New Regal Theater
The Avalon Regal Theater (originally the Avalon Theater, and later the New Regal Theater) is a music hall located at 1641 East 79th Street, bordered by the Avalon Park and South Shore neighborhoods on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is a noted venue for African-American performers. The theater opened in August 1927. History Structure Architecturally, the Avalon Regal's atmospheric and Moorish Revivalist theme was conceived by Austrian-born architect John Eberson, who was nationally known for his exotic motifs. Legend has it that Eberson was inspired by an ornate Persian incense burner he found in an antique market in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Usage The theater opened as the Avalon Theater on August 29, 1927, when the community was known aAvalon Park a then predominantly German, Swedish and Irish neighborhood. At the time of its opening, The theater served as a live-performing arts venue until 1934. During the 1960s, more African Americans bega ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_type2 = Counties , subdivision_name1 = Illinois , subdivision_name2 = Cook and DuPage , established_title = Settled , established_date = , established_title2 = Incorporated (city) , established_date2 = , founder = Jean Baptiste Point du Sable , government_type = Mayor–council , governing_body = Chicago City Council , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Lori Lightfoot ( D) , leader_title1 = City Clerk , leader_name1 = Anna Valencia ( D) , unit_pref = Imperial , area_footnotes = , area_tot ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Chicago Architecture Foundation
The Chicago Architecture Center (CAC), formerly the Chicago Architecture Foundation, is a nonprofit cultural organization based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, whose mission is to inspire people to discover why design matters. Founded in 1966, its programs include public tours and programs, most notably the docent-led architecture cruise on the Chicago River, and other tours in the Chicago area. The river cruise is ranked in the top ten tours in the U.S. by TripAdvisor users. CAC includes conference and exhibition space, including a scale model of downtown Chicago. History The CAC was founded in 1966 as the Chicago School of Architecture Foundation to save H. H. Richardson's Glessner House, one of Chicago's oldest residences. In 1971, it began to offer lectures and volunteer-led tours of Chicago to the public. It was renamed the Chicago Architecture Foundation in 1979, and CAF later moved into the Railway Exchange Building on Michigan Avenue in 1992 with an expanded bo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honorific nicknames "the Hardest Working Man in Show Business", "Godfather of Soul", "Mr. Dynamite", and "Soul Brother No. 1". In a career that lasted more than 50 years, he influenced the development of several music genres. Brown was one of the first 10 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural induction in New York on January 23, 1986. Brown began his career as a gospel singer in Toccoa, Georgia. He first came to national public attention in the mid-1950s as the lead singer of the Famous Flames, a rhythm and blues vocal group founded by Bobby Byrd. With the hit ballads "Please, Please, Please" and " Try Me", Brown built a reputation as a dynamic live performer with the Famous Flames and his backing band, sometimes know ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Jan Bradley
Addie "Jan" Bradley (born July 6, 1943) is an American soul singer. Biography Bradley was born in Byhalia, Mississippi, United States, and grew up in Robbins, Illinois. She was noticed by manager Don Talty (who also managed Phil Upchurch) at a high school talent show singing with the Passions. After graduating, she auditioned for Curtis Mayfield, and soon recorded the Mayfield-penned "We Girls", which became a hit regionally in the Midwest (on Talty's Formal Records label). Several singles followed, and another Mayfield song originally issued on Formal, "Mama Didn't Lie" (b/w "Lovers Like Me"), was released nationally in the U.S. by Chess Records in 1963 and hit No. 8 US ''Billboard'' R&B chart and No. 14 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Following the single's success, Mayfield and Chess got into a legal battle over the publishing rights to Mayfield's songs, and as a result Bradley was no longer able to work with him. She started writing her own songs and released several further ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and their first recording. He led the group for almost 50 years, creating innovations like the use of two "split" tenor saxophones, emphasizing the rhythm section, riffing with a big band, using arrangers to broaden their sound, and others. Many musicians came to prominence under his direction, including the tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, the guitarist Freddie Green, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison, plunger trombonist Al Grey, and singers Jimmy Rushing, Helen Humes, Thelma Carpenter, and Joe Williams. Biography Early life and education William Basie was born to Lillian and Harvey Lee Basie in Red Bank, New Jersey. His father worked as a coachman and caretaker for a wealthy judge. After automobiles replaced ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted France. She was the first black woman to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 silent film '' Siren of the Tropics'', directed by and . During her early career, Baker was among the most celebrated performers to headline the revues of the in Paris. Her performance in the revue in 1927 caused a sensation in the city. Her costume, consisting of only a short skirt of artificial bananas and a beaded necklace, became an iconic image and a symbol both of the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties. Baker was celebrated by artists and intellectuals of the era, who variously dubbed her the "Black Venus", the "Black Pearl", the "Bronze Venus", and the "Creole Goddess". Born in St. Louis, Missouri, she renounced her U.S. citizenship and became a Frenc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Michael Baisden
Michael Baisden (born June 26, 1963) is a nationally syndicated radio personality and host of ''The Michael Baisden Show''. The show is currently syndicated by Baisden Media Group in partnership with SupeRadio and AURN (American Urban Radio Networks). The show airs weekday afternoons. The show was previously syndicated by Cumulus Media and was heard in over 78 media markets nationwide with over 8 million listeners daily. His media career began when he left his job driving trains in Chicago to self-publish ''Never Satisfied'', and began touring the country selling books out of the trunk of his car. Baisden is a ''NY Times'' best-selling author with over 2 million books in print, hosted two national television shows, and has produced three films. Producer and filmmaker Baisden has produced: two national stage plays (based on Baisden's novels); ''Love Lust & Lies'', an award-winning documentary dealing with relationships and sexuality based on the perspectives of people of colo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several eras in the history of jazz. Armstrong was born and raised in New Orleans. Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an inventive trumpet and cornet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence in jazz, shifting the focus of the music from collective improvisation to solo performance. Around 1922, he followed his mentor, Joe "King" Oliver, to Chicago to play in the . In Chicago, he spent time with other popular jazz musicians, reconnecting with his friend Bix Beiderbecke and spending time with Hoagy Carmichael and Lil Hardin. He earned a reputation at "cutting contests", and his fame reached band leader Fletcher Henderson. Henderson persuaded Armstrong to come to New York City, where he became a featured and musically influential band soloist ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Barbara Acklin
Barbara Jean Acklin (February 28, 1943 – November 27, 1998) was an American soul singer and songwriter, who was most successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her biggest hit as a singer was "Love Makes a Woman" (1968). As a songwriter, she is best known for co-writing the multi-million-selling "Have You Seen Her" (1971) with Eugene Record, lead singer of the Chi-Lites. Life and career Acklin was born in Oakland, California and moved with her family to Chicago, Illinois in 1948. She was encouraged to sing as a child; by the age of 11, she sang regularly as a soloist at the New Zion Baptist Church and as a teenager started singing at nightclubs in Chicago. After graduating from Dunbar Vocational High School she worked as a secretary at St. Lawrence Records. Her first record was released on the subsidiary Special Agent label, under the pseudonym Barbara Allen, and was produced by her cousin, producer, and saxophonist Monk Higgins. She also worked as a backing singer at Chess Recor ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Bow Wow (rapper)
Shad Gregory Moss (born March 9, 1987), better known by his stage name Bow Wow (formerly Lil' Bow Wow), is an American rapper and actor. His career began upon being discovered by rapper Snoop Dogg in the late 1990s, eventually being brought to record producer Jermaine Dupri and signed to So So Def Recordings. As Lil' Bow Wow, he released his first album at age 13, '' Beware of Dog'', in 2000, which was followed by ''Doggy Bag'' a year later. In 2003, Bow Wow released his third album ''Unleashed'', which was the first album released after dropping the "Lil'" from his stage name, and the first not to be released by So So Def. His next album, '' Wanted'' (2005), spawned his two highest-charting singles, "Let Me Hold You" (featuring Omarion) and " Like You" (featuring Ciara). In September 2015, Bow Wow signed a management deal with Puff Daddy's Bad Boy Records. Bow Wow made his first movie appearance in the 2002 movie '' All About the Benjamins'' as a cameo. In the same year, B ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Biggie
Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta rap, he is widely considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. Wallace became known for his distinctive laid-back lyrical delivery, offsetting the lyrics' often grim content. His music was often semi-autobiographical, telling of hardship and criminality, but also of debauchery and celebration. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, Wallace signed to Sean "Puffy" Combs' label Bad Boy Records as it launched in 1993, and gained exposure through features on several other artists' singles that year. His debut album ''Ready to Die'' (1994) was met with widespread critical acclaim, and included his signature songs " Juicy" and "Big Poppa". The album made him the central figure in East Coast hip hop, and restored New York's visibility ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Da Brat
Shawntae Harris-Dupart (born April 14, 1974), better known by her stage name Da Brat, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, she began her career in 1992, the year she signed with So So Def Records. Her debut album ''Funkdafied'' (1994) sold one million copies, making her the first female solo rap act to receive a platinum certification, and the second overall female rap act (solo or group) after Salt-N-Pepa. Throughout her career, she has earned two top ten hits on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, "Funkdafied" and " Not Tonight", the latter with Lil' Kim, Lisa Lopes, Missy Elliott and Angie Martinez. Brat has also had commercial success with other songs including "I Think They Like Me", plus several remixes of Mariah Carey's songs, including "Loverboy", "Always Be My Baby", " I Still Believe/Pure Imagination", "Honey", and "Gotta Thing For You", a hip-hop-inspired version of the Bobby Caldwell song " What You Won’t Do For Love". Brat has received two Grammy Aw ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |