip hop rapper and actor, was born in New York City. Shakur was named after Tupac Amaru II, a Peruvian revolutionary who led an indigenous uprising against Spain and was subsequently executed. In 1986, his family moved to Baltimore where Shakur attended the Baltimore School for the Arts and […]
June 15th in African American History – Ella Jane Fitzgerald
June 15, 1996 Ella Jane Fitzgerald, jazz and pop vocalist also known as the “First Lady of Song,” died. Fitzgerald was born April 25, 1917 in Newport News, Virginia. She made her singing debut at the age of 17 at the Apollo Theater and won the first prize of $25. In 1935, she began singing […]