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Submitted: 11/13/14 • Approved: 11/18/14 • Last Updated: 11/21/14 • R1051923-G0-S3
Lawrence Hamilton
September 18, 1954 - April 3, 2014
Actor Singer Broadway Star
Lawrence Hamilton was an Arkansas native. He was born in Foreman, Little River, Arkansas to Dr Oscar and Mrs Mae Dell Hamilton. At a young age he showed interest in music. Lawrence worked at many varied jobs as a young man. including working at a poultry plant. At that time he felt that his dream to be a performer seemed impossible. He took piano lessons from a woman who had been a fried of Scott Joplin. She encouraged His interest in Ragtime while teaching him to concentrate on classical works. He later earned a music Scholarship to attend Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. His studies were piano and voice, graduating with a Bachelor's degree in music education in 1976. His first job after graduating was Walt Disney World where a talent manager, Tommy Molinaro invited him to come to New York and audition for the actor/director Geoffrey Holder. This was the turning point in his life. He became a well known performer on Broadway. He was cast in many Broadway shows with many well known performers. Including: "Sophisticated Ladies", "The Wiz", "Timbuktu", "Uptown-Its Hot. Porgy and Bess", "Big River", "Play On" and Jelly's Last Jam" He was a member of the Southern Ballet Theater, Brooklyn Dance Theater, Ballet Tap USA and the Arkansas Opera Theater. He performed in concert with the Legendary Lena Horne, at the White House for President and Mrs Ronald Reagan, and at the Vatican for Pope John. He served as musical director for the renowned opera legend Jessye Norman. Also,
served as director of a televised AIDS benefit. Then he spent three years on the road
as a vocal and dance coach to the "Kids on the Block" He maintained homes in New York and Little Rock, Arkansas. He was the director of choral music, cultural affairs director and assistant professor of humanities at Philander Smith Collage, one of Arkansas' historical Black institutions. He was honored as an Honoree in the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame. He preformed in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson" at the Cape Fear Theatre in Fayetteville, North Carolina. At the last curtain call, march 23, he sang for the cast a piano rendition of "For All We Know: by Donny Hathaway which begins with "For all we know we never meet again". That was his last performance. At an earlier interview he had said: "God has blessed this little boy, who used to bale hay and pull chickens out of a crate." He died at the age of 59 in Lenox Hospital, New York of complications from surgery.
Contributed on 11/13/14 by lindaburke
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Record #: 1051923