Reece describes the Walk of Fame as a "music corridor." This interactive tourist attraction will feature QR codes that viewers can scan to learn more about the artists and listen to their music in real-time. There will also be LED screens that will display facts about the legacy of Black music in Hamilton County.
The Walk of Fame is a nearly $20 million publicly and privately funded project. She explained that this decision was made to make the tourist attraction free and accessible to the public.
Reece said she doesn't want money to be a barrier preventing people from experiencing the rich history of Black music in Cincinnati.
"I wanted it to be Disney World. I want it to be interactive. I wanted it to be fun. And I wanted it to be something that people around the globe want to come and see from a tourism perspective," Reece said.
Each star on the Walk of Fame will be sponsored by Procter & Gamble. For an artist to be considered for the Walk of Fame, someone must submit an official nomination form, and the nominee must meet the criteria listed on the Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame website.
The legacy of Black music in Cincinnati can be traced back to the 1920s with blues singer Mamie Smith.
Smith was born in Cincinnati in 1883 and is known for her song "Crazy Blues," which is widely considered the first blues song on record and represents the emergence of Black female singers into popular music culture.
The topic of Queen City music history cannot be discussed, however, without analyzing the contributions of King Records. King Records was started in 1943 by Syd Nathan as a "hillbilly" record label that became known for producing "race" music. "Race music" is an antiquated term for music made by and for African Americans.
King Records did what very few labels attempted to do at that time: Merge Black and white audiences. While it never garnered the reputation of other labels like Motown, King Record's impact on the American music industry has deep roots.
Billy Davis, the former guitar player for Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, recorded for King Records. This independent label also released Charlie Feathers' cut “One Hand Loose” and R&B singer Little Willie John's “Fever.” According to The New York Times , King is where “The Twist” was first recorded by Ballard and where Wynonie Harris made “Good Rockin’ Tonight.”
In January 1956, James Brown and his vocal group The Famous Flames signed to Federal Records, a subsidiary of King Records that was started in 1950 to release mainly "race" records. During his time at King, Brown would release several chart-topping hits such as "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," "Say it Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)," "I've Got The Feeling," "Out of Sight" and "Cold Sweat," which many music experts credit as the song that created funk as a music genre.
Brown's funky sound would influence several bands in and out of Ohio, including Sly & The Family Stone, Funkadelic and The Ohio Players. By 1967, Brown was the superstar of King Records with multiple top 10 records, a Grammy award and appearances in film and television.
Research librarian and music historian, Brian Powers, is somewhat of a local expert on King Records, having published "A King Records Scrapbook" for the Cincinnati Public Library in 2008. When discussing the significance of Brown's contributions to King Records, Powers said, "There was other labels that were doing some R&B here in Cincinnati, not just King, but King was obviously doing it on such a, on a big scale, on a national level and all those James Brown hits, you know, you realize all that stuff that you kind of think of in the late sixties as probably his most influential music and his biggest hits were done while he was at King Records."
Not all of the influential Black music coming out of Cincinnati was produced by King Records. Even some of the Walk of Fame inductees, such as Penny Ford and the Isley Brothers, were not affiliated with the label.
Reece said that while King Records did create a lot of well-known artists, there was no shortage of talent coming out of Cincinnati from all directions. While the attraction will honor artists affiliated with King Records, it will also honor other artists, songwriters, groups and producers who were not signed to the label.
According to Reece, at one time, Cincinnati was known for having more independent record labels than most cities in the country. Reece's primary goal is to educate the public on Cincinnati's contributions to the music industry. She said her connection to music, her over 20 years of public service, and her identity as a Black woman were the catalysts for this project.
"Music is in the fiber and the foundation of my family and who I am," Reece said.
When is the Walk of Fame Induction ceremony?
The grand unveiling of the Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame will be held during the 2022 induction ceremony July 23 from noon to 3 p.m. This ceremony will occur during the Cincinnati Music Festival, one of the country’s most prominent African American music festivals.
The great thing about the walk of fame, Reece said, is that when the music festival is over, people in Cincinnati have a permanent site dedicated to Black music that they can return to.
