Lorenzo Fuller

Lorenzo Dow Fuller Jr. (March 22, 1919 – January 8, 2011) was an American singer, actor, musician, composer, and musical director whose Broadway career spanned from 1946 to 1969. Born in Stockton, Kansas, to L.D. Fuller Sr. and Effie Green Fuller, he grew up in a family deeply rooted in performance and entertainment. His father was a newspaper publisher and the founder of the Fuller Concert Company, an organization that produced shows across the Midwest and into Canada and Mexico.

Fuller demonstrated musical talent at an early age, performing as a harpist on local radio by the time he was eight years old, including appearances with his family's troupe. At fifteen, he enrolled at the University of Kansas to study opera and classical music, during which time he hosted a regular monthly program on KFKU radio. He became the first Black performer to sing with the Kansas University symphony orchestra, earning the informal distinction of being called "the Paul Robeson of KU." Upon graduating, he performed a solo recital before an audience of more than two thousand people.

He relocated to New York City in 1945 and continued his studies at the Juilliard School. Fluent in several languages and proficient on multiple instruments, Fuller established himself quickly in the city's musical world. His Broadway credits include A Temporary Island, The Time of Your Life, St. Louis Woman, and the musicals Finian's Rainbow and Kiss Me, Kate. In 1947, he joined the original Broadway cast of Finian's Rainbow, and the following year he originated the role of Paul in the first production of Kiss Me, Kate. His performance of Cole Porter's "Too Darn Hot," alongside tap dancers Eddie Sledge and Fred Davis, was recorded and released as a 78-rpm single in 1949. Sledge was the father of the Sledge sisters.

Fuller also worked as a musical arranger and served as an assistant musical director on Porgy and Bess, collaborating with George Gershwin in that capacity. He toured internationally with the production, with the company serving as American cultural ambassadors.

His achievements in television were equally groundbreaking. In 1947, Fuller hosted Musical Miniatures, a regular fifteen-minute program on NBC, making him the first African American to front a network television show, predating Nat "King" Cole's similar milestone by several years. He continued working with NBC until 1952 as a musical director and special materials writer, contributing to programs including Young Broadway and the Jerry Lester Show. He also appeared on and won the Arthur Godfrey Talent Show.

In 1950, Fuller starred in the radio program Van and the Genie on station WPIX opposite Rosamond Vance Kaufman, a white woman, marking the first time a Black man had appeared on equal terms with a white woman in a radio production. Fuller and Kaufman marched together in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade that year, behind Jimmy Durante.

Later in his career, Fuller became a sought-after vocal and musical coach to Broadway performers including Jeannette Adair and Juanita Hall, while continuing to appear at cultural events. In 2003, his hometown of Stockton, Kansas, held a tribute in his honor. Fuller died in New York City on January 8, 2011, at the age of ninety-one.