Apollo Theater
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- This article is about the Harlem theatre. For the theatre in London, England, see Apollo Theatre. For the theatre in Chicago, see Apollo Theater Chicago.
The Apollo Theater is one of the most famous clubs for popular music in the United States, and certainly the most famous club associated almost exclusively with African-American performers.
[edit] History
Located at 253 W. 125th Street in Harlem, now one of the best-known black neighborhood in New York City and probably the country, when the Apollo opened in 1934 the area around 125th Street was a transitional neighborhood. In the decades before the Apollo, the theatre catered to white audiences with white shows featuring burlesque. When Fran Schiffman and his partner reopened the theatre Apollo, they decided to diversity into black talent and entertainment, not only because the neighborhood had become black over a two hundred year period of gradual black migration, but because black entertainers were cheaper to hire and Schiffman could offer quality shows for reasonable rates. For many years Apollo was the only theatre in New York to hire black talent.<ref name="fox">Fox, Ted (1993). Showtime at the Apollo, 2nd Ed., New York, N.Y.: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80503-0.</ref>
The Apollo grew to prominence during the Harlem Renaissance of the pre-World War II years. In 1934, it introduced its regular Amateur Night shows. Billing itself as a place "where stars are born and legends are made," the Apollo became famous for launching the careers of artists like Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, Gladys Knight, Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5, Lauryn Hill, and Sarah Vaughan. The Apollo also featured the performances of old-time vaudeville favourites like Tim Moore, Stepin Fetchit, Dewey "Pigmeat" Markham, Jackie "Moms" Mabley, Marshall "Garbage" Rogers, and Johnny Lee.
The club fell into decline in the 1960s and 1970s, but was revived in 1983, when it obtained federal, state and city landmark status. It fully reopened in 1985, and was bought by the State of New York in 1991. It is now run by a nonprofit organization, the Apollo Theater Foundation Inc., and draws an estimated 1.3 million visitors annually. In 2005, Ben Harper and The Blind Boys of Alabama released an album Live at the Apollo in honor of the Harlem music scene.
It is the home of Showtime at the Apollo, a nationally syndicated variety show consisting of new talent.
[edit] Notes
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