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- Born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, New York among eight siblings, including her twin sister Lorraine, Lauren Velez dreamed of becoming an actress ever since she played a groundhog in a school play in second grade. Immediately following high school, she received a scholarship from the Alvin Ailey Dance School which led to her first job performing in the national touring company of the musical "Dreamgirls". Later she became understudy for actress Phylicia Rashad in Broadway's "Into the Woods". Her most visible role was that of "Nina Moreno" on the cop drama New York Undercover (1994). With her varied performances and Afro-Latin background and appearance, Velez's success is considered -- by fans and critics alike -- a breakthrough for Latina actresses who do not fit the stereotypical "Europeanized Hollywood" version of Latin females. As a result, Velez deservedly has a large multi-ethnic following.
- Actor
- Director
- Music Department
Avery Franklin Brooks was born on October 2, 1948 in Evansville, Indiana to a musically talented family. His maternal grandfather, Samuel Travis Crawford, was a tenor who graduated from Tougaloo College in Mississippi in 1901. Crawford toured the country singing with the Delta Rhythm Boys in the 1930s. Brooks also is musically inclined having played jazz piano, and has performed as the great baritone/actor/scholar Paul Robeson in the play entitled "Paul Robeson". He sang the lead in the A. Anthony Davis opera "X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X", and performed as "Theseus" and "Oberon" in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Washington's Arena Stage. Long affiliated with Rutgers University, he was the institution's first Black MFA graduate. Additionally, he served as the National Black Arts Festival's (NBAF) Artistic Director throughout the 1990s in Atlanta, Georgia. An actor, activist, musician, director, and educator of epic proportions, Brooks was quoted in an interview about his work with NBAF and his performances: "If I were a carpenter, I'd find a way to empower using that skill. I'm using as much as God has given--my mind, my voice, my heart, my art forms. This is the highest form of expression on the planet from God, to me, to you".- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Borrego studied theatre and dance at The University of Incarnate Word; he studied acting at The California Institute of the Arts. In the 1980s he attended an open audition for the TV Series "Fame" where he won the role of "Jesse Velasquez", a role he would have for three years. Borrego, however, would return to the stage appearing in productions at the noted Joseph Papp Theatre in New York City and The Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. In addition to standout performances on stage and in films such as "Blood In, Blood Out" and "Follow Me Home", he began Lupita Productions in 1990. Lupita has produced theatrical productions and concerts; additionally, Lupita has produced two 16mm short films: "El Suendo de Simon" (1993) by James Borrego and "Flattime" (1995) by Jimmy Santiago Baca. At home in front of the camera, on stage, or in the producer's seat, Borrego continues to be one of the most versatile and resilient talents of our time.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Although known as the uncle/patriarch and judge "Philip Banks" on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990), James Avery was a classically trained actor and scholar. A native of Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA, he joined the US Navy after graduating high school and served in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969. Upon leaving the military, he moved to San Diego, California and began writing TV scripts and poetry for PBS. He won an Emmy for production during his tenure there and deservedly won a scholarship to the University of California at San Diego, from which he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Drama and Literature. (Sidenote: His wife Barbara is the Dean of Student Life at California's Loyola Marymount University.) In addition to his sitcom popularity, he lent his voice to over a dozen animated television series and features. He was also the primary host of the popular PBS travel and adventure series Going Places (1997). Armed with a diverse resume of credits, James Avery remained a unique creative force as convincing a comedian as he was a Shakespearean character.- Music Artist
- Actor
- Music Department
Isaac Hayes, the second-born child of Eula and Isaac Hayes Sr., was raised by his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Willie Wade Sr. The child of a poor family, he grew up picking cotton in Covington, Tennessee. He dropped out of high school, but later his former high-school teachers to get his diploma, which he earned when he was 21. Otis Redding, Johnnie Taylor, The Bar-Kays, and Booker T. Jones (later of Booker T. & the M.G.s fame) were some of the "Memphis Sound" musical luminaries Hayes worked with during his early years as a budding musician and vocalist. He was a multi-talented composer, singer, and arranger who played the piano, vibraphone, and saxophone equally well. In 1971 he won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for a Motion Picture for the "Theme from Shaft" (1970) and was nominated for Best Original Dramatic Score for Shaft (1971).- He was a highly successful black actor/director in the 1950s and 1960s who - because of his light-skinned appearance - transcended race and ethnicity in his performances. In motion pictures, Frank Silvera was cast as black, Latino, Polynesian and "white"/racially indeterminate (due to black + white film stock's lack of discernment when rendering light-skinned African-Americans).
He was actively engaged in the Civil Rights Struggles of the 1950s and 1960s and called on all of his associates in the theater and film world to support the efforts of Black Americans during this watershed in American history. The Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop Foundation, Inc. was founded by actor/ director Morgan Freeman, playwright/director Garland Lee Thompson, director/ actress Billie Allen and journalist Clayton Riley in 1973. - Actress
- Producer
- Director
She graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia in 1971. While a student at Spelman (an all-female institution), she met Samuel L. Jackson, who was a student at Morehouse College (the all-male institution affiliated with Spelman), who would later become her husband. She and Jackson have one daughter named Zoe.- Beah Richards left her native Vicksburg, Mississippi, for New York City in 1950. She would not acquire a significant role on stage until 1955,when she appeared in the off-Broadway show "Take a Giant Step" convincingly portraying an 84-year-old grandmother without using theatrical makeup. In 1962 she appeared in writer James Baldwin's "The Amen Corner" directed by noted actor/director/activist Frank Silvera, who told Richards "Don't act, just be." She credited Silvera with helping her further develop the subtlety and quiet dignity that distinguished all of her performances.
A prolific actress, poet and playwright, her first authored play was "All's Well That Ends" that delved into the issues of racial segregation. Always ahead of her time, she defined herself as "Black" when the term "Negro" was the preferred ethnic/racial label of Black Americans. Richards would bring her salutary satisfaction with being "Black" and her immense acting talents to the role of the peacemaking mother in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), a role for which she was nominated for an Oscar. Additionally, she appeared in "Purlie Victorious" by Ossie Davis and "The Little Foxes" by Lillian Hellman.
In 1988, she won an Emmy Award for her performance in Frank's Place (1987). Although stricken with emphysema, she delivered a tour-de-force performance on the ABC legal drama The Practice (1997) in 2000; she received her second Emmy Award for this performance three days before her death in her native Vicksburg. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Although best known for his role as "Detective Sgt. Neal Washington" on the long-running and critically acclaimed police drama Hill Street Blues (1981), Taurean Blacque was one of the best stage actors of his time. A long-time resident of Atlanta, Georgia, he performed in several productions at the Alliance Theatre of Atlanta. Among his notable roles were the James Baldwin play "The Amen Corner" opposite Carol Mitchell-Leon, Elizabeth Omilami and Crystal Fox; and as "Shealy" in the August Wilson play "Jitney" opposite such notables as John Lawhorn, John Beasley, Anthony Chisholm and Charles Canada. Both productions were directed by then-Alliance Artistic Director Kenny Leon. Noted for his involvement in the community as well, Blacque, who had two adult biological sons, adopted nine children in the late 1980s. A deeply spiritual man, he adopted the name "Taurean" from his astrological sign of "Taurus" and the name "Blacque" from his race.- Music Artist
- Music Department
- Actor
He was the fourth of seven children born to Clement and Mildred Mathis. His father performed briefly in vaudeville and exposed all of the Mathis siblings to music. Before he entered his teens, young John received vocal lessons from Connie Cox in exchange for performing chores around her home. When he entered San Francisco State College he originally had planned to become a physical education instructor. At San Francisco State he broke classmate and basketball great Bill Russell's high jump record. While in college he began performing at a small local bar called The International Settlement, where he met performers Maya Angelou and Joan Weldon. Later performances at a club called The Blackhawk caught the attention of Columbia Records producer George Avakian. When Avakian called for Mathis to make his first recording, the young singer and then college track star had to make a unique decision: whether to record or to tryout for the 1956 Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia. He chose to make his first single "Wonderful, Wonderful". To date he has recorded over 80 albums selling millions of albums worldwide More than 60 of his albums have been certified gold and/or platinum. "Heavenly" alone remained on the pop charts for 295 weeks. His 1958 album "Johnny's Greatest Hits" began "Greatest Hits" tradition copied by every record company since then. This album spent an unprecedented 490 continuous weeks (almost ten years) on the Billboard Top Albums Chart, and garnered notation in the Guinness Book Of World Records. For over 6 decades Mathis has continued to record, musically evolve, and perform at the world's most prestigious venues, earning a permanent place in American music history.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
He was the son of a Puerto Rican seaman. He was self-educated and spent much of his childhood in Brazil singing on the streets to raise money for food. He became an actor after having been a circus performer, radio actor, and vaudeville performer. He worked in the chorus of the 1927 stage production of the musical "Show Boat". Black American film historian Donald Bogle considers Hernandez's early success in films during the early twentieth century to have been an event that paved the way for the high visibility and success of Black Actor and Academy Award winner Sidney Poitier.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Aside from being Benjamin Bratt's brother, Peter Bratt is a growing force in his own right. With his critically acclaimed independent first feature film Follow Me Home (1996), he dared to explore race and identity from the multiple and intersecting perspectives of Chicanos, African Americans, and Native Americans. When no major studio would distribute this film, Henri Norris, an African American woman who was an attorney then engaged in malpractice litigation, created New Millennia Films so that Bratt's film and message could reach a significant audience. Bratt was honored for his artistic genius with a 2000 Rockefeller Foundation Film/Video/Multimedia Fellowship, further demonstrating that he is poised to become one of the twenty first century's major filmmakers.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Although popularly known as one of the actors who portrayed "Lionel Jefferson" on the long-running sitcom The Jeffersons (1975), Damon Evans is an accomplished singer and stage performer. Born in Baltimore, he graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, USA on a Reader's Digest Scholarship. After graduation he attended the Boston Conservatory of Music. While in Boston he appeared in productions of "Two If by Sea", "Hair", and "The Corner" at the Theatre Company of Boston. His off-Broadway credits include performances in "A Day in the Life of Just About Everyone", "Bury the Dead" for the Urban Arts Corp, and "Love Me, Love My Children". He made his Broadway debut in "The Me Nobody Knows". Other Broadway credits include "Via Galactica" and a portrayal of 'Matthew' in "Lost in the Stars". Evans also toured as 'Judas' and 'Jesus Christ' in the authorized concert version of the musical "Jesus Christ Superstar"; and he appeared in the Tony, Obie, and Drama Desk Award-winning Broadway musical "Don't Bother Me I Can't Cope," which was written by Micki Grant. Although currently less visible in film and television, Evans continues to delight theatre-going audiences throughout the country with a wide range of theatrical and musical performances.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Although many fans may not know her name, Marilyn Sokol is a familiar face on television and in films. Perhaps best known for her work on the stage, she has appeared in "Fiddler on the Roof" at St. Louis MUNY, "Candide" at The Goodman Theatre, "Death Trap" at The Papermill Theatre; "The Sisters Rosenweig", "He Looks Good in a Hat", and "Light Up the Sky" at The Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Off-Broadway credits include "The Beggar's Opera" and "Merry Wives of Windsor". Sokol has appeared in several Broadway productions including "The Great God Brown", "Don Juan", and "Conversations With My Father". An actress of tremendous range, she has been honored with Emmy, Bistro, and Obie Awards.- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
August Wilson once dropped out of school, disillusioned after having been unjustly accused of plagiarism by a racist instructor who could not fathom the artistic and intellectual genius of a then young Black male writer. Wilson was not disillusioned forever. Having now completed a decade by decade cycle of seven plays that illustrate the complexity, problems, and beauty of Black American life, Wilson sits at the pinnacle of American playwrights who have achieved world-renown. He first became involved in theatre in the late 1960s when he co-founded the Black Horizons Theater which was a community theatre located in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. His first professional production was "Black Bart and the Sacred Hills" which was based on an earlier series of poems. "Black Bart..." was produced at St. Paul's Penumbra Theatre in 1981. Wilson's breakthrough occurred when Lloyd Richards--then Dean and Artistic Director of the Yale Repertory Theatre--brought Wilson to the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference and premiered his plays at the Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. Richards, the only Black American at Yale to have a Department Chair named for him, was a major influence on and expert collaborator with Wilson, who used Yale as a workshop for developing many of his productions. To date, his plays have been staged on Broadway and at regional theatres across the United States. He has won Pulitzer Prizes for "Fences" (1987) and "The Piano Lesson" (1990) and New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom", "Fences", "Joe Turner's Come and Gone", "The Piano Lesson", "Two Trains Running", and "Seven Guitars". His most recent works include "Jitney" and "King Hedley II". He has been honored with Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellowships in Playwrighting; is an Alumnus of New Dramatists and a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, further demonstrating an artistic, intellectual, and literary profundity that has assured him a permanent and prominent place in the history of American Theatre.- Producer
- Actress
- Director
Camille O. Cosby is the eldest offspring of Guy and Catherine Hanks's four children. Embued with an immense intellect and sense of social responsibility, she has long been an advocate for education and for the continued financial support of the United States' historically African-American colleges and universities (HBCUs). Along with her husband Bill Cosby, she donated $20 million in 1988 to Spelman College, the prestigious and historically African-American women's college located in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. By 1994, they had donated over $70 million to several HBCUs.
Not one to merely rest on the laurels of her famous spouse, she earned a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts in 1992. Her doctoral dissertation was published by The University Press of America in 1994 as "Television's Imageable Influences: The Self-Perceptions of Young African-Americans" ( ISBN 0819195219). Additonally she has continued her long occupation as business manager for her husband, overseeing all philanthropic and financial matters. She also serves as president of COC Productions, a film production company, and C&J Productions, which produces for the stage. She also produced her husband's last two albums, which were released on Geffen Records in 1987 and 1991, and co-directed her husband's concert film Bill Cosby: 49 (1987).
Always diligent in her commitment to youth, after hiring an Atlanta, GA, USA-based couple named Thelma and Wesley Williams, who ran a catering business while mentoring to several at-risk male teens, she embarked on a mission to bring their extraordinary story to the screen. The result was her production of the Williams's-inspired service and activism in the documentary No Dreams Deferred (1994). Although largely out of the public limelight, Camille O. Cosby's commitment to education and intelligent drama on both the screen and stage has helped to entertain and enlighten millions of viewers worldwide.- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Born the son of a Muslim cleric in Colobane, near Dakar, Senegal, Djibril Diop Mambéty received no formal training in filmmaking. He experimented with theater, but in 1968, he was asked to leave an avant-garde theater group. Shortly thereafter, he made his first film short called Badou Boy (1970), which dealt with the life of a young renegade. By 1973, he directed his first feature, Touki Bouki (1973), about disaffected youth, and it became an instant classic. It would be nearly twenty years before he would create another film, Hyenas (1992), which is considered a sequel to "Touki Bouki" and a parable based on the classic play "The Visit" by Frederich Durrenmatt. Although his films were considered to be politically oriented, Mambéty rejected the realism preferred by most African filmmakers. His films were notable for their dream-like quality that left the themes of his films entirely to the interpretation of the viewer; this was, of course, the desired effect. In spite of the fact that Mambéty only completed a few short films and a meager two full-length features, the quality of his short body of work has rendered him legendary status among African filmmakers and, indeed, the international film community.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Executive
Actress, dancer, vocalist, and choreographer best describe Hope Clarke, who began her career performing in "West Side Story". She has appeared in seven other Broadway shows that include "Purlie", "Hallelujah Baby", and "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope". As a dancer she has toured internationally with Alvin Ailey and Black Nativity, and with the legendary Katherine Dunham. In addition to her choreography for "Jelly's Last Jam" (for which she and co-choreographer and star of the musical, Gregory Hines were nominated for a Tony Award), she has choreographed such musicals as "The Colored Museum" and "Caucasian Chalk Circle" at the Public Theater. Clarke remains one of the most versatile, and perhaps underrated, performers on the stage and on film.- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
One would be surprised if singer-composer Patti Austin did not have talent, given her impressive musical pedigree and early exposure to some of the most trend-setting artists of the twentieth century. Born to musician parents Gordon and Edna Austin, Patti Austin made her stage debut at Harlem's famous Apollo Theatre at the age of three with her famous Godmother Dinah Washington. As an adolescent she appeared on The Sammy Davis, Jr. Show (1966) and performed in the stage versions of "Lost In The Stars" and "Finian's Rainbow". Age nine found her travelling to Europe with her Godfather Quincy Jones. With an immaculate voice and natural musicianship she toured at the age of sixteen with Harry Belafonte. In the 1970s upon the generous recommendation of Valerie Simpson (of the husband & wife songwriting team "Ashford and Simpson"), Austin began to receive numerous opportunities to compose and sing TV commercial jingles. Additionally she became one of the most prolific session singers of the decade; recording with Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Jazz guitarist and vocalist George Benson, Joe Cocker, and Roberta Flack to name a few. In the 1980s she worked with the groups Steely Dan and the Blues Brothers. Maintaining her long association with Quincy Jones, Austin's vocals were featured on his album and title song "The Dude" which earned a 1982 Grammy Award. Long since her first R & B hit "Family Tree" (1969), in the 1980s Austin had joined the ranks of a minority of women lauded for their songwriting ability and vocal expertise. She garnered another hit with "Every Home Should Have One" on Jones' Qwest Label, and scored a #11 UK hit with "Razzamatazz" in early 1981. Two duets with singer-composer James Ingram brought her even greater exposure as "Baby Come To Me" became the love theme for the popular daytime drama General Hospital (1963) (US #1, UK #11 in 1983); and "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" from the feature film Best Friends (1982) was nominated for an Academy Award. She also sang the theme songs for _Two Of A Kind (1983)_ and Shirley Valentine (1989). Her album "The Real Me" featured a collection of standards composed by Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, and Cole Porter. After a string of successful albums, dozens of compositions recorded by a variety of recording artists, and collaborations with Jazz/Pop/R&B masters Quincy Jones and Dave Grusin, Austin remains one of the most prolific musical talents of our time.- Music Department
- Actor
- Composer
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie, along with Charlie Parker, ushered in the era of Be-Bop in the American jazz tradition. He was born in Cheraw, South Carolina, and was the youngest of nine children. He began playing piano at the age of four and received a music scholarship to the Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina. Most noted for his trademark "swollen cheeks", Gillespie admitted to copying the style of trumpeter Roy Eldridge early in his career. He replaced Eldridge in the 'Teddy Hill' Band after Eldridge's departure. He eventually began experimenting and creating his own style which would eventually come to the attention of Mario Bauza , the Godfather of Afro-Cuban jazz who was then a member of the Cab Calloway Orchestra. Though Calloway disliked Gillespie's style, calling it "Chinese music", he hired him to his band in 1939. Gillespie was later fired after two years when he cut a portion of Calloway's buttocks with a knife after Calloway accused him of throwing spitballs (the two men later became lifelong friends and often retold this story with great relish until both of their deaths). Although noted for his on- and off-stage clowning, Gillespie endured as one of the founding fathers of the Afro-Cuban &/or Latin Jazz tradition. Influenced by Mario Bauza, known as Gillespie's musical father, he was able to fuse Afro-American jazz and Afro-Cuban rhythms to form a burgeoning CuBop sound. Always a musical ambassador, he toured Africa, the Middle East and Latin America under the sponsorship of the US State Department. Quite often he returned, not only with fresh musical ideas, but with musicians who would eventually go on to achieve world renown. Among his proteges and collaborators are 'Chano Pozo', the great Afro-Cuban percussionist; Danilo Pérez, a master pianist and composer originally from Panama; Arturo Sandoval, trumpeter, composer and music educator originally from Cuba; Mongo Santamaria, an Afro-Cuban conguero, bonguero and composer; David Sanchez, saxophonist and composer; Chucho Valdés, an Afro-Cuban virtuoso pianist and composer; and Bobby Sanabria, a Bronx, NY-born Nuyorican percussionist, composer, educator, bandleader and expert in the Afro-Cuban musical tradition. Indeed, many Latin jazz classics such as "Manteca", "A Night in Tunisia" and "Guachi Guaro [Soul Sauce]" were composed by Gillespie and his musical collaborators. With a strong sense of pride in his Afro-American heritage, he left a legacy of musical excellence that embraced and fused all musical forms, but particularly those forms with roots deep in Africa such as the music of Cuba, other Latin American countries and the Caribbean. Additionally, he left a legacy of goodwill and good humor that infused jazz musicians and fans throughout the world with a genuine sense of jazz's ability to transcend national and ethnic boundaries--for this reason, Gillespie was and is an international treasure.- Noted for his fiery and controversial rhetoric on race relations, Farrakhan came under the influence of Nation of Islam minister Malcolm X in the late 1950s. He joined the Nation of Islam after having given up a rather successful musical career as a calypso singer known as "The Charmer". He remains an avid music lover and is considered by many to be an expert classical violinist, citing the composer Felix Mendelssohn as one of his favorite composers. After controversial remarks about Jewish Americans during the first Presidential campaign of Jesse Jackson, Farrakhan has continuously had to defend and/or explain himself to media organs whom many of his supporters believe misconstrue or erroneously report on the Nation of Islam leader. His highly successful "Million Man March" in 1996 softened some criticisms as the gathering was designed as a "Day of Atonement and Reconciliation", aimed at encouraging Black Men to assume greater responsibility for their families and communities. An enigmatic and charismatic public figure, Farrakhan continues to grow in stature. He continues to be one of the most vocal critics of institutional racism, and he remains equally critical of Black Americans who take no personal or collective responsibility for their social, political, and economic circumstances. He is fervently devoted to Islam and is fluent in Arabic, an ability that he used when he assisted Jesse Jackson's negotiations with the Syrian government for the release of Navy Lieutenant Robert O. Goodman, Jr. who had been held as a hostage by Syria after Goodman's plane was shot down over Lebanon in 1984.
- Actor
- Composer
- Music Department
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Bobby Womack was born into a musical family. Managed by their father, he and his brothers formed "The Womack Brothers", a gospel singing group that toured with several national gospel stars. "The Womack Brothers" caught the attention of the legendary Sam Cooke when Cooke was singing on the gospel circuit. When Cooke formed his own record label, Sar Records, he immediately signed Bobby and his brothers. In 1962, they were renamed "The Valentinos" and had their first R&B hit single "Lookin' For A Love". Although he continued to record with his brothers throughout the 1960s, Womack began playing guitar in Sam Cooke's band until Cooke's untimely death in 1964. Without the stewardship of Cooke, however, "The Valentinos" floundered and split up, subsequently beginning Bobby Womack's solo career. Although he had mediocre commercial success as a recording artist throughout the 1960s, he had considerable success as a composer and arranger for R&B/Pop artists such as Wilson Pickett, Joe Tex and Dusty Springfield. He would eventually recorded a string of hits of his own from 1971 through 1976. Among them were "That's The Way I Feel About Cha", "Woman's Gotta Have It" and a newly arranged version of "Lookin' For A Love". His career slumped during the Disco era as his earthy and soulful vocals were suddenly out of vogue. Nevertheless, he returned triumphant in the early 1980s with the recording of the album entitled "The Poet" on which he delivered what has become his signature composition and recording "If You Think You're Lonely Now". His 1972 composition and recording of the song "Across 110th Street"--which was originally recorded for the movie of the same name--resurfaced as the theme for the feature film Jackie Brown (1997). Ironically, the film's star, Pam Grier, had been a back-up singer for Womack when she was a coed at UCLA. Considered by critics and fans alike to be one of the last great "Soul" men, Womack continues to record and perform, and has maintained a devoted following throughout the world.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Halie Gerima arrived in the United States from his native Gondar, Ethiopia, to study acting and directing at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, Illinois. He later transferred to the Theater Department at UCLA where he completed the Master's Program in Film. Afterward, he relocated to Washington, DC, to teach at Howard University's Department of Radio, Television, and Film where he has influenced young filmmakers for over twenty-five years.
Influenced by UCLA classmate and filmmaker Charles Burnett, and by the celebrated Black poet and educator Sterling Brown, Gerima's films are noted for their exploration of the issues and history pertinent to members of the African diaspora, from the continent itself to the Americas and Western Hemisphere. Often corrective of Hollywood versions of slave stories, his films comment on the physical, cultural, and psychological dislocation of Black peoples during and after slavery. What distinguishes his films are that the narratives are told from the perspectives of Africans and members of the African Diaspora itself, rather than being sanitized and misinterpreted by more commercially oriented filmmakers.
Gerima's unique filmmaking aesthetic is coupled with a personal mission to correct long-held misconceptions about Black peoples' varied histories throughout the world; for this reason, he is considered--by colleagues and students alike--to be a master teacher in the classroom and behind the camera.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Often called "Little Jimmy Scott", he was one of ten siblings born to Arthur and Justine Scott. All ten sang in church with their musician mother. Both Jimmy and his brother Kenny suddenly stopped growing while in their early teens. It was later discovered that they both suffered from a rare and inherited condition known as Kallmann's Syndrome which causes hormone imbalances that render its sufferers into a perpetual state of pre-puberty. Because Scott refused treatment out of fear that he might damage his voice, he has remained a vocalist widely known for his boyish soprano. One of his first recordings was "I Wish I Knew" in 1949, a song he later re-recorded with Jazz vibraphonist Lionel Hampton. Later he recorded and performed with the Paul Gayten Band. By 1963 he recorded a critically acclaimed album called "Falling in Love is Wonderful" produced by the legendary Ray Charles. Unfortunately, the album was pulled from record store shelves and radio stations due to a contractual obligation to Savoy Records, his former label. The litigation claimed Scott was legally bound to record exclusively for Savoy Records. Subsequently, his career suffered and for several years he did not perform at all, making a living working in a shipping room at a Cleveland Sheraton Hotel. It would not be until 1971 when he would enjoy a return to the music scene with the album "All the Way" for Sire Records. Seymour Stein of Sire had the good fortune of hearing Scott's emotion-filled vocals at a funeral for Doc Pomus, a man that had severely and publicly criticized record companies that mismanaged Scott's career. Stein signed Scott to a long-term recording contract immediately. As a vocalist, Scott is noted for an androgynous voice, impeccable phrasing, and unbelievably slow and emotional tempos that have influenced recording artists as diverse as Frankie Valli, Mikki Howard, and Nancy Wilson. (One listen to "Little Jimmy" and you'll understand where Nancy Wilson gets much of her unique phrasing.) While his voice today has lost some of its original luster due to the ravages of time and age, he is currently enjoying a resurgence in popularity that all who hear him agree is long overdue. All would additionally agree that his decision to forego treatment for Kallmann's Syndrome was a blessing for us all.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
A musician of epic proportions, Arturo Sandoval is the protege of Jazz trumpeter and one of Latin Jazz's musical founders, Dizzy Gillespie. A master of the trumpet and flugelhorn, Sandoval began studying classical trumpet at age 12, and has been recording for over 30 years. He has won four Grammy Awards and been nominated for 12 Grammys in several categories including the 1978 Grammy for Best Latin album with the group "Irakere" (a Yoruba word for "forest") that he co-founded with Afro-Cuban piano virtuoso Chucho Valdés. In 1995 he was commissioned by the Kennedy Center to compose the music for the Debbie Allen ballet "Pepito's Story". In 1999 he composed songs for the musical "Soul Possessed", marking his second outing with Debbie Allen who wrote and choreographed the production. He has performed with the BBC Symphony in London, the Leningrad Symphony in Russia, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and with Dizzy Gillespie's United Nations Orchestra. His resume includes over eight albums as a Jazz soloist and one as a classical soloist. Additionally, he serves as a full professor of music at Florida International University where he established "The Dizzy Gillespie Trumpet Scholarship" in honor of his mentor and longtime friend. After having recorded with artists as diverse as Frank Sinatra, Gloria Estefan, Jon Secada and others, the musical treasure from Cuba and longtime US resident was finally granted US Citizenship in 1999. Que Viva Arturo!