Dazzling Night at the Apollo Starring Busta Rhymes, Deborah Cox, Shoshanna Bean Raises $6 Mil at Gala Honoring Clive Davis, Teyana Taylor

What a night at the Apollo Theatre!

The famed Harlem venue celebrated its 90th birthday with an off the hook celebration of stars.

Among the performers: Busta Rhymes, Deborah Cox, Shoshanna Bean, Martha Redbone (who really needs a PBS showcase ASAP), all of whom simply killed it with the backing of Adam Blackstone, Avery Sunshine with an amazing band.

Presenters included Kenny Babyface Edmonds, Monica, Rev. Al Sharpton, and Method Man. Kym Whitley kept things moving as a very hilarious emcee. 

But the night belonged to the two main honorees: actress Teyana Taylor, and music business legend Clive Davis.

Taylor — who got the Innovator Award — is multifaceted as an actress in many hit movies, a singer with hit records, and a plethora of other projects. (She just dropped a great single called, “Long Time.”)

But the night belonged to Clive, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his devotion to Black music for the last 60 years. The love and adoration swept like a wave through the room. Davis is responsible for such a long list of artists that it’s hard to pick just a few: Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Earth Wind & Fire, Sly & the Family Stone, Santana, Alicia Keys, Gil Scott Heron, and so on. Clive put Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s Philadelphia International records on the map with the now classic hits by The O’Jays, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Teddy Pendergrass, Billy Paul, and The Three Degrees, to name a few!

Two of his favorites turned up last night to perform for the audience. Deborah Cox, with her golden voice, peeled the paint off the walls with her hit, “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here.” She was joined by Shoshanna Bean, who sang Alicia Keys’s “Fallin’,” which she did in the musical, “Hell’s Kitchen,” and then the two women together threw down, as they say, for Carole King’s “Natural Woman.”

They were followed by rapper Busta Rhymes, who brought the audience to their feet and gave a speech of his own thanking Davis and talking about his own life’s journey that brought tears to everyone’s eyes.

The Apollo announced that Bloomberg Philanthropies had contributed $2.5 million to the evening, bringing the total to about $6 million The legendary theater will close for a year soon to make much needed renovations. Its importance as the key beacon of the arts in Harlem cannot be overstated. Already other renovations including a new hotel next door, has transformed the neighborhood.

PS The big night was followed by an elegant tented party a couple of blocks down from the Apollo. D_Nice deejayed and at one point turned over the microphones to Cox and R&B star Melissa Morgan, who knocked out a couple of her own hits without any help. Insane!

More to come. Hang on!