Legends of the Apollo
For more than 75 years, some of the world’s greatest entertainers have performed at the famous Harlem theater
- By Lucinda Moore
- Smithsonian.com, May 10, 2010
(WireImage)
Still an Apollo Theater favorite, Aretha Franklin generated a string of hits in the 1960s and 1970s that came to epitomize the very essence of the soul music genre. “Franklin’s fullthroated voice, highly melismatic runs, blue notes, hums, moans and groans make her responsible, probably more than any singer in history, for bringing the mechanics of gospel into mainstream music,” says Guthrie Ramsey, co-curator of an exhibition about the Apollo currently on view at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. They also earned her the sobriquet “The Queen of Soul.” Yet Franklin’s gifts are not limited to a single musical category or to vocals. Though praised for her singing, Franklin is underrated as a piano player and songwriter, says Werner. “She’s right up there with Carole King as a songwriter and one of the best pianists that ever lived,” he says. “She took jazz, gospel and blues and made them her own, defining the period between 1967 and 1975.”
Additional Sources
“Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing: How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment,” co-sponsored by the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) and the Apollo Theater Foundation, is on view through August 29 at the NMAAHC exhibition space in the National Museum of American History. It begins a national tour in October.
A book of the same name is available through Smithsonian Books.
Comments (3)
FIRST TIME ON THIS SITE....BUT I THINK IT IS SO INFORMATIVE AND EDUCARIONAL...
THANK YOU, I WILL RETURN
Posted by Victoria Lang on November 2,2010 | 08:49 AM
in 1949 i saw ella fitsgerald and billy eckstine at "jazz at the philharmonic at Lake merrit, Oakland Calif.
B
in 1949 I saw Ella Fitzgerald and Billy Eckstein at "jazz at the philharmonic" in oakland, calif. I fell in love at 17. for years I sang like Ella and danced to Eckstein..."you sigh, a song begins, you speak, and I hear violins...it's magic" wow! what a swooner. 20 years later again I saw Ella at Rbt. Mondavi winery in Napa Valley. She still had the voice of a 17 year old. Later, Ray Charles, Dizzy Gillespe, Oscar Peterson, Lena Horn...if there is a heaven, I want to go where they are...I don't want to listen to any old harps...just give me a horn, a piano, and a black voice
Posted by barbara ciapponi on October 28,2010 | 09:34 PM
It has bee a very long time ago when I, as a young woman from a small town in Rhode Island, was one of the many fans of Ella who sat in the great Appollo Theater and listend to her magnificent voice. A thrill I'll never forget--even now, at age 84.
Posted by Lucille Davis on May 14,2010 | 01:19 PM