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I got my first taste of the music industry when I started going to the Howard Theater while I was a freshman at Howard University in 1968. Being a photographer on the campus newspaper, I never went to a show without my trusty camera. As a result I got pictures of all of the great R&B acts of the era. As part of the infamous “Chit'lin Circuit” of theaters which included the world-renowned Harlem landmark The Apollo, the Howard got all of the best acts in the country. I would go to in the early afternoon and watch cartoons and double-features. Then the acts would come on and I would hide in the bathroom between shows when they “turned the house”, clearing it for the next batch of ticket-buyers. Returning the next day with photos I had shot and developed of the performers, I was assured free entré for the run of the show. I was hired as personal photographer for the singing group The Delfonics (“Didn’t I Blow Your Mind This Time”) and traveled on the road with them on summer break. Some of my most enduring friendships were with artists on the Stax Record label in Memphis, TN. When I graduated from Howard University, I was offered a job at Stax Records in publicity. There I met my future husband who was a member of the Stax studio band. He and his group, Con Funk Shun, were later signed by Mercury Records where they recorded 11 albums, 5 of which went gold. I served as production assistant, cover designer and songwriter on many of their albums. In 1990, I was hired as Vice President of M.C. Hammer’s production company and went on to open my own music business consulting and entertainment marketing company in Atlanta, GA. My team contributed to the success of such contemporary artists as Eminem, Mya, and the Black Eyed Peas. Yes, I had a great run in the entertainment field and I owe it all to this magnificent edifice of black music history. It brings me to tears to see it crumble and fall. I wish that of us who got our starts there could do something to save this building. But, realistically, structures of this kind will all fall by the wayside in the wake of the new technologically-driven entertainment industry. I’m glad that I have the memories of time when singers could sing and musicians played their music rather than merely program it. Much love and respect to the Howard Theater, one of the grand old ladies of cinema and song.
I got my first taste of the music industry when I started going to the Howard Theater while I was a freshman at Howard University in 1968. Being a photographer on the campus newspaper, I never went to a show without my trusty camera. As a result I got pictures of all of the great R&B acts of the era. As part of the infamous “Chit'lin Circuit” of theaters which included the world-renowned Harlem landmark The Apollo, the Howard got all of the best acts in the country. I would go to in the early afternoon and watch cartoons and double-features. Then the acts would come on and I would hide in the bathroom between shows when they “turned the house”, clearing it for the next batch of ticket-buyers. Returning the next day with photos I had shot and developed of the performers, I was assured free entré for the run of the show. I was hired as personal photographer for the singing group The Delfonics (“Didn’t I Blow Your Mind This Time”) and traveled on the road with them on summer break. Some of my most enduring friendships were with artists on the Stax Record label in Memphis, TN. When I graduated from Howard University, I was offered a job at Stax Records in publicity. There I met my future husband who was a member of the Stax studio band. He and his group, Con Funk Shun, were later signed by Mercury Records where they recorded 11 albums, 5 of which went gold. I served as production assistant, cover designer and songwriter on many of their albums. In 1990, I was hired as Vice President of M.C. Hammer’s production company and went on to open my own music business consulting and entertainment marketing company in Atlanta, GA. My team contributed to the success of such contemporary artists as Eminem, Mya, and the Black Eyed Peas. Yes, I had a great run in the entertainment field and I owe it all to this magnificent edifice of black music history. It brings me to tears to see it crumble and fall. I wish that of us who got our starts there could do something to save this building. But, realistically, structures of this kind will all fall by the wayside in the wake of the new technologically-driven entertainment industry. I’m glad that I have the memories of time when singers could sing and musicians played their music rather than merely program it. Much love and respect to the Howard Theater, one of the grand old ladies of cinema and song.