By 1969, Leslie Uggams, who had a taste of show business as early as six, had her own television variety show, The Leslie Uggams Show on CBS-TV.

At age nine, Uggams opened for such musical notables like Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington and Louis Armstrong at the Apollo Theater in New York City.

On Broadway, Uggams made her musical theater debut starring in Hallelujah, Baby!

With that, Uggams became the first African-American performer to be regularly featured on a weekly, national prime time television series.

She continues to tour nationally, performing to sold-out audiences, with her cabaret show Classic Uggams and her autobiographical one-woman musical Uptown/Downtown which have earned her the LA Drama Critics Circle Award, the NAACP Theatre Award, an IRNE Award, and Broadway World’s People’s Choice Award.