Past Events
October 26, 2006 - Arlene Talley  

Vocalist Arlene Talley was delightful in conversation and song for the Harlem Speaks audience on October 26, 2006. She talked about her early days in Harlem, where she born during the early ’30s at Metropolitan Hospital. As an adolescent she performed “A Tisket A Tasket” at her dad’s Masonic Hall. She thought she was hot stuff until a youngster a little older than Talley came in and tore up the joint with a blues.

She recouped quickly, incorporated some blues too, and kept singing in Harlem. At the age of 23 she began singing at the Club Lido, where she met Redd Foxx, Ruth Brown, and Frank “Floor Show” Culley, with whom she began performing at the Apollo Bar. She had a hit with Culley, “Little Miss Blues”; the B side was Thelonious Monk’s “Round Midnight.”

She went on the road with Culley, who introduced her to manager Nat Nazarro. He hooked Talley up with the Isley Brothers, and they played the Apollo Theater and the Howard Theater in Washington.

She spent a year performing with Art Blakey, and then joined Illinois Jaquet’s group. “He was nice, but tough,” Talley remembered. “He was almost like a father to me.” Jaquet and other band leaders she performed with back then thought she was young because of her small size and youthful looks. Many of her friends and family were in attendance, and several spoke of their love for Talley. One young man even performed “Stardust” for her on alto saxophone a capella. Accompanied by keyboardist Douglass Jordan and Richard Rivers on drums, Talley sang rousing renditions of “The Song Is You,” “But Beautiful,” and “On a Clear Day.” They perform with Talley every Saturday at St. Nicks Pub in Harlem’s Hamilton Heights section.