Choreographer and dancer Marla D. Blakey was born on April 26, 1949, in Washington, D.C., and was raised in Boston, Massachusetts. Blakey graduated from Jeremiah E. Burke High School in 1955, and soon after moved to Atlantic City, New Jersey, where she performed as a dancer at Club Harlem. There, she performed with Sammy Davis, Jr., Billy Eckstein, Sarah Vaughn, and with the bands of Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway. Blakey then went to Europe, dancing in Amsterdam, London, Germany, Belgium and Italy. While in Europe, she put together her own dance group and produced and booked shows at U.S. Army bases abroad. She returned to Boston and opened her own dance studio. In 1975, Blakey moved to Los Angeles, where she worked to develop and choreograph shows for artists Donna Summer, Aretha Franklin, Sting, and Bette Midler. Blakey notably choreographed and staged the NBC television special, Motown Returns to the Apollo.
Alternative title
History Makers video oral history with Marla Blakey