Henry Starr was the first black entertainer to get on a radio show in San Francisco. He was an Oakland-born musician, 1 and graduated from Oakland Tech.
"...by the time he reached the University of California he had his own orchestra—the first to play New Orleans' type jazz, he says with considerable pride—at the Creole Cafe in West Oakland." 2
Starr had left Oakland in the 1920s to work in Los Angeles and on the East Coast as a piano player, with some of the very good black entertainers of that period.
Links and References
- Henry Starr Museum of the City of San Francisco
- Distinguished Oaklander Is Glad to Return Home Oakland Tribune August 30, 1949
- Going Places by Don Steele Oakland Tribune August 2, 1949