The Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York is the most famous performance venue associated with Black American entertainers throughout history.The Apollo has played a major role in the emergence of jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, and soul — and brought us early performances and debuts of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Sammy Davis Jr., James Brown, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, and countless others who began their road to stardom on the Apollo stage.O