Francine Reed, Atlanta’s “queen of the blues,” was born in Illinois in 1947. In the 1990s she relocated to Georgia and soon became one of Atlanta’s most beloved performers.
Reed’s career was cemented on the foundation of a musically rich family. Her father was a gospel singer and her sister Margo Reed became a noted jazz singer. As the youngest of six siblings, Reed began performing
Irish comic actress, singer, and writer
As one of Motown’s leading ladies of soul in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Gladys Knight was the driving force behind Gladys Knight and the Pips, an all-family music group from Atlanta.
African-American gospel singer and evangelist
International opera star and the first Cleveland-born artist to sing with the Metropolitan Opera (1912-1922) in New York.
Cleveland singer, composer, and musical patron.
“The First Lady” of Karamu Theater, this critically acclaimed artist received a Tony nomination in 1972 and the Outstanding Pioneer Award for her contributions to Black theater in 1985.
African-American soprano who began her career in Cleveland and later toured the U.S. and Europe singing classical selections as well as songs such as “The Last Rose of Summer” and “Swanee River.”
Educator, a musician, and an advocate for African-American culture.
Rosa Lee Carson, better known as Moonshine Kate, was one of the first women to record country music during the 1920s and one of the genre’s earliest female comedians.