Ellen Cleghorn
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Ellen Cleghorn
Ellen Leslye Cleghorne (born November 29, 1965) is an American actress and comedian. Cleghorne is best known for her tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1991 to 1995. She was the sketch comedy show's second African-American female repertory cast member, succeeding Danitra Vance in its eleventh season, and the first African-American female cast member to stay for more than one season. She returned for its 40th anniversary special on February 15, 2015. Cleghorne was ranked the 69th greatest ''Saturday Night Live'' cast member by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Early life A native of the Red Hook Projects in Brooklyn, Cleghorne is a graduate of Brooklyn Technical High School, Hunter College, and NYU. She first established her talents in New York City comedy clubs and career started when she competed in the Johnnie Walker Comedy Search in 1989 where she was directed in a video by ''Saturday Night Live'' short film producer Neal Marshad ...
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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 with a respective county. The city is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the United States by both population and urban area. New York is a global center of finance and commerce, culture, technology, entertainment and media, academics, and scientific output, the arts and fashion, and, as home to the headquarters of the United Nations, international diplomacy. With an estimated population in 2024 of 8,478,072 distributed over , the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York City has more than double the population of Los Angeles, the nation's second-most populous city.
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In Living Color
''In Living Color'' is an American sketch comedy television series that originally ran on Fox from April 15, 1990, to May 19, 1994. Keenen Ivory Wayans created, wrote and starred in the program. The show was produced by Ivory Way Productions in association with 20th Television and was taped at stage 7 at the Metromedia Square on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. The title of the series was inspired by the NBC announcement of broadcasts being presented " in living color" during the 1960s, prior to mainstream color television. It also refers, in the sense of the term " person of color", to the fact that most of the show's cast was African Americans, unlike other popular sketch comedy shows such as ''Saturday Night Live'', whose casts were mostly White at the time. ''In Living Color'' portrayed a form of irreverent Black humor in a time when mainstream American tastes regarding Black comedy on television had been set by inoffensive family-friendly shows ...
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Whoopi Goldberg
Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ''The Fremont News-Messenger''. November 29, 1984. Retrieved January 22, 2021. "I'm an actor. That's what I do. I'm not a stand-up comic ... I do characters. I'm very good. I'll be better. But right now I'm a very good actor." The recipient of numerous accolades, she is one of few people to receive an Emmy Award, Grammy Award, Academy Award, and Tony Award, collectively known as the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony). In 2001, she received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Goldberg began her career on stage in 1983 with her one-woman show, ''Spook Show'', which transferred to Broadway under the title ''Whoopi Goldberg'', running from 1984 to 1985. She won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for the recording of the show. Her film ...
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Tina Turner
Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, raspy voice, and electrifying stage presence Timeline of African-American firsts, broke the racial barrier in rock music. Turner rose to prominence in 1960 as the lead singer of the husband-wife duo Ike & Tina Turner, known for their explosive live performances with the Ikettes and Kings of Rhythm. Their tumultuous marriage led to a disbanding in 1976, and she embarked on a successful solo career, becoming one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling recording artists of all time, with estimated sales of 100 million records. In 1984, Turner launched "one of the greatest comebacks in music history", with her multi-platinum album ''Private Dancer''. Her single "What's Love Got to Do with It (song), What's Love Got to Do with It" won the Grammy Award for ...
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Joycelyn Elders
Minnie Joycelyn Elders (born Minnie Lee Jones; August 13, 1933) is an American pediatrics, pediatrician and public health administrator who served as Surgeon General of the United States from 1993 to 1994. A Vice Admiral (United States), vice admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, she was the second woman, second person of color, and first African American to serve as Surgeon General. Elders is known for her frank discussion of her views on controversial issues such as drug legalization, masturbation, and distributing contraception in schools. She was forced to resign in December 1994 amidst controversy as a result of her views. She is currently a professor emerita of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Early life and education Elders was born Minnie Lee Jones in Schaal, Arkansas, to a poor, farm sharecropping family, and was the eldest of eight children, and valedictorian of her ...
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Toni Morrison
Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist and editor. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed ''Song of Solomon (novel), Song of Solomon'' (1977) brought her national attention and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 1988, Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Pulitzer Prize for ''Beloved (novel), Beloved'' (1987); she was awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. Born and raised in Lorain, Ohio, Morrison graduated from Howard University in 1953 with a B.A. in English. Morrison earned a master's degree in American Literature from Cornell University in 1955. In 1957 she returned to Howard University, was married, and had two children before divorcing in 1964. Morrison became the first Black female editor for fiction at Random House in New York City in the late 1960s. She d ...
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Robin Quivers
Robin Quivers (born August 8, 1952) is an American radio personality best known for being the long-running co-host of ''The Howard Stern Show''. Early life Quivers was born on August 8, 1952, in Baltimore, Maryland. Her parents were educated only to the seventh grade. In her 1995 autobiography, Quivers revealed that she was molested by her father at a young age. At seventeen, Quivers enrolled at a pre-nursing program at Maryland General Hospital. She graduated from Western High School in 1970 and then began to study at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Career Military In 1974, Quivers graduated from the University of Maryland School of Nursing. Her first position was at the Maryland Shock Trauma facility of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services System, where she described her role as that of "a shock-trauma, intensive care kind of nurse, so I saw unpleasantness all the time". Knowing she could use her degree, Quivers joined the United States Air Forc ...
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Marla Gibbs
Marla Gibbs (born Margaret Theresa Bradley; June 14, 1931) is an American actress, singer, comedian, writer, and television producer whose career spans seven decades. She is known for her role as George Jefferson's maid, Florence Johnston, on the CBS sitcom ''The Jeffersons'' (1975–1985), for which she received five nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Gibbs also starred on the show's spin-off ''Checking In'' (1981) and the NBC sitcom ''227 (TV series), 227'' (1985–1990); she co-produced the latter series, played the lead role of Mary Jenkins, and sang the theme song. Gibbs has won seven NAACP Image Awards. In later years, Gibbs played supporting roles in films ''The Meteor Man (film), The Meteor Man'' (1993), ''Lost & Found (1999 film), Lost & Found'' (1999), ''The Visit (2000 film), The Visit'' (2000), ''The Brothers (2001 film), The Brothers'' (2001), ''Madea's Witness Protection'' (2012), ''Grantham & Rose'' (2015 ...
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Patti LaBelle
Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American Rhythm and blues, R&B singer and actress. She has been referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godmother of Soul". LaBelle began her career in the early 1960s as lead singer and frontwoman of the vocal group Labelle, Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. After the group's name change to Labelle in the 1970s, they released the number-one hit "Lady Marmalade" before disbanding in 1976. in 1977, LaBelle began a solo career, starting with her critically acclaimed Patti LaBelle (album), debut album, which included the career-defining song "You Are My Friend". LaBelle became a mainstream solo star in 1984 following the success of the singles "If Only You Knew", "Love, Need and Want You" (later sampled for 2002's "Dilemma (Nelly song), Dilemma"), "New Attitude (song), New Attitude" and "Stir It Up (Patti LaBelle song), Stir It Up". In 1986, LaBelle released a number-one album ...
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Natalie Cole
Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to prominence in the mid-1970s, with the release of her debut album Inseparable (album), ''Inseparable'' (1975), along with the song "This Will Be, This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)", and the album's Inseparable (song), title track. Its success led to her receiving the Grammy Award for Best New Artist at the 18th Annual Grammy Awards, for which she became the first African-American recipient as well as the first R&B act to win the award. The singles "Sophisticated Lady (She's a Different Lady), Sophisticated Lady" (1976), "I've Got Love on My Mind", and "Our Love (Natalie Cole song), Our Love" (1977) followed. After releasing several albums, she departed from her R&B sound and returned as a Pop music, pop singer on the 1987 album Everlasting (Natalie Cole album), ''Everlasting'', along with her cove ...
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Mary J
Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blessed Virgin Mary * Mary Magdalene, devoted follower of Jesus * Mary of Bethany, follower of Jesus, considered by Western medieval tradition to be the same person as Mary Magdalene * Mary, mother of James * Mary of Clopas, follower of Jesus * Mary, mother of John Mark * Mary of Egypt, patron saint of penitents * Mary of Rome, a New Testament woman * Mary the Jewess, one of the reputed founders of alchemy, referred to by Zosimus. Royalty * Mary, Countess of Blois (1200–1241), daughter of Walter of Avesnes and Margaret of Blois * Mary of Burgundy (1457–1482), daughter of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy * Queen Mary of Denmark (born 1972), wife of Frederik X of Denmark * Mary I of England (1516–1558), aka "Bloody Mary", Queen of England ...
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Debbie Allen
Deborah Kaye Allen (born January 16, 1950) is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, singer, director, producer, and a former member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. She has been nominated 20 times for an Emmy Award (winning five), and two Tony Awards. She has won a Golden Globe Award, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991. Allen is best known for her work in the musical-drama television series ''Fame'' (1982–1987), where she portrayed dance teacher Lydia Grant, and served as the series' principal choreographer. For this role in 1983, she received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy and two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Choreography and was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Allen later began working as director and producer, most notably producing and directing 83 of 144 episodes of the NBC comedy series ''A Different Wor ...
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