'Their struggle needs to be told': Plans for Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame unveiled

The Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame is officially slated to open next summer.

The future-walkway is currently a pile of gravel in front of the The Andrew J Brady ICON Music Center. Plans for the interactive park and star-studded path were unveiled Saturday during an induction ceremony. 

The crowd was lively while the P. Ann Everson-Price & The All-Star Band played tributes to the walk's first inductees as well as other famous Black musicians and funk artists.

Well over 100 audience members were packed into the theater before the event began at 2 p.m. While some audience members were seated, many were standing, dancing and clapping along with the band. 

The first four inductees to receive stars on the Walk of Fame will be Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Bootsy Collins, King Records icon Otis Williams, and Grammy Winners The Isley Brothers and the late Gospel great Dr. Charles Fold.

"I would hear these stories but there was no place I could go to, or point to, and capture it," said Hamilton County Commission Vice President Alicia Reece. "I could see artists being honored in other cities, other states, other places but never at home. And I started thinking, man, this belongs to us."

The Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame is intended to stand toe-to-toe with The National Museum of African American Music in Nashville, Atlanta’s Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame and Beale Street in Memphis. Like the Hollywood Walk of Fame, each inductee will have their name placed on a star on the walkway.

Next to each star, Reece hopes to include QR codes so that visitors can learn about each artist.

The ceremony on Saturday included a video simulation of what the park should look like. In addition to the star-studded path, the park will include trees and shrubbery along a path towards the ICON music center.

How much will the Walk of Fame cost?

The funding for the interactive park and walkway will come from the $159 million dollar stimulus fund that was awarded to the county. The Hamilton County Commission unanimously voted in favor of the park while deciding on how to spend the county's stimulus money.

Hamilton County Commission President Stephanie Summerow Dumas noted that the current commission is comprised of three women, including two Black women. She said she didn't know if this Walk of Fame would have been possible in years past.

In total, the park was awarded $9 million dollars. Procter and Gamble has also partnered with the project and will pay for the new inductee stars for the next several years, Reece said. In total she says that she privately raised $150,000 for the free inductee ceremony as well as the stars.

Reece is the founder of the Walk of the Fame, but after the inaugural class, a committee will determine the annual inductees. Each year, a new induction ceremony will announce the latest class of local stars.

There are so many stories here, Reece said, like the electronic funk sound created by Roger Troutman of Hamilton, Ohio who inspired the works of T-Pain, Kanye West and Akon.

Future inductees will cover a variety of musical genres including blues, soul, R&B, funk, hip hop, bluegrass and country.

"These artists are inspirational. Some of them were on the Chitlin' Circuit, some of them had to perform while their backs were turned, many had their money and songs stolen from them. Their struggle needs to be told," Reece said.

The "Chitlin' Circuit" was a group of performance venues located mostly in the South but across country that were accepted Black entertainers during Jim Crow.

Many of these artists were not allowed to perform in the bigger white venues but instead performed in venues in places the West End's The Cotton Club. 

The induction ceremony

The ceremony included a lot of music - and audience members responded by dancing. 

Each star is gold, with the musicians' name on it, and surrounded with a Black and gold speckled square. The stars will be added next year once the walkway officially opens to the public.

When each artist was inducted, a brief history was shared about them including information about each of their contributions to music locally as well as around the world. The late Charles Fold, who was born in Lincoln Heights, was the first inductee. 

Otis Williams, graduate of Withrow High School, was the second inductee. Williams is known for doowap classic "Hearts of Stone" which remained at No. 15 on the pop charts in 1954. Williams, who is now in his 85-years-old, used a scooter and an assist from his son as he accepted his star and plaque.

"I'm very honored today to know that Cincinnati is one of the biggest entertainment and music-loving people there is," he said. 

Bootsy Collins was the third to be inducted, in his iconic top hat and glasses. "He could be anywhere in the world but he says he wants to be at home," Reece said.

The iconic song "Give Up The Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)" by his band the Parliament Funkadelic played as Collins walked across the stage.

"This is really, really amazing," Collins said, who was born in Over-the-Rhine. "This is much more than a Grammy. For a hometown to acknowledge their own, that's some deep stuff. You what it really is? That's the funk."

The final inductees were The Isley Brothers, from Lincoln Heights. The group has been making music for more than seven decades. They are known for songs such as, "Who's That Lady" and "It's Your Thing."

Though a video, two members of the band said they are so honored to receive a star on the Black Walk of Fame. The band played in Chicago last night and will be performing at Sawyer Point on Saturday night.

"We have so much history in Black music in this area, we'll be putting in stars for the next 20 to 30 years," said radio host Lincoln Ware. He will be among the committee members tasked with choosing future musicians to be honored on the Walk of Fame, he said. The other committee members have not yet been announced.

Reece says that the new Walk of Fame will open before the annual Cincinnati Music Festival.

The festival, which has been postponed for the past two years due to coronavirus, brings in around $107 million annually, making it the largest driver of tourism in the Tri-State.

Reece said, "We're giving our artists their flowers while they're here."

Contact Briana Rice at 513-568-3496 or brice@enquirer.com. Follow her on Twitter at @BriRiceWrites.