By Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CENTRAL HARLEM — The Apollo theater brought a flavor of Hollywood Boulevard to 125th Street Monday when it laid out the first seven stars of its new "Apollo Legends Walk of Fame."
Plaques for Quincy Jones, Patti LaBelle, Smokey Robinson, James Brown, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Little Richard and Ella Fitzgerald were installed during a Monday ceremony. New Apollo Hall of Fame inductees Michael Jackson and Aretha Franklin will follow in June.
“There is no performer, no matter how big she or he really is, that really thinks they’ve made it until they come to the Apollo Theater,” Congressman Charles Rangel said at the event.
It was a bittersweet day for Harlem residents, as singer and actress Lena Horne, who graced the Apollo’s stage just two years after its 1934 opening, died at 92.
Horne was, in the words of Apollo Theater CEO and President Jonelle Procope, “part of the fabric of Harlem.”
The Walk’s birth is due in significant part to a $75,000 grant from the Harlem Community Development Corporation.
Curtis Archer, the organization’s president, said he hoped the new landmark would bring the Apollo increased visibility among tourists as well as attract additional attention from Harlem residents.
“It’s been long overdue, and I’m very excited that it is coming now,” said Jennie Wade, a local nurse’s aide who grew up listening to Smokey Robinson with her grandmother. “Motown made Harlem through the music, and it continues to do so.”
