Nichelle Nichols

Best-known for her role as Lieutenant Uhura in the '60s television series Star Trek and the resulting string of Star Trek movies, Nichelle Nichols also forged a successful career as a singer when she toured with both Lionel Hampton and Duke Ellington across two continents. She had a number of recordings to her credit, many of them tied in to the sci-fi series. Included in her discography are the 1967 Epic release Down to Earth, the 1986 R-Way release Uhura Sings, and GNP Crescendo's Out of This World from 1995. Nichols was also featured on Sultry Ladies, a 1996 Sony compilation, as well as on a good number of related Star Trek releases, including Sony's Star Trek: 20th Anniversary Collectors' Edition Soundtrack, issued in 1999. Out of This World includes "Gene," a song Nichols sang in honor of Gene Roddenberry, the man who created Star Trek. He had a personal relationship with the actress/singer, which she wrote about in Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories, an autobiography published in 1994. Roddenberry was also the producer of a police drama called The Lieutenant, a 1963 television program that Nichols appeared in three years before Star Trek made its first appearance. In addition, the album features Nichols singing the theme from the series. Nichols, a Black actress who broke many color barriers and faced instances of racial prejudice on the job, was born and raised in Black-governed Robbins, Illinois. The great-granddaughter of a slave, she started dancing and singing professionally when she was 14, and years of nightclub work followed. She married for the first time in 1951 while she was still in her teens. Her husband, who was more than a decade older, was a dancer. He ran out less than six months later, and a pregnant Nichols forged ahead, becoming a single parent to her son. In addition to her autobiography, Nichols also wrote Saturn's Children, a 1995 science fiction novel. For about a decade -- until 1978 -- she worked with NASA to recruit minority astronauts, among them Dr. Mae Jemison. Nichelle Nichols died of heart failure on July 30, 2022 in Silver Springs, New Mexico; she was 89 years old.
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