Biography
Born on May 25, 1943, in New York City, singer and actress Leslie Uggams first gained widespread recognition for portraying Kizzy in the landmark miniseries Roots. Raised in a theatrical household where her father performed with the Hall Johnson Choir and her mother danced in the chorus line, she entered show business as a youngster with a 1949 appearance on Beulah. The following year she began a regular schedule of engagements at Harlem’s Apollo Theater, sharing bills with Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dinah Washington; soon afterward she enrolled at the Professional Children’s School and made guest spots on variety programs such as The Milton Berle Show, The Arthur Godfrey Show, and Your Show of Shows. She stepped away from the stage at twelve, yet returned three years later as a vocalist on the quiz program Name That Tune.
While attending Juilliard, she was invited to join Sing Along with Mitch, becoming both the first woman and the first African-American performer on Mitch Miller’s weekly broadcast. Her screen debut came in 1962 with a cameo in Two Weeks in Another Town; after signing with Columbia she enjoyed a hit with the single “Morgan.” For several seasons she divided her time between nightclub engagements and theatrical work, among them a production of The Boyfriend. In 1968 she succeeded Lena Horne in the title role of the Broadway musical Hallelujah, Baby!, a performance that brought her a Tony Award and confirmed her stardom. Two years later she became the first Black female host of a network variety series since Hazel Scott, presiding over her own CBS program, The Leslie Uggams Show; the effort lasted only a single season, another casualty of Bonanza’s dominance in the ratings.
The early 1970s brought a lull in her career. Aside from a role in the all-star 1972 feature Skyjacked, her visibility declined, and a transfer from Columbia to Atlantic failed to revive her recording fortunes. A return to prominence arrived in 1977 with her Emmy-nominated turn in Roots; additional acclaim followed for Backstairs at the White House in 1979. In 1983 she shared an Emmy for co-hosting the short-lived NBC series Fantasy. Later that decade she returned to Broadway in Blues in the Night and Jerry’s Girls. She toured with Peter Nero and Mel Tormé in The Great Gershwin Concert in 1987 and appeared in the Lincoln Center revival of Anything Goes the next year. After touring in the early 1990s with Stringbean, a musical drawn from the life of Ethel Waters, she joined the daytime serial All My Children in 1996.
While attending Juilliard, she was invited to join Sing Along with Mitch, becoming both the first woman and the first African-American performer on Mitch Miller’s weekly broadcast. Her screen debut came in 1962 with a cameo in Two Weeks in Another Town; after signing with Columbia she enjoyed a hit with the single “Morgan.” For several seasons she divided her time between nightclub engagements and theatrical work, among them a production of The Boyfriend. In 1968 she succeeded Lena Horne in the title role of the Broadway musical Hallelujah, Baby!, a performance that brought her a Tony Award and confirmed her stardom. Two years later she became the first Black female host of a network variety series since Hazel Scott, presiding over her own CBS program, The Leslie Uggams Show; the effort lasted only a single season, another casualty of Bonanza’s dominance in the ratings.
The early 1970s brought a lull in her career. Aside from a role in the all-star 1972 feature Skyjacked, her visibility declined, and a transfer from Columbia to Atlantic failed to revive her recording fortunes. A return to prominence arrived in 1977 with her Emmy-nominated turn in Roots; additional acclaim followed for Backstairs at the White House in 1979. In 1983 she shared an Emmy for co-hosting the short-lived NBC series Fantasy. Later that decade she returned to Broadway in Blues in the Night and Jerry’s Girls. She toured with Peter Nero and Mel Tormé in The Great Gershwin Concert in 1987 and appeared in the Lincoln Center revival of Anything Goes the next year. After touring in the early 1990s with Stringbean, a musical drawn from the life of Ethel Waters, she joined the daytime serial All My Children in 1996.
Albums
Singles
