Johnathan Lee Iverson (born January 30, 1976) is an American ringmaster who is the first

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

ringmaster of a major U.S.

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Early life and education

Iverson grew up in the

Central Park West Eighth Avenue is a major north–south avenue on the west side of Manhattan in New York City, carrying northbound traffic below 59th Street. It is one of the original avenues of the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 to run the length of Manhattan, ...

neighborhood of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. Later, he graduated from the Hartt School of the

University of Hartford The University of Hartford (UHart) is a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut, United States. Its main campus extends into neighboring Hartford and Bloomfield. It enrolled approximately 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students as ...

, where he received training to become an opera singer. Iverson began his career with the Boys Choir of Harlem.

Career

Ringmaster

In 1998, at the age of 22, Iverson joined Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was the first African American ringmaster, as well as the youngest ringmaster at the company. ''

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'' magazine said of him, "The instant he appears out of the darkness and into the spotlight…the audience is rapt." The ''

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the He ...

'' stated, "Now imagine mesmerizing the crowd with a powerful voice and the bearing of a superstar." The ''

Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune , The New Orleans Advocate'' (commonly called ''The Times-Picayune'' or the ''T-P'') is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ancestral publications of other names date back to January 25, 1837. The cu ...

'' described him as, "Tall and self assured…he works a crowd like a three ring evangelist." And a syndicated columnist, Liz Smith expressed her admiration saying, "I…liked six foot iveyoungest ringmaster ever, Johnathan Lee Iverson, who is commanding enough to be noticed in the melee, and he can sing." In 1999, Iverson was recognized as one of '' Barbara Walters’ 10 Most Fascinating People''. His historical tenure with the Greatest Show On Earth was featured in ''Black First: 4, 000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events'' by Jessie Carney Smith, ''African-American First'' by Joan Potter, ''Live Life! Be Young, Black, and Successful'' by Quincy Benton, and ''Beat of a Different Drum: The Untold Stories of African-Americans Forging Their Own Paths in Work and Life'' by Dax-Devlon Ross. Iverson joined the 129th edition of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Presents The Living Carousel in 1998 and continued to perform until Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey closed in 2017. After the circus' closure, he worked as a ringmaster at Circus Vargas and also assumed the role of chairman of the board for Omnium: A Bold New Circus. He was also a founding member of the American Circus Alliance. And in 2021, he worked as a ringmaster for Omnium Circus' world debut.

Theater

In 2022, Iverson starred in a production of Trav’lin: A 1930s Harlem Musical Romance in

Winter Park, Florida Winter Park is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 29,795 according to the 2020 census. It is part of the Greater Orlando, Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Winter Park was foun ...

Personal life

While working with Barnum & Bailey Circus, Iverson married a fellow performer, Priscilla, and the couple had two children, Matthew and Lila, who also performed at Ringling.

References

External links

bigtopvoice.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iverson, Johnathan Lee Entertainers from New York City Ringmasters 1976 births Living people University of Hartford Hartt School alumni African-American cultural history Circus performers of African descent