By: Pamela Stern
February is Black History Month and the Spring Creek Sun is spotlighting Black Entertainers who have been influential and has made an impact in the industry. The Spring Creek Sun has complied a list of some of the prominent artists and their accomplishments:
Harry Belafonte was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist, who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte’s career breakthrough album Calypso was the first million-selling LP by a single artist.
Halle Maria Berry is an American actress. She began her career as a model and entered several beauty contests, finishing as the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant and coming in sixth in the Miss World 1986.
Beyoncé was born Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter and is an American singer, songwriter and businesswoman. She has been dubbed as “Queen Bey” and a prominent cultural figure of the 21st century, and has been recognized for her artistry and performances. Rolling Stone named her one of the greatest vocalists of all time.
Chubby Checker was born Earnest Evans but is known professionally as Chubby Checker and is an American singer and dancer. He is widely known for popularizing many dance styles, including the Twist dance style, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard & The Midnighters’ R&B song “The Twist”, and the pony dance style with the 1961 cover of the song “Pony Time”
Jamie Foxx is a multi-talented entertainer known as an actor, comedian, singer and producer.
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, filmmaker, and narrator known for his distinctive, deep voice. His career spans five decades and multiple film genres, he has received numerous accolades including and Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award as well as a nomination for a Tony Award. He also was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 2008, an AFI Life Achievement Award in 2011, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2012, and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2018.
Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn Elaine Johnson, but she is known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg. She is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality. A recipient of numerous accolades, she is one of 18 entertainers to win the EGOT, which includes an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, and a Tony Award.
Isaac Hayes is known for his theme song for the TV Show “Shaft”, Hayes later has become a household name as Chef on the Comedy Channel’s South Park.
Lena Horne was born Lena Mary Calhoun Horne. She was an American singer, actress, dancer, and civil rights activist. Horne’s career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. She was born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant, section of Brooklyn, NY.
Jennifer Hudson was born Jennifer Kate Hudson, and is also known by her nickname J.Hud, is an American singer, actress, producer, and talk show host. Throughout her career, she has received various accolades for her works in recorded music, film, television, and theater.
Janet Jackson-Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American singer, actress, and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows.
Etta James was born Jamesetta Hawkins, known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer who performed in various genres, including gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, rock and roll, and soul.
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He has been described as “one of America’s most distinguished and versatile” actors for his performances on stage and screen, and “one of the greatest actors in American history, His deep voice has been praised as a “a stirring basso profondo that has lent gravel and gravitas” to his projects. Over his career, he has received three Tony Awards, two Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award. He was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1985. He also was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 1992, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2009 and the Honorary Academy Award in 2011.
He suffered from a stutter in childhood, but has said that poetry and acting helped him overcome it. In 1977, Jones made his debut in his iconic voiceover role as Darth Vader in George Lucas’ film Star Wars: A New Hope, which he would reprise for the sequels The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983).
Hattie McDaniel was an American actress, singer-songwriter, and comedienne. For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939), she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the first African American to win an Oscar. She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1975, and in 2006 became the first Black Oscar winner honored with a U.S. postage stamp. In 2010, she was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame.
Eddie Murphy- Edward Regan Murphy was born in Brooklyn, NY and is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He shot to fame on Saturday Night Live, where he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. Murphy received a Grammy Award, and an Emmy Award.
Sidney Poitier was a Bahamian and American actor, film director, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first Black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Robyn Rihanna Fenty is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, actress, and songwriter. She is widely regarded as one of the most prominent singers of the 21st century.
Denzel Washington born Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, producer and director. In a career spanning over four decades, Washington has received numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and two Silver Bears.
Oprah Winfrey born Oprah Gail Winfrey, also known as Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, which ran in national syndication for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011.
