© 2022, Christian Cassidy
Nichelle Nichols, who passed away yesterday at the age of 89, was best known for her role as Uhura on Star Trek. Before TV fame, she was a singer who got her break with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. (For more on a Duke Ellington visit to Winnipeg.)
With Star Trek over, it was back to the lounge circuit which brought Nichols to Winnipeg's Club Morocco for an engagement that lasted June 9 to 28, 1969. Locals would have been very familiar with Nichols as the final episode of Star Trek had just aired the previous week. (CTV carried the original series in Canada.)
Nichols performed with her long-time accompanist Duke Mondy whom she married in 1968. Additional accompaniment was provided by Club Morocco's house band, the Al Sprintz Orchestra.
Winnipeg Tribune Photo Collection, University of Manitoba Archives
Bill Trebilcoe of the Free Press noted that Nichols had just appeared in Lake Tahoe on the same bill with Danny Thomas before coming to Winnipeg. He asked Nichols why she would come to Winnipeg when she could get such shows closer to home. She replied that she needs a lot of work "to get back on the singing kick".
The Free Press paid Nichols little attention, aside from a paragraph in Trebilcoe's column. The Tribune, on the other hand, did a feature interview with entertainment writer Ted Allen and columnist-at-large Gene Telpner mentioned her numerous times in his daily entertainment column.
Telpner, who seemed to have a serious crush on Nichols, wrote of her smooth voice and sensuous delivery, noting
that she had "a professionally trained voice that makes mountains out of
musical molehills." He quipped in one column that she was one of the
best acts Harry Smith has booked in a long time.
Weeks after her engagement, Telpner received a note from Nichols thanking him for the nice reviews. "It was a most enjoyable engagement in Winnipeg, warmest regards to you and your wife, hope
we meet again."
For examples of Nichols' music, go here and here.
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