Luqman hamza biography of donald

Luqman Hamza (formerly known as Larry Cummings) grew up in Kansas City’s fabled 18th and Vine district. “Charlie Parker lived two blocks from our house” and there were at least 50 clubs within a six-block area. “I was surrounded by music,” Hamza said, “it was part of my living room.” As a child, Hamza was getting pennies and nickels for singing near his boyhood home. From age eleven until he was seventeen, Luqman studied voice and piano under the tutelage of the Reverend John S. Williams, a native of Jamaica. Williams, a renowned minister and choir director at the Bethel Church and a music teacher at the famed Lincoln High School, is credited with educating many of Kansas City’s finest musicians. At the age of 12 Hamza, along with life-long friend Sonny Kenner, Lucky Wesley and various other artists, formed a group known as the Four Steps and later the Five Aces. This group would play several clubs in the 18th and Vine district including Scott’s Theater and the Chez Paris. In 1948 they won a statewide high school talent contest, which allowed them to play on the Bob Hope show at Municipal Auditorium Music Hall. They would also land a live radio broadcast on KIMO every Sunday for several weeks. He co-wrote Wh