Overview

Decades before American Idol and America's Got Talent captured the attention of millons on TV, the world renowned Apollo Theater in Harlem started hosting its popular Amateur Night, which launched the careers of Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, and Jimi Hendrix, among many other famous African American artists. Still as vibrant and popular today as it was in 1934, one night a week the stage becomes an amateur's battleground, where emotions run high and dreams are both made and broken.