During and after the Harlem Renaissance , a centre of African-American popular music on 125th Street in New York City's Harlem district.
Built in 1914, it hosted musical performers such as Billie Holiday , Bessie Smith , Ethel Waters , Duke Ellington , and others in the 1930s and '40s; stars such as Ella Fitzgerald , Sarah Vaughan , and James Brown were discovered on Wednesday amateur nights. In the 1960s the Apollo featured soul artists such as the Supremes , {{link=Wonder, Stevie">Stevie Wonder , and Marvin Gaye . Converted into a movie theatre in 1975, it was reopened as a performance venue in 1983.