Written by Brian Powers, Community Content Coordinator, Downtown Main Library
The Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library (CHPL) unveiled an exhibit on June 18, honoring the Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame’s 20 inductees.
Alicia Reece, Hamilton County commissioner and founder of the Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame, hosted a reception debuting the display, which celebrates not only Black musicians, but Southwest Ohio’s wealth of musical talent.
Music genres represented include doo wop, jazz, rhythm & blues (R&B), soul, gospel, funk, pop, and hip hop.
Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame
On display are the star plaques honoring the inaugural class of the Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame, including rock-and-roll hall-of-famer Bootsy Collins, doo wop pioneer Otis Williams, R&B chart-toppers The Isley Brothers, and the Grammy award-winning gospel legend Dr. Charles Fold.
These stars made their debut in November 2021 at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in coordination with the upcoming attraction located downtown, which premiered in 2023.
Now the stars are a part of the Downtown Main Library’s artifact collection. Bootsy Collins’ autographed guitar, donated to the Library last year during his birthday party at the Main Library, is also on display.
Explore Vintage Vinyl Records
The exhibit features a large collection of vintage vinyl records from the 1950s through the 1980s, starting with Otis Williams and the Charms’ 1958 album, released on the legendary Cincinnati record label King Records.
James Brown’s 1969 album Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud (also released on King Records) promoted Black pride and provided a powerful anthem during Civil Rights movement. The 1974 album Live It Up by Lincoln Heights’ Isley Brothers featured two top 10 hits on the R&B charts. Other albums on display include the 1976 major label debut of pop/jazz vocalist Randy Crawford, who fronted several Cincinnati jazz bands in the early 1970s, and Bootsy? Player of the Year, which went to number one on the soul charts in 1978.
Albums from the 1980s include jazz guitarist Wilbert Longmire’s All My Love (1980) and the major label debuts of soul singers Penny Ford (Pennye, 1984) and Shirly Murdoch (Shirley Murdock!, 1985). Albums from Cincinnati artists in the1980s include Midnight Star’s No Parking on the Dance Floor (1983), The Deele’s Eyes of a Stranger (1987), and Zapp’s self-titled debut (1980). Inductees from the more recent era — such as hip-hop artist /producer Hi- Tek, Grammy award winner gospel artist Danny Lawrence (a former student at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music) — are represented in CD format.
While some of these albums are on loan for the exhibit from private collectors, a good portion of the items come from the Library’s archive of sound recordings featuring Cincinnati Black Walk of Fame inductees. This is a non-circulating collection preserved for researchers, historians, and future displays.
Cincinnati Enquirer Photo Archive
The Cincinnati Enquirer donated its hardcopy photos to the Library in 2022. The collection contains more than a million photographs created by the newspaper's staff photographers between 1945 and 1995. The exhibit pulled from this archive to feature photos of the inductees.
One example is a photo of 2023 inductee (and former Madisonville resident) Philippe Wynne when he appeared solo on the TV show Soul Train in 1977. For many years, Wynne was a singer in early Bootsy Collins bands, as well as lead singer on many hits for the Spinners, including chart-topping “The Rubberband Man.”
Rare photo images of songwriter Louise Shropshire, a 2023 inductee, were provided for the exhibit by the Archives and Rare Books Library at the University of Cincinnati, which maintains the Louise Shropshire Family Papers. The images include photos of Shropshire singing in church and posing with Civil Rights leaders Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth in 1962, which is the same year King stayed at her house in Mount Auburn.
Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame’s 2025 Inductees
The Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame announced its 2025 class of inductees, all of whom are honored in the Library’s exhibit:
- Dottie Peoples
- Nancy Wilson
- The O’Jays
- The Ohio Players
Read more about 2025’s inductees.
The Library is dedicated to making the inductees’ music available to customers with various listening options, including CDs, MP3s on Freegal, and streaming on Hoopla.
Explore the exhibit to learn about this year's inductees – and listen to their music using your library card – before attending the induction ceremony on Saturday, July 26, at the Andrew J. Brady Music Center.
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