Apollo History
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The Seventies
The Seventies
The Seventies
- Aretha Franklin’s Apollo shows are major events. The Apollo marquee reads, “She’s Home.”
- Stars of the Philadelphia International record label including the Delfonics, the O’Jay’s, the Stylistics, the Spinners, the Three Degrees and Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes are presented.
- John Lennon and Yoko Ono appear at a 1971 benefit concert for Attica.
- B.B. King plays an early morning blues concert for Harlem schoolchildren.
- By the mid 1970s, the Apollo is presenting only 22 weeks of shows per year as recordings eclipse live performances as an important source of income for artists.
- Bobby Schiffman reluctantly closes the Apollo in January 1976.
- The Theater briefly reopens in 1978 under new management with shows by Ralph McDonald, War, the T-Connection and Sister Sledge, James Brown, Bob Marley and Parliament Funkadelic.