Singer

Singer Terisa Griffin was born on August 25, 1969 in Monroe, Louisiana. She graduated Wossman High School in Monroe, Louisiana and attended Northeastern Louisiana University in Monroe, Louisiana on a music scholarship where she studied operatic singing.

Griffin relocated to Chicago, Illinois and sang backup for Diana Ross on a telecast of The Oprah Winfrey Show. She also toured with R&B legend Jerry Butler. Griffin worked for various Chicago advertising agencies recording jingles for commercials. In 1997, Griffin established her own independent music company, My Naked Soul Productions where she wrote, produced and starred in a series of one-woman shows including: One Voice, One Woman, Fantasy-A Tribute to the Divas of Song and Stage: Josephine Baker, Lena Horne, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn, Queens of R & B- A Tribute to the Queens of Rhythm and Blues: Dinah Washington, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, Donna Summers and Tina Turner, and Songs Divas – A Tribute to Famous Song.

In 1998, Griffin released her first album Songbird as an introduction of original and cover works showcasing her vocal skills. In 2002, she toured with Patti LaBelle and performed background vocals. That same year, Griffin produced and presented her one-woman show, One Woman. One Voice: A Musical Tribute to the Queens of Song. She also produced and presented Fantasy: The Divas of Song and Stage, a tribute to Josephine Baker, Eartha Kitt, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Lena Horne. Griffin debuted her first full-length release, My Naked Soul showcasing her talents as a songwriter and producer. In 2007, Griffin established the nonprofit organization, Better Love Yourself, Inc. and served as its CEO and president. In 2011, Griffin provided the title song and appeared in the independent short film The Truth, directed by Hill Harper. She also released her sophomore double-disc, Soulzophrenic ‘Personalities of Soul' R&B and Dance releases. In 2012, Terisa Griffin auditioned for the NBC television reality series The Voice with a performance of Adele’s Someone Like You where she was selected as a contestant on NBC’s The Voice Season 3. In 2015, Griffin made Billboard Charts with her CD Revival of Soul which peaked at #33 on August 27, 2016. In 2016, Griffin and Better Love Yourself, Inc. celebrated ten years of service.

Terisa Griffin was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on July 14, 2018.

Actress and singer Vanessa Williams was born on March 18, 1963 to Milton and Helen Williams in Tarrytown, New York. Williams graduated from Horace Greeley High School in Millwood, New York in 1981, and enrolled at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York.

In 1983, Williams won the Miss Greater Syracuse Pageant and Miss New York Pageant. Later that fall, she was crowned Miss America 1984, becoming the first African American contestant to win the pageant. A scandal involving Williams forced her to resign in July of 1984. Williams then pursued a career in music. In 1988, she released her first album, The Right Stuff, which featured the singles The Right Stuff, He's Got the Look and Dreamin'. The album’s popularity garnered Williams the NAACP Outstanding New Artist Award. Her multi-platinum second album, The Comfort Zone, was nominated for three Grammys in 1992, and her third album, The Sweetest Days, achieved platinum status in 1994. Williams earned another Grammy nomination for her popular rendition of Colors of the Wind, featured on the Pocahontas soundtrack. Williams went on to release five more studio albums: Star Bright (1996), Next (1997), Silver & Gold (2004), Everlasting Love (2005), and The Real Thing (2009), which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Jazz Charts.

Williams has also enjoyed a successful acting career. After making her acting debut on an episode of The Love Boat in 1984, Williams went on to appear in such films as Eraser (1996), Soul Food (1997), Light It Up (1999), Shaft (2000), opposite Samuel L. Jackson, Johnson Family Vacation (2004), Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009), and Tyler Perry’s Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor (2013). She also portrayed Suzanne de Passe in the Jackson 5 biopic The Jacksons: An American Dream (1992). Williams executive-produced and starred in Lifetime's The Courage to Love and VH1’s original movie A Diva's Christmas Carol, both released in 2000.

Williams earned three-Emmy nominations for her starring role as Wilhelmina Slater on Ugly Betty from 2006 to 2010 and also starred on the last two seasons of Desperate Housewives on ABC, winning two NAACP Image Awards for her portrayal of Renee Perry. She also starred as Maxine Robinson on the television show Daytime Divas in 2017.

In addition to acting on film and in television, Williams starred on Broadway in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1994), Into the Woods (2002; Tony Award nominee as Best Actress in a Musical), Sondheim on Sondheim (2010) and The Trip to Bountiful (2003).

Williams, and her mother Helen Williams, co-authored the New York Times bestseller You Have No Idea: A Famous Daughter, Her No-nonsense Mother, and How They Survived Pageants, Hollywood, Love, Loss (and Each Other), published in 2013. Williams returned to the Miss America Pageant in 2015 as the head judge and special performer – receiving an apology from the organization for the events that took place in 1984.

Williams has four adult children: Melanie, Jillian, Devin and Sasha.

Vanessa Williams was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 30, 2018.

Singer Petrella Pollefeyt was born on April 15, 1947 in Hot Springs, Arkansas to Herbert and Dorothy Bonner. She graduated from Goldstein Elementary School in 1959, and from Langston Junior/Senior High School in 1964. Pollefeyt received her B.S. degree in business administration from Philander Smith College in 1968.

In 1968, Pollefeyt went to work for the National Rejecters Industries as a timekeeper. In 1972, Pollefeyt became the first African American administrator for Governor of Arkansas Dale Bumpers. She later accepted a position with Alcoa Aluminum and in 1973, Pollefeyt moved to Detroit, Michigan and worked for Chrysler Defense. She was later married and moved St. Louis, Missouri and worked for the GAF Corporation in 1976. Pollefeyt worked in the GAF accounting department from 1976 to 1980 and then at Kimmenade as an office manager in accounting and administration from 1980 to 1984. She then joined JC Penney in accounts payable from 1984 to 1986 as well as working as an accounting administrative assistant for Ford Aerospaceand for Pyromet Industries in accounting and administration from 1989 to 1994.

Pollefeyt’s singing talent was discovered by noted indie Nashville pioneer record producer Jack Gale in 1988. She also became a songwriting member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers in 1992, and Pollefeyt released her debut album Countryversial in 1993. Her single I Found Somebody spent fourteen weeks on the national Top 100 Country Singles Chart and she was the first African American female in country music to be featured on the cover of Cashbox magazine. She was named New Female Vocalist and Album of the Year in Nashville Tracker Magazine in 1994. Pollefeyt served as partner for P2 Production and P. Phunk Music, from 1994 to 2007, while serving as president of the charitable organization, Dreams of the Heartland Foundation in 1996. She was also credited on the albums Papa Did A Raindance in 2001, and Find A Cure in 2002. She released Walk Around Heaven, Homes for the Holidays and Dreams of the Heartland albums on the Petrella record label in 2005, and became a registered agent and manager for Garden Mound LLC in 2007. Pollefeyt released her single, Working in The USA to country radio in 2013. Pollefeyt and Jack Gale celebrated the 25th Anniversary of her musical career with the release of the CD Shine on Me.

Pollefeyt twice received the Golden Microphone Award in 2002 and 2003, and Producer’s Choice Award in 2002 and 2004 from Airplay International King Eagle Awards.

Pollefeyt donated her personal papers, audio and video recordings, posters, costumes and memorabilia documenting her career as a country soul singer-songwriter to Archives of African American Music and Culture at Indiana University for Petrella Pollefeyt Collection. Pollefeyt also gifted an annual donation to her alma mater, Philander Smith College for the music students. She shared her legacy, donated historic land and family property to the Garland County Habitat for Humanity in Hot Springs.

Petrella Pollefeyt was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 2, 2018.

Singer and songwriter Claudette Robinson was born on June 20, 1938 in New Orleans, Louisiana and later moved with her family to Detroit, Michigan in 1950. She graduated from Commerce High School in Detroit at the age of fifteen and enrolled at Wayne State University, before joining the U.S. Marine Corps.

In her teen years, she sang in the female group The Matadorettes. While her brother, Sonny Rogers was away serving in the U.S. Army, Claudette met his friend and band mate Smokey Robinson of The Matadors. Robinson joined the group in her brothers’ absence, which was renamed The Miracles. She sang with Ronnie White, Pete Moore, Marv Tarplin, and Smokey Robinson, her husband. Together, the group created the first hit single for Motown Records, “Shop Around,” which sold millions of copies. The Miracles would later be known for a variety of songs, including “You've Really Got a Hold on Me,” “Mickey's Monkey,” “I Second That Emotion,” “Baby Baby Don't Cry,” and “The Tears of a Clown.” The song “The Tears of a Clown” was the group’s most popular single, selling over three million copies all over the world. Although Robinson left the group in 1964, she continued to singe back-up vocals for the group until 1972. That year, her husband, Smokey Robinson, left The Miracles to pursue his solo career. Robinson eventually rejoined The Miracles and performed with the group until 2013, when her cousin, Bobby Rogers, passed away.

After leaving The Miracles, Robinson became active in numerous community organizations, including the HAL Awards and the Rhythm and Blues Foundation, which was dedicated to the preservation of R&B music. Robinson has been nationally recognized for her contributions to R&B music through her work with The Miracles. In 2009, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Robinson was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, along with the rest of the members of The Miracles. As the only woman in the first band signed to Motown Records, she is often referred to as the first lady of Motown by its founder, Berry Gordy.

Robinson has two children, Berry William Borope Robinson and Tamla Claudette Robinson.

Claudette Robinson was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on July 22, 2017.

Singer Hank Dixon was born on December 17, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan to Melvia Thomas Dixon and George Dixon, Sr. As children, Dixon and his ten siblings performed at the nightly services of the Metropolitan Church of God in Detroit. Dixon began his education at Detroit’s George Washington Carver School. Following his enlistment in the U.S. Army in the late 1950s, Dixon completed his basic training at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri; and then he served as a bridge engineering specialist in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Dixon was discharged from the Army in 1965. Around this time, Dixon founded The Originals with baritone Walter Gaines, bass singer Freddie Gorman and lead tenor C.P. Spencer. The group first served as the male background vocalists for artists like Stevie Wonder and David Ruffin at the Motown Records studios in Detroit. In 1969, the group released their debut album, Green Grow the Lilacs, on Soul Records, a subsidiary label of Motown Records. The album featured the song Baby, I’m for Real written by Marvin Gaye. Once the track became a commercial success, the album was reissued under the title Baby, I’m for Real. Gaye also wrote The Originals’ next hit single, ‘The Bells,’ in 1970. The Originals went on to tour with The Temptations; and they performed at the Apollo Theater in New York City. In 1975, The Originals moved to Los Angeles, California, where they recorded the album Down to Love Town. They became a regular guest on the Art Laboe Connection radio program, and were also featured on the television show, Soul Train. The Originals left Motown Records in 1977; and recorded albums with Columbia Records and Motorcity Records. In 1980, Dixon became a bus driver for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, retiring in 2004. He and his daughter, Terrie Dixon, re-established The Originals in the mid-2000s; and they went on to tour with Defrantz Forrest and Dillon F. Gorman, the son of Freddie Gorman.

Dixon and his wife, Ella Dixon, have three children: Tammy Dixon, Terrie Dixon and Tony Dixon.

Hank Dixon was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on July 20, 2017.

Singer Lloyd Price was born on March 9, 1933 in Kenner, Louisiana to Beatrice Nicholas and Louis Price. Price received formal musical training in the trumpet and piano at an early age, and sang in his church's gospel choir. The eighth of eleven children, Price and his younger brother Leo played in a band together as teenagers.

After high school, Price worked at Louis Armstrong International Airport. He was discovered by New Orleans big band musician Dave Bartholomew when he overheard Price playing piano in his mother’s shop. Bartholomew introduced him to Specialty Records executive Art Rupe, who helped Price record his first major blues hit, “Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” with Fats Domino and Bartholomew’s band a few weeks later. The single was released in 1952, spending seven weeks at number one on the Billboard R&B chart, and becoming the R&B Record of the Year. However, Price’s success was short-lived as he was drafted into the U.S. Army to serve in the Korean War. Upon his return, Price settled in Washington, D.C., where he formed KRC Records with songwriter Harold Logan, and recorded the single, “Just Because,” which was released by ABC-Paramount Records for national release. From 1957 to 1959, Price recorded a series of national hits with ABC-Paramount Records, including “Personality,” “I'm Gonna Get Married” and “Stagger Lee”, which topped the pop and R&B charts and sold over one million copies. In the early 1960s, Price opened a club in New York called The Turntable, and founded two new labels, Double L and Turntable, where he continued to produce records. After his business partner’s murder in 1969, Price moved to Nigeria. In 1974, he helped to promote Muhammad Ali’s Rumble in the Jungle boxing match, and produced the Zaire 74 music festival in Kinshasa. Price toured Europe in 1993 with Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Gary U.S. Bonds, and performed with soul legends Jerry Butler, Gene Chandler, and Ben E. King on the "Four Kings of Rhythm and Blues" tour in 2005. Price released twenty-seven albums during his almost fifty year career.

A highly revered musician, Price received the Pioneer Award at the sixth annual Rhythm and Blues Foundation ceremonies in Los Angeles in 1994, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Price was also honored by his hometown of Kenner in 2001. He managed Icon Food Brands, which produced a line of primarily Southern-style foods, including “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” food products. Price was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2010.

Lloyd Price was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on November 8, 2016 and February 14, 2017.

Singer Cissy Houston was born Emily Drinkard on September 30, 1933 in Newark, New Jersey to Delia Mae McCaskill Drinkard and Nicholas Drinkard. With her father’s encouragement, Houston formed the gospel singing group The Drinkard Four with her sister, Anne, and her brothers, Larry and Nicky. The group performed regularly at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark. When Marie Epps, Ann Moss, and Houston’s sister, Lee Drinkard, joined them, the group was renamed The Drinkard Singers.

In 1957, Houston performed with The Drinkard Singers at the Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. Two years later, their live album A Joyful Noise was released on RCA Records, making it the first gospel record to appear on a major label. In 1963, Houston cut her first solo record This Is My Vow on M&M Records under the name Cecily Blair. That same year, she formed The Sweet Inspirations with Doris Troy and nieces Dee Dee Warwick and Dionne Warwick. Houston released several solo singles until 1967, when The Sweet Inspirations, then composed of Sylvia Shemwell, Estelle Brown, and Myrna Smith, released their self-titled debut album on Atlantic Records. They also sang backup for Aretha Franklin and Van Morrison. In the coming years, the group recorded Songs of Faith & Inspiration (1968), What the World Needs Now is Love (1968), Sweets for My Sweet (1969) and Sweet Sweet Soul (1970), as well as accompanied Yusef Lateef, Jimi Hendrix, George Benson, Wilson Pickett, Dusty Springfield, Brook Benton, Dee Dee Warwick and Carmen McRae. After working with Elvis Presley in 1970, Houston decided to leave the group to spend time with her three children and focus on her solo career. That year, she released her debut solo LP, Presenting Cissy Houston on Janus Records. Houston remained with Janus Records until 1975, when she left to work with jazz flutist Herbie Mann. Houston then appeared in The Wiz (1978) and recorded Cissy Houston (1977), Think It Over (1978), and Step Aside for a Lady (1980).

There were several successful singers in Houston’s family, including daughter Whitney Houston, nieces Dee Dee Warwick and Dionne Warwick, and renowned soprano Leontyne Price, who was a cousin of the Drinkard family. Houston was appointed the founding president and CEO of the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children in 1988. Houston received two honorary doctorates, as well as the Medal for Distinguished Humanitarian Leadership, and the Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer Award. In 1997 and 1998, Houston won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Gospel Album for Face to Face (1996) and He Leadeth Me (1997).

Cissy Houston was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on December 13, 2016.

Singer and songwriter Joshie Jo Armstead was born on October 8, 1944 in Yazoo City, Mississippi to Wilton Armstead and Rosie Lee Armstead. As a youth, she sang in the church choir and was introduced to blues music by her grandfather. Armstead’s first performance was with Bobby “Blue” Bland in Mississippi, before joining a local band, Little Melvin & The Downbeats.

Armstead began her singing career when she joined the Ike & Tina Turner Revue in 1961, as one of the original touring Ikettes along with Eloise Hester and Delores Johnson. She toured with them from 1961 to 1963, and recorded the Ikettes record “I’m Blue (The Gong Gong Song).” Released in 1962 and featuring Tina Turner singing backing vocals, the song reached number nineteen on the Billboard Hot 100 and number three on the R&B chart. After leaving the Ikettes in 1963, Armstead moved to New York City and began recording music under the name Deena Johnson. There, she met Valerie Simpson and Nick Ashford and formed the writing trio of Armstead, Ashford, & Simpson. The trio wrote tracks for artists such as Chuck Jackson, The Shirelles, and Doris Troy, but their greatest success came when they wrote Ray Charles’ 1966 #1 hit “Let’s Go Get Stoned,” and the follow up single “I Don’t Need No Doctor.”

When Ashford & Simpson signed with Motown Records in 1966, Armstead left the trio and moved to Chicago, where she married music producer Melvin Collins and the couple founded their own record label, Giant Productions and wrote songs for Garland Green, Ruby Andrews, Syl Johnson and many others, also collaborating with famous music arranger Andrew “Mike” Terry. She returned to New York in 1970, following the collapse of Giant Productions and her marriage to Collins. She sang back up in Bob Dylan’s 1971 single “George Jackson,” and performed in B.B. King’s Live in London show, Melvin Van Peebles’ Broadway show, the film Don’t Play Us Cheap and the Broadway musical “Seesaw.” Armstead also recorded singles with the Stax offshoot label Gospel Truth, and sang backup vocals for Burt Bacharach’s LP “Features,” before returning to Chicago in the early 1980s and starring in Oscar Brown Jr.’s musical “Journey Through Forever.” Armstead’s songs include “Stumblin Blocks, Steppin’ Stones,” “I’ve Been Turned On,” “A Stone Good Lover” and “I Feel An Urge Coming On.”

Josephine “Joshie Jo” Armstead was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on July 15, 2016.

Singer and actress Dee Dee Bridgewater was born on May 27, 1950 in Memphis, Tennessee. Raised in Flint, Michigan, Bridgewater was exposed early to jazz music; her father, Matthew Garrett, was a jazz trumpeter and teacher at Manassas High School. After high school, Bridgewater attended Michigan State University before transferring to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 1969, she toured the Soviet Union with the University of Illinois Big Band.

In 1970, Bridgewater met and married trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater and moved to New York City. She sang lead vocals for the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra in the early 1970s, and appeared in the Broadway musical The Wiz from 1974 to 1976. Bridgewater also released her first album in 1974, entitled Afro Blue. Then, after touring France in 1984 with the musical Sophisticated Ladies, she moved to Paris in 1986 and acted in the show Lady Day. Bridgewater also formed her own backup group around this time and performed at the Sanremo Song Festival in Italy and the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1990. Four years later, she collaborated with Horace Silver and released the album Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver. She then released a tribute album, entitled Dear Ella, in 1997, and the record Live at Yoshi’s in 1998. Subsequent albums included This is New (2002); J'ai Deux Amours (2005); Red Earth (2007); and Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie with Love from Dee Dee Bridgewater (2010). She has also performed with the Terence Blanchard Quintet at the prestigious John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and opened the Shanghai JZ Jazz Festival in 2009. Bridgewater also appeared regularly at other music festivals and on numerous television shows, radio programs, and in feature films. She owns a production company and record label, and has hosted NPR’s syndicated radio show JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater since 2001. In addition, Bridgewater served as a United Nations Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization.

Bridgewater has received seven Grammy Award nominations and won three. She also won the 1975 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in The Wiz. Bridgewater was the first American to be inducted to the Haut Conseil de la Francophonie and has received the Award of Arts and Letters in France, as well as the country’s 1998 top honor, Victoire de la Musique.

Dee Dee Bridgewater was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on November 10, 2014.

Singer Billy Davis, Jr. was born on June 26, 1938 in St. Louis, Missouri to William Davis, Sr. and Norris Wilbur. Davis started singing in gospel choirs at an early age. He attended Washington Technical High School in St. Louis and sang with a band called the Emeralds. In 1958, Davis and his father opened a nightclub, where he worked and performed music. In 1961, he was drafted into the United States Army and formed another band, The Kingsmen, while stationed in Germany.

In 1965, Davis moved to Los Angeles, California seeking a recording opportunity with Motown Records. While waiting for his chance to go into the studio with one of their producers, he and friend Lamonte McLemore decided to start a singing group as a hobby. The Versatiles was formed, which included Davis, McLemore, Marilyn McCoo, Florence LaRue, and Ron Townson. The group signed to the Soul City label, changed their name to The 5th Dimension, and recorded their first hit in 1966, "Go Where You Wanna Go." In 1967, they released “Up, Up, and Away,” which won four Grammy Awards and was the title track to The 5th Dimension's first hit album. In 1969, The 5th Dimension released The Age of Aquarius. The album's first single, "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In," became a mega-hit and occupied the number one spot on the charts for six weeks. It earned the group two more Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year.

In 1969, Davis married bandmate Marilyn McCoo, and in 1975, they left The 5th Dimension. Together, they released 1976's I Hope We Get To Love In Time, featuring the single, "You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)." The song went straight to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned the duo a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus. Davis and McCoo went on to host The Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. Show on CBS in 1977.

In 1982, Davis returned to the studio and recorded a solo gospel album called Let Me Have a Dream, which was co-produced by the world-renown Gospel artist, the Rev. James Cleveland. In the 1990s, he continued to sing and explored a career in musical theatre, starring in Dreamgirls in North Carolina in 1993, and Blues in the Night, at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego, California in 1994. He later founded the Soldiers For the Second Coming Music Ministry and co-authored the book Up, Up and Away…How We Found Love, Faith and Lasting Marriage in the Entertainment World with McCoo in 2004.

Davis has also earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and The 5th Dimension was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002. He received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 2012.

Billy Davis, Jr. was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on July 29, 2014.