The Track - Remembering Dawn Hampton

Welcome to the track. I'm Ryan Swift. Like many of us, I am still reeling from the news that one of the guiding lights of swing passed away this weekend. Dawn Hampton left us too soon at 88 years young, and I had the distinct privilege to call her both my mentor and my friend. She had the sharpest wit, the wisest soul, the warmest heart, and was also the biggest ham of anyone I have ever known. If I'm to be completely honest, the potential of talking with Dawn was one of the very reasons I started this podcast. So instead of my normally scheduled episode this month, I'm re-releasing my conversation with Dawn when we sat down in April 2015, not far from her East Village apartment in New York City. As I said on the original episode, it is no exaggeration to recognize Dawn as a national treasure. Her amazing life began traveling from town to town of the American South in a carnival, singing and playing saxophone with the Hampton family band, followed by stints at Carnegie Hall, the Apollo Theater, and the Savoy Ballroom in New York City. Dawn became a legend of the Greenwich Village Cabaret in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, coaching the likes of Bette Midler and singing alongside Barry Manilow at the infamous Continental Baths. Only decades later did Dawn become a legend of another kind, to swing dancers the world over, sharing her story and wisdom from Sweden to South Korea. I'm struggling to find the words to describe the incredible woman who was my friend, but I think this excerpt from the New York Times review of her 1982 cabaret show perfectly captures what made Dawn the lady. In superficial terms, she is a singer. But her voice? A strong but seemingly uncertain instrument full of quavers, growls, husky descents, and high, shimmering airiness is simply one element in a projection that is built even more on emotional intensity, high good humor, dramatics taken to almost corny extremes, zest, and exuberance, all kept in such sensitive balance that one aspect adds flavor to another as she builds her songs into brilliant vignettes. A key factor in the way Ms. Hampton does things is a mastery of her music. She has a marvelously mobile, warmly expressive face that projects her lines even more than her voice does. Her huge, vital eyes and an unusually agile mouth can suddenly change, underline, or add unexpected shading that cuts into the mood of a song to change the emphasis briefly, to lighten what threatens to be overly heavy dramatics. Ms. Hampton has a deep well of emotional energy and spends it recklessly and joyously. That was the Dawn Hampton that I know. She was a singer, a dancer, and a diva, but also was so much more, and the world is a better place for having had her in it. A memorial fund is being organized to help support Dawn's last wishes, and I'll update the show's website with that information as it comes out. I am so grateful that I had Dawn in my life, and that I once again have the opportunity to share our conversation. As Dawn would say, the light is on. Y'all, I usually start saying, my name is Dawn Hampton. I am one of 12 children. Nine of us live to be grown. We formed a family band. My father taught us all. I didn't play a horn until my. My brothers come back from the service. Up to then, I was one of the band leaders. And I didn't really want to be a musician. I guess I was the only one in the family that didn't. But if Dad said, play, you play. They put a horn in your hand, and that's what you did. But I was. I had an ego of my own, and still do. Shocking. But I just. I went along with the family. We lived in one house till I think I was 29. And where were you born? I was born in Middletown, Ohio. Most of the family. Slide is the only brother. He was born in Pennsylvania. That's because we were traveling. But when. In my time, we would go out on the road with the carnival, and when Mom got ready to have a baby, we'd go back home. And that was in Middletown. Middletown, Ohio. And so we kind of considered calling Middletown our home. But we moved into Indianapolis, Indiana. And that's where I first lived in a house. I only lived in tents and trailers up to then. What kind of other acts did they have in this carnival? Oh, well, they had snake acts and monkey acts and girly acts and fat women and. And bearded lady and. Bearded lady, yeah. Wow. And you guys played. Yeah, we had. We had the tent down at the end of the midway. Uh-huh. And so we had to have four and five, what they call ballets. Uh-huh. We'd have to come out on the stage and play something and call the people up so they were coming to the tent. Those were real carnivals then. I don't know what they're doing now. That doesn't exist anymore. Yeah. So you guys traveled like a caravan? Like you packed up and then went to the next town? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But we had our. We had our own transportation. Mm-hmm. My father built. Well, we had one trailer that I think was 20-some feet long that my father built. And in the trailer, we'd have beds that hooked up to the wall. Uh-huh. that we let down at night that we slept. Right. You know. But. And then we also traveled in hearse. And we put seats in. In a hearse? Like a. Yeah. Like where they put a coffin in? Yeah. Wow. How many of you fit in that? Oh, that's where the beds were. Yeah, the whole family. And then we'd have a trailer on the back where we carried the instruments and things. So what kind of music did you play then? What year was that? Swing. Well, one of the hit songs was something called Tiger Rag. Uh-huh. I remember one night, because we had. The kiddie on the stage that people put money in. Uh-huh. And when people put money in, whatever they asked for is what you played. Right. So you took requests. Yeah. So one night, I think we played Tiger Rag about 10 times. We hated it. Because everybody wants to play. Yeah. Well, that's how my dad raised us. So when people pay to come in the door, that's what you play. And that's who you play for. Now it's different musicians want to play for themselves. Yeah. And so. Request is out of the question. Yeah. But that's how we played. And that's how we knew a lot of the old music. Because people ask for it, and Papa would say, well, we don't know it this week, but you come back next week, we'll have it. Right. And that's just the way we came up. And also the way that I came up as a cabaret performer. But when I was singing, cabaret people got their music. I think out of Broadway and movies, whatever was the hit song, all cabaret singers knew it. Right. Because that's what all people were asking for. Well, and everyone was going to see Broadway shows then. Not everybody's doing that anymore either. No. I remember watching television one time when one of the Broadway shows came on. Uh-huh. And they had a. And an interviewer outside the theater asking people what they thought of the show when they come out. And one man said, I can't hum one song from that show. Yeah. It's different now. And you can't now. Yeah. You know, well, I'm about to start to go back to cabarets just to see what they're doing. When was the last time you were at a cabaret? I went to see this boy who does Judy Garland right down the street. Tell Mamas? Yeah. Yeah, I'd known him for years. And he sent for me and said, tell Don to come see the show. And that was. Two years ago? Two years ago, I think. But I just want to go and see. They call it cabaret. I know it. I want to know what they mean by cabaret. It's interesting because I think, I mean, I wasn't around then, but I mean, I think some acts are still very much. Yeah. Traditional cabaret acts, and they're still singing, like Judy Garland or. Yeah. Or they're singing, you know, whatever Broadway shows are. And then other people are calling their cabaret acts cabaret acts, and you wouldn't recognize it. Well, I think you find it more in the gay world than you do in the straight world. Because I told somebody the other day, gay men made Barbra Streisand, and they made Bette Midler, and they made all the singers, and I don't think they're as hooked up with the Beyoncés and them. Right. as they were back then. and they made you yes they did what was that like i had an unbelievable following yeah they loved me but i love them yeah what years what years were you singing in the early 80s 80s yeah and you were singing in the in the village mostly all the time you know what i'm gonna pause you for a second i'm gonna come back to that because i want to hear more about you playing in the family band first so yeah so you were playing when you were you said you were like eight or nine years old no i was singing you were singing my dad put you out on stage at three and said do something and then after a while down there if a song was popular then you sang yeah i sang a song called he takes me to paradise and the people used to laugh when i was singing i didn't know what they were laughing right you know but you know what it yeah it's not an appropriate song yeah for a three-year-old but a three-year-old at a carnival maybe it's a little bit more appropriate yeah yeah for comedic value people didn't uh people weren't the way that they are yeah it's different it was just about being a good performer yeah you know so when you were you were singing then you started playing alto sax yeah when you're a little bit older that was when my brothers got back from the service right so that was i didn't play any horn right until then so that was after the war yes so you were still on the carnival circuit after world war ii they came back in 44 we started playing like theaters okay and places like that and and also uh tobacco warehouses yeah and things like it yeah because the carnival circuit had kind of petered out yeah around the mid 30s late 30s they had kind of started going away people that were complaining about the freaks right you know although the freaks had nothing else to do right but they they were complaining about the man taking advantage of them yeah and he and he wasn't really yeah he gave him a job right you know so you were playing swing music at first in the carnival and then the family band was yeah and then so that was like the late mid to late 30s yeah and then you started hitting theaters and tobacco warehouses and stuff were you playing for dances were people dancing at the carnival or was it no not not it was sit and watch or stand and watch our thing our thing in the theaters we played between movies uh-huh you know uh a lot of theaters and had a show between the movie right that's why the man is changing the projectors yeah yeah yeah because they had multiple multiple films for one at price of admission yes they'd have like uh a movie and a b movie and they'd have the newsreel in the the the dj break right like i'm djing tomorrow you guys were the break in between times have changed so but we weren't the only ones there were other shows on the road yeah uh the i remember a show called the brown skin models uh-huh they also were on the show circuit uh-huh and there were quite a few of them what kind of was that another musical act yes uh-huh and the girls were dancers yeah and things and singers and comedians and most of the shows like even one at the apollo they had a line of girls that danced and they would have like three numbers in the show the opening number the middle number and the closing number and that was a big thing years ago so what what was the big thing that you were able to do in the show that you were able to do in the show what year did you play the apollo that was during that time 51 1951 so you had so that was after your brothers got back from the war yeah so you had started you had started you had already been doing the kind of the the music circuit yeah and you're doing the theater circuit and you were just hitting big towns small towns it didn't matter did you have like a route that you guys that you guys hit they had what they call the gym circuit uh-huh and that was the gym theaters when they had the gym you worked all the gyms a lot of a lot of the people that got to the movies well lena horn and them included they worked theaters before they got lucky in other words before they were headlining before they were headlining i mean that there wasn't really a lot of i mean music was different than it wasn't there wasn't a lot of like headliners or even i mean it took a lot of time to get to the movies i mean there wasn't really a lot of i mean music was during that time it was the big bands and then they were yeah and then they were kind of transitioning it's not like they were concerts today well you had people like lloyd jordan in them but but they really made it record wise it was the records the the record people would record bands that they thought would sell records right you know and and if you couldn't sell records i don't care how good you were oh that's where the money was right yeah and that's all it's it's promotion for for getting you on stage right as opposed to the other way around now where they're right they're promoting their record when they tour right yeah well it's it's amazing when i go past that theater going up third avenue i don't recognize the name of none of these movies yeah you know and when we were coming up like you see fred astaire in right oh yeah and that way the people would go because of them fred astaire right now these movies are there's too much killing and stuff i don't go to movies yeah every once in a while there'll be a nice little musical that comes out but it's not yeah well what i do is i go see the children's movies they're good they're good they're getting they're getting really good to be honest yeah they're very good it's it's it's an amazing thing that happens to the mentality of the whole society yeah we had our stars even boris karloff and and bailey lugosi in them yeah they were our stars but you never saw the blood right now if you don't see the blood it's not yeah it's not any good yeah so even like albert hitchcock in in psycho oh you know the famous the famous shower scene in psycho oh yeah yeah but you never he never shows her being stabbed in that whole scene isn't that amazing the camera cuts and and then it cuts to the drain and it cuts to her face and it cuts to her her midsection but you never yeah and i don't know if that was against the the whole thing or if that was his mentality i think it was a little bit of both yeah because he he was he was interesting yeah he was interesting but nowadays there's a little bit too much yeah and i think the children get too much of that that's when they're they feel freer to do what they're doing right you know because there's no uh there's no cut there's no filter yeah there's no cut were you just on the circuit during the war no when my brothers were in the service i had four brothers in the service at one time and they all came home god bless that's amazing yeah but we girls did camp shows and we played the hospitals i remember playing i remember playing i remember playing i remember playing i remember playing i remember hospitals and cats with legs blowed off yeah stuff like that so that that's what we did so was that through the uso or just something like the uso kind of style show so had their thing but we would get individual um one time the nurses come out from the camp and got us to take us to play for the boys yeah you know the the uso was more um well bob hoping them yeah and they were all overseas yeah and and the government was paying for right but when whenever there was a holiday say thanksgiving or christmas or something like that mom would send us to the uso to get a boy for every one of our sons who was in the service and sometime if there were any left we ended up bringing him home so you took four boys home every every holiday for holiday dinner that's really sweet yeah but like i said sometimes it was more than that you couldn't take four guys and leave four guys yeah you know and it wasn't about a color thing yeah at that time it was just they were soldiers or sailors see i had one brother was in the air force he was a radio man in the back end of a plane my brother duke was in the mechanized division my brother lucky was in the navy and he was in the pacific and that's where he started drinking torpedo juice he ended up being in the air force and he was in the air force and he was in the air force and he was in the alcoholic and dying yeah and my brother maceo played in the band but they all did come home that's amazing it was amazing yeah but we knew how lucky we were and because sometimes it was one boy in the family go over there and just never come back or brothers yeah that's amazing awesome did you run into a lot of um racial we did on the carnival yeah then i remember i don't know but my father was he he was always telling black people get an education and make something out of yourself And when you go in the town to set up, all kind of people come to help set up the tickets for the rides and the shows and things. And so he was always doing this. And we stopped in this one town, and one of the black fellows that was out there went in and told the sheriff that my father was out there telling niggers to get an education, which was not done at that time. So we look up, and here comes this truckload of rednecks with the sheriff. He was the only one that happened to have a gun. The rest of them had poles and sticks. Where was this? This was in Carolinas. Yeah. And he come out. He told my dad. First he was going to lynch us kids, and then he was going to lynch my mother, and my daddy would have to watch. Now, I remember this man's face. Yeah. And I remember. I remember my father's face, that he had to stand there and listen to this. And while this man was doing this, somebody in the carnival went and told the lady that ran the carnival and all the carnies what was happening. Now, we were the only black family on the show at the time. And the sheriff looked up, and the woman's name was Hazel Redmond. Now, I'm talking 80 years ago. Yeah. But she had the nods of a. And she got right in the sheriff's face and said, get the fuck off of my land. Yeah. We wasn't on her land. We were renting the space. She was renting the space where they set up the carnival. And he said, if you're here in the morning, I'm burning down everything. So that night, the carnies stood around our tent to protect my family. Wow. See, but they were like family. Yeah. Carnival people then were like family there. Like I said, I don't know what they are now. Yeah, I don't know that that exists anymore. It's amazing. And so when the sun came up, we had to pack up everything and move on to the next show. But I also remember the people that ran the Ferris wheel, his wife used to come in and watch our show every day. And she'd come in, and she was sitting down, and all of a sudden, she started running. And we didn't know what was wrong. But we saw the side of the tent go up, and we saw this hurricane coming. And that's what she saw, and she ran to tell him to get the people off the top of the ride. And I understand that they got almost all of them off. And one man had his daughter, and he was crawling down the side of the thing. And then he grabbed what they call a guy wire, and he slid down to the ground. So everybody got off of there. But you could see this thing. It was a tornado? Wow. You could see this thing coming through the cornfield. And we used to call it like the finger of God. Yeah? This thing coming through there. That was in the Midwest, I'm assuming. Wow. So did it hit the carnival? Yeah, it did. It did. Did anybody get hurt? Did everyone? No. Wow. But one man who had brown eyes. And lightning struck and turned his eyes blue. Wow. Listen, there are so many things about nature and things back then that are not the same now. Yeah. They just are not the same. That's crazy. Yeah, because when I look at these buildings, and I fear all of them. Of course, not this year, because these here are made out of stone. Yeah. But the glass buildings that I see uptown, that's a little frightening. Yeah. Yeah. The new World Trade Center is humongous and just all glass. Unbelievable. It's crazy. Unbelievable. Because they don't fear. Yeah. See? But our tent that night got ripped from one end to the other. Yeah. Just this thing coming through, you know? Wow. When's the first time you came to New York? Was it that time that you played the Apollo in 51? Well, we really got here in 50. Uh-huh. We played Carnegie Hall. You played Carnegie Hall first. Yeah. How did you get that gig? Well. Practice? There was a newspaper called the Pittsburgh Courier-Band Bowl. Uh-huh. And they would have a contest every year. And whoever sold the most papers got elected. And this one year, Lionel Hampton was first. Right. But we were second. You guys were big in Pittsburgh? Or did they just? No. No. No. You were first. You were first. Whoever you were playing. Right. That's why you bought tickets. But the reason that we got so many papers bought was one of the cats was a big number man, a big mafia man. He was the one that bought things so that we could win it. So it was a fix? Uh-huh. Got to do what you got to do. Listen. And. It still happens. They do it online today. People are like, click on my thing. Oh, right. Yeah. It happens. So that's how. That's how. So you came in 1950. Yeah. That's how we got to Carnegie Hall. And while we're at Carnegie Hall, somebody come and saw us. And that's how we got to the Apollo. Yeah. And then at the Apollo, we were the only band at that time in history that played the Apollo twice in one month. Yeah. We, we, we had a good band. It was a mixed band. It was the only mixed band on the road. I mean, girls and boys. Yeah. And we had a good band. And then we ended up. We ended up going to the Savoy. Uh-huh. And we played opposite Mongo, Santa Maria, and Tito Puente. Yeah. So a lot of people think that Savoy would just swing music. A lot of Latin music. A lot of Latin, a lot of Latin stuff going on. Especially in the late 40s and 50s. And especially the black people knew how to do everything at that time. Yeah. They weren't limited like. Right. Now. A lot of folks were from Latin, Latin communities too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So what was it like coming into New York and coming to Carnegie Hall that first time? How old were you when you played Carnegie Hall? In your early 20s? 51. Yes, I had to be. So you were in your early 20s? Yeah. Yeah. What was that like, Carnegie Hall? Oh. We one time, my sister one time had a picture of Carnegie Hall with the balcony. Yeah. And the song that we played is a song that you all play a lot, the Georgie G's arrangement, The Push. Uh-huh. We played The Push. Oh, your family's song. Yeah. Yeah. I love that song. At Carnegie Hall. And my sister said the balcony was doing like this. The people were dancing in the aisles and everything. And Hamp hated us, God bless him. Lionel Hamp did. Oh. He hated you. He hated us. Why? But he got on because we were. You were before him. So he had to follow you. Because, yeah, we were the second. You were the second of. Yeah. And he got on stage and played Flying Home for half an hour. Yeah. Yeah. Well, he had been playing it for. 15 years by that point. He had to do what he had to do. He had to do the Mother Hamptons. Yeah. We had a good band. Was Illinois Jaquette even in the band by then? He was in Hamp's band. In Hamp's band? Yeah. He still was then? He was still. Yeah. Oh, he was young when he started playing, too. Yeah. He had an ego problem. Well, he was 17 when he recorded that famous song. He was a kid. Yeah. I mean, I'd have an ego problem, too, if I had one of the most famous jazz solos in history as a teenager. What's going to be the famous one? Well, by 1950-something, he knew. Oh, yeah. Sure. He'd been playing that solo for 15 years. There is. Duke Ellington put out, I think it's called Jones. Uh-huh. I love that song. Yeah, that's. As he does the finger snapping bit. Yeah. Yeah. That's a long. Yeah, it's like a 10-minute song. But he only put it out like that because he got mad at the saxophone player because he was late. Yeah. And he put him out. He put him out on a solo and made him keep playing. And made him go? And he kept playing. What sax player? I forget now. It wasn't. It wasn't Johnny Hodges. No, it wasn't Johnny Hodges. It was a tenor player. I forget now who was playing with him. It wasn't Russell Procope. But that's on Jones. Yeah, I remember. That's a great track. Yeah. He played that at Newport. Yes. Yes. That's a great. He did that finger snapping bit. I love that bit. Yeah. He used to do it to. Before that, he was doing it to Things Ain't What They Used To Be. Right. He used to do it to that. Right. And then he did it to Jones. But, you know, even then, Duke was not a dancer's band. No. Especially in the 50s. I mean, he did play dances and stuff, but I mean, he was branching out all over the place and playing all sorts of. But there were a lot of musicians that misunderstood, and they thought Duke Ellington's best music was. I mean, Duke Ellington's best music was the concert dance stuff, you know? Yeah. But Duke Ellington's most known music was written by Billy Strayhorn. Yeah, he did a lot of his. Yeah, see, a lot of people don't know that. Yeah. And they don't recognize Billy for what it's. But all of Duke's music were the lyrics of Strayhorn. Yeah. Strayhorn. Did you just play one night at Carnegie Hall? Yeah, we just played that one evening. You played. How long was your set? Was it? Was it like a 15-minute set or whatever? Well, we just played The Push. Oh, you just played the one song that was it? They fly you all the way in, or you drove all the way in? in for one song well we will go in because we were the second place winner yeah yeah and then did you stay in town we stayed in town and that's how we went to the apollo uh-huh so someone saw you at carnegie hall and they said we want you to come to the apollo and then you played a full set at the apollo we played at least three three shows a day for how long i think we were there for like a week yeah yeah and then we had time off then we went back but the apollo then wasn't it's not like it's different now like they go there's a concert now or is there an amateur night but then the apollo was showing was they were they still showing movies oh yeah it was like a it was like a you know two or three hour thing and there was all sorts of like almost like a variety show well because the people i think it was a dollar it's not like everybody had tv if it was a dollar yeah but although they had tv there were certain people that couldn't get on tv yeah i was there the night that nina simone was there at the apollo at the apollo well you know nina was a jazz pianist it's just her birthday a couple days ago i saw a couple clips online i love watching her stuff and she um she didn't want to be known as a as a singer yeah but it was her singer her singing that made her famous and she was a singer that made her famous and she was a singer that made her famous with black people yeah and so i was there the night that that nina i guess it was her opening night and she had played and the people had applauded and somebody in the balcony said he wanted to hear i love you porgy that was her big hit yeah and she got up from the piano and went to the mic and said i am a classical pianist i'm not a singer and i'm not fucking singing i love you porgy and another voice from the back said you black bitch i paid my money to come here tonight to hear you sing i love you porgy and if you don't sing it i'll meet you outside the stage door the man actually said that at the apollo and the bitch sat down and played and sang i love you i would yeah that that was their their last money that they spent to come in there and you're going to talk about your classical pianist yeah i think then though even she found out how important her singing thing yeah well so she got so she sang more after that well yeah she's one of the biggest singer jazz singers ever she sang more of that not the happiest woman in the world well not the best she had something going on so how long did you did the family stay in new york did you move here were you here temporarily we were here temporary and we went back to indianapolis indiana uh-huh we stayed after the apollo after the savoy oh so so after the apollo we played this you played the savoy for how long were you at the savoy well i think we were there for two or three weeks really uh-huh and uh like i said that we played opposite we were like the house band for hockey and we were right because they had two they always had two bands for the entire their entire existence as far as i know they had they had two bands two bands and when one stopped the other one started well the thing is the other one started before this one stopped when when mongo sanato santa maria would be playing a latin song we picked up that song the latin song yeah so yeah that band could get off yeah and the same thing happened so you ended their their last song and and then they took over and they were like oh my god i'm gonna play that song again and they were like oh my god i'm your last song yeah people don't realize now yeah how really exciting that kind of thing was every once in a while if there's a battle of the bands they'll do that and it's always awesome yeah i always love it it doesn't get old when they're able to do that right i mean they're playing a song that you both know and right so was that your first experience at the savoy playing for a group of dancers that was the first time so you've been playing for 10 years 15 years 20 years before you started playing for dancers and you've been playing swing music that whole time well we played for dancers but like i back in the woods yeah what was that like well one place we played we had to turn the car around the head the lights in the place because there was no electricity so the people to come dancing you could see them coming through the woods with lanterns wow and on in this building which was a uh a tobacco warehouse they had like 10 penny nails yeah yeah and everybody would come in they hung them up hung their head and and when they got ready to go home they all took they took their lantern they took their lantern and go home so were they doing lindy hop i don't see the word lindy hop was new to me i didn't know yeah we just danced yeah you know yeah and we were lucky that we worked so many different states because everybody had their own thing yeah regional dances yeah regional dances right and but then when they got to the big bands to big bands people got different dance ideas yeah you know yeah and and uh you could tell the where somebody was from by the way they dance yeah it's not so much anymore yo even when i started used to be able to tell i mean there's 15 years ago i mean i've been dancing for 15 years now i've been dancing for 15 years now i've been 17 years ago whatever and you used to be able to tell if you didn't i didn't remember dancing with someone they said well you're from rochester i was like yeah you're from boston i can totally tell because it was there but it's not it's not so much anymore but even more then i mean it was entirely different i mean we were dancing the same steps but we felt differently or we did something you know a little quirky yeah accent or a flourish or something that you know a group of us just did out of habit that we learned from one another but you're talking about like entirely different dance i even now will go out on the floor and where are you from yeah because i know they're not from new york yeah you can still tell oh i can still tell because you you got an eagle eye you watch yeah well a lot of it has to do with dancing to the music new yorkers don't really they don't dance to the music they might dance to the beat but they don't dance to the music and that's one of the in fact one of the dance teachers asked me she said well darn if you had something to tell dancers now what would you tell them yeah i said listen to the music you know because most of them are dancing from what is here and the brain to do with what is here not in the heart yeah so when they get out on the dance floor that's when they can kick their legs and fling their arms because it has nothing to do with the music and that's when i'm so weird i realize i'm weird i don't dance like anybody else but if the music doesn't move me yeah i it it doesn't move me i can't dance do you think that new yorkers don't dance to the music because the music doesn't warrant it or most of it is that yeah because we have talked about the djs and things yeah sometimes djs play music has nothing to do with dance and i want i've had people call me and say don what is this and i said don't ask me because i really don't know but a lot of it has to do with they've had to break the bands down so small and then they they're like banjos and clarinets and washboards washboards and so the people do whatever they want to do yeah but i figured like if you're going to go from place to place taking lessons you know which is not fair a lot of times yeah um emily was in tuesday night and she said do they teach triple step i said no it's hard enough to get them to do a rock step you know how you want to teach them a triple step triple step is is a very nice looking thing but when the teacher says okay like this one two rock step slow slow rock step now to me that is so simple it's freaking ridiculous yeah and you'd be amazed at how many people you sit there they can't do that i was just talking to somebody else about it and it's funny we were saying that you know when when if you just tell someone to like just take a step back if you're just in an office or you're on the street or something they'll be able to just take a step back or do that but yeah the second you put them in a circle with someone in the middle they get they get in their head yeah and it's not especially for people that you know that don't that don't dance it's not something that's in the you know the common vernacular anymore you know people aren't accustomed to moving their body or holding someone's hand while they're moving their body so i mean like you said like you you were dancing since you were three years old and it was around and everyone else was doing it and you saw it and you did it and you learned it but these people it's very foreign to them so it's they gotta they gotta learn a lifetime or or a generation true - Of dancing in one or two classes. - Well, you have to realize too, most countries don't have their own on dance anymore you know we were talking about the french people in in um 2046 usually every monday and tuesday they have 30 40 french people that cannot freaking dance yeah and so i asked somebody one time i said what is the french dance yeah you know the the irish have theirs and the scottish have theirs and and the swedish have theirs and and but what happened to the freaking frenchman i don't know they don't do it but somebody said but now though in france they do have a swing community yeah and so i don't know why the ones who come to swing 46 don't have a clue do you ever see there's a clip i'll show it to you if you haven't seen it before it's harry conick jr playing for some french tv show and he's playing it's the last song of the show they're playing along and the crowd's clapping but they're clapping on one and three and he's playing the piano he gets to a piano solo and he does this one little thing where he just adds an extra beat to his solo and suddenly they're clapping on two and four without like i'll show it to you after it's the most hilarious thing and the rest of the band is watching his solo and they're like yes i can't believe you just did i saw i'll have to show it to you it's fantastic so yvonne one time at the apollo this is when uh she was married to this young trumpet player who was a jazz musician and she was singing a song and the people started clapping on the beat and then the people got with the beat and there was one fellow couldn't get with the beat and she stopped the band and she come out to the front of the stage and she said she said you don't clap oh my god i would be so mortified yeah she said you don't clap the people broke up oh that's hilarious oh i feel so bad for that guy but but man because if i'm in that audience that guy is all i'm hearing for the entire song the entire set that's funny i'll show that clip to you when we're done but i hear people sometime yeah in swing 46 yeah but i mean in france it's very much a cultural thing like they were all doing it and they were all doing it like i don't know what the deal is like if it just comes from a different they're listening to a different kind of music or a different cultural thing or whatever but like they all clap on they all were it was amazing oh that's one and one or one and three it was it was hilarious i'll show it to you it's hilarious oh that is too funny when you played the savoy was it different watching those dancers than you had seen before or was it just more the same and bigger crowd i think so i think i think it was more i wasn't breaking it down then yeah but i mean you see it from the bandstand right you're playing or you're singing but the but when even when you when they go back and show you the old movies yeah from the savoy i had to tell leonard because he didn't know one one of the movies that they showed they showed these black people dancing but no music but i could tell the music was latin yeah by the way by what they were doing right you know and he said i never thought about that that's what you gotta get this cha-cha-cha you gotta you gotta feel that you know but you're right because black people and latin people were so close that latins wanted to swing and black people wanted to to do that but now within the dance community they either want to balboa or they want to blues or they want to uh charleston yeah see so they're they're really they're messed up well it's all the same it's all the same kind of rhythm at least yeah for the most part so they're not they're not mixing in any any latin rhythm it's hard for them to to do other than what they're doing i mean that's true for me i have a hard time with the latin dances but i don't do it i think the biggest thing for me and it might not be true for everyone but latin music doesn't really speak to me i mean it's mostly out of ignorance um i'm not well versed in it i don't really listen to it it doesn't speak to me so it doesn't make me want to dance that's interesting it just i don't when i hear a swing song it makes me want to move yeah but if i hear a cha-cha or something it doesn't or any kind of music it doesn't make me want to move it doesn't make me want to move it doesn't kind of latin it doesn't really it doesn't really move me in the same way that's interesting because i can do all of them yeah well i'm sure you can yeah but you're much better dancer than i mean all of them make me yeah you feel it there was also a thing years ago that still is now the latins teach your kids to dance from when they're it's very cultural yeah it's very ingrained in the culture very when you go to these latin parades everybody's dancing they can dance yeah everybody's dancing yeah but if i go to a black parade then don't go to the saint patrick's day parade hip-hop break dancing yeah you know it's not partner dancing no no and that's the the difference partners yeah partners is a difference and that's when i don't like hip-hop or break dancing it's not a partner dance right so to me it's not social yeah see hip-hop and break dancing are not social no i mean the performance dances that's what the show-off dances the show-off dances yeah which is i mean it's it's its own thing but oh sure no that's cool for for you but if it put a lot of bands out of business yeah well bands were out of business before that yeah i mean even disco was partnered yeah right i mean if you're doing the hustle after you played the savoy you went back to indianapolis there was a place in indianapolis called the sunset terrace which was a dance hall which is a very very well-known dance hall i saw billy ekstein's band there i saw a cab calloway there um a few bands using big dance on every sunday night and every all the big bands that come through there played that place we became like again wherever we went we ended up being like the house band yeah you know because we were so cheap yeah you know so consequently i got to see a lot of the big bands at that time because they played the sunset terrace in fact i don't know if it isn't still there yeah most of them aren't yeah yeah who are you who are your favorite bands when you were younger well when i was in my band other than your band yeah well see we didn't get to hear a lot of other bands because not even on the the radio or no if we if we were listening to the radio we were listening to shows like the spider and those things because my dad used to read to us all of these things so we weren't that into listening to other bands i'm trying to think of two of the brothers one of them is still alive that we used to follow in places their band would be there in the next couple of weeks our band would be there yeah so we didn't i didn't get to hear them that much but they're still known as giants in in the music world see we never got i don't think we got near the recognition we should have you know who who is the other band you know i'm trying to think what the name is one of the only brothers i can think of are the dorsey brothers but no these are black these are black figures i think one of them played saxophone in fact one of them they just honored him someplace but he was a jazz musician yeah you know yeah and the the whole thing got so more they had more respect for jazz musicians than they had for just musicians louis armstrong wasn't that respect respected among jazz musicians because he was a performer you know and so consequently the cats yeah he got a lot of flack yeah the more he went on and and but the people overseas loved him yeah they loved it big in france yeah of all places a lot of the jazz musicians went to france a lot of them after the war after the war because there was nothing here for them yeah you know yeah nothing here for them but the people overseas respected what you call jazz more so than the people over here because the black people over here if you couldn't dance to it they didn't want to know right so consequently when they went overseas the people over there would sit and listen they didn't have to dance right you know yeah and i mean the jazz musicians were were changing too they were playing for they wanted to be heard and not danced well they were going to school See, when we were coming up, it was not a. In fact, my three brothers had left the band right after we come back from the Savoy. They left the band to go to school to learn how to read music because we didn't know. We played from here. And so, in fact, Count Basie's band, a couple of the big tunes that they played came from what they called riffs. They were behind what the cats were playing solo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it ended up being a tune because it wasn't written down. Yeah, they played a lot of head charts. Yeah, they played a lot of them. And only the white musicians, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, those cats played from the sheets. And then they got so they put them out and they called it stock music. Yeah. Yeah, we could play any other arrangements because they had put out. Even the solos. How did your family band learn music? Like the songs that were being requested? Rehearsal. Yeah, but where did you hear it? And did your dad. I mean, he didn't transcribe it. No, we didn't transcribe it. You'd hear. So you were just playing by ear? Yeah. Wow. And there were eight of you in the band? Yeah. Nine of you in the band? Wow. But we added. When my dad quit playing. I played drums for a while, but my dad quit playing. And then when my dad quit playing, we had to add a drummer. So that was somebody else. Yeah. You know, we worked with different drummers. My sister, Virtue, who had played bass horn and tuba, ended up playing bass. Yeah. My sister, Carmen, who first played guitar, banjo and guitar, she ended up playing baritone. Yeah. So that's how our band. That's how our band began to shape itself. Yeah. You know. I got a picture of someone at home where there was a girl singer. There was a boy playing drums. That was not a Hampton. We had another boy playing trombone. When we went to the Apollo, we ended up with a band of 14 pieces. Yeah. So you filled it out a little bit. Yeah, we had a big band. So someone playing trombone. Someone playing trombone in addition to Slythe. Second horn. He didn't really want to be a Hampton. Slyde didn't. Well, he had this thing on him. His arrangements and things. I was hoping you would come in Monday night because they just started two weeks ago playing one of Slyde's arrangements. Yeah, you said. Yeah. I'll have to check it out. Yeah. That's Monday at Swing 46. It's called Slyde. Slyde. That's Slyde. Uh-huh. Check that out. Yeah. It's good. I'll come. It's good. I'll come check it out. But see, we played the Cotton Club in Cincinnati. Mm-hmm. And we played. We were the house band. Mm-hmm. And we played Arthur Prysock, Big Maybell. Mm-hmm. See, that's where we started playing for Maybell. Yeah. Was there. And one night, her old man, took her costumes. She was due on stage. And he took all of her clothes. And we kept playing the intro to her music. And we kept playing it. And all of a sudden, we heard this voice from the basement, which was Big Maybell. Big Maybell had an unbelievable voice. She had a voice on her. She really didn't need a microphone. Yeah. But she came up in this white outfit. She had taken a sheet off the bed. And tore it. Like a toga. Her tits. But she was one of the singers that the people loved. Yeah, she's amazing. I love Big Maybell. Yeah. So that's where you first met her? No, she's from Indianapolis. Oh, okay. So you knew her from Indianapolis. You just played around and hooked up with her? Well, we played around before she became a big star. Sure. You know. But she, um. When people talk about singers now, I tell you, one girl asked me, she said, what do you think of Beyonce? I said, I don't. I said, if Beyonce kept her clothes on, we wouldn't know anything about her. Yeah. You know, because the singers didn't then. Somewhere at home, I got a picture of Maybell that the gown I made for her, I used to make her gown. Uh-huh. And what she had from here down to her feet was all clothes. Uh-huh. Now, for Beyonce. Just a little bit. Oh. So you knew Maybell from Indianapolis. Yeah. And did you tour with her, or did you just happen to meet up when you were in the same city? Just happened to meet up because she was at the Apollo when I used to make clothes for her at the Apollo. When was that? After you had played at the Apollo. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So this is the late 50s? Yeah. Or in the 60s? No, it had to have been the late 50s. Uh-huh. So were you living in New York then? Had you moved back to New York? No, I had moved to New York. When my brothers broke up the band, my sisters and I played together for many years, adding musicians. Other players. Yeah, adding other players. And then I one day decided I was going nowhere. In Indianapolis. In Indianapolis. Yeah. So I did move to New York. And that was in the 50s? Yeah. Uh-huh. Because I didn't move here definitely until 59. And that's when I started singing in cabaret clubs. Right. You know, I had no idea what my following was going to be. So you just moved to New York in the late 50s, and you were making dresses for Maybel? Did you know, was she out here, or she just. Did she just happen to be passing through? She must have been out here, because Maybel used to work a lot in Europe, too. Uh-huh. And she sang in, especially Jewish, I understand. She sang in Jewish a lot. Was she singing in Yiddish? Yeah, in Yiddish. Or Hebrew-Yiddish? Wow, I didn't know that. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah, she. What was she like? She hated herself. Yeah. She was a big woman. All of her men friends were little bitty men that beat on her and stuff. She had a lot of challenges. Yeah. And then she was into drugs. Yeah. Well, that was not uncommon at that time. A lot of musicians. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That was a really bad time for that. That was one thing where we were lucky. None of us got into drugs. And we were around it a lot. Do you think that's because your father was pretty strict? Oh. That's an understatement. Oh, please. Yeah. But they say he rules with an iron fist. Yeah. We just. But there are certain things that I don't recall us ever thinking about. Yeah. Because we were rehearsing six, seven, eight hours a day. Mm-hmm. The people in the neighborhood used to come and sit on our step to listen to us rehearse. So we. I don't recall ever being a child. Yeah. You were working from. From day one, pretty much. So you came to New York and did you have aspirations to perform when you moved to New York? Yeah, I wanted to be a singer. You wanted to sing? Yeah. And were you singing. You were singing with your sisters then? Yeah. You weren't playing horn anymore or drums. No. You were just strictly a singer. So you moved to New York and said, I'm going to be a singer. I brought my horn with me, but I eventually. When I got here, there was no place for women musicians. Yeah. So I found. Especially horn players. Yeah. I gave my horn up. Did you like playing saxophone? Not really. I wasn't that good. No? I wasn't that good. In fact, I think I was the worst musician in the band. You were meant to be a singer. You knew then that you were supposed to be singing, though. Yes, I did. Yeah. So, I mean, you were. Yes, I did. Because I knew I wanted to not only sing, but I wanted to deliver. You wanted to perform. the music. Yeah, I wanted to perform. And so I. In 1961, there was a show, Greenwich Village, USA. Uh-huh. Which I think I told you about. Yeah. And I was the only black person in the show. Yeah. You know, but. Even then, I was the only me. Yeah. You know you can get that album again? Oh, really? I just bought your tracks the other day. It's killer. Have you heard it? Oh, yeah. I mean, recently? No. I should play it for you. Yeah, you can buy it on iTunes now. Yeah, I had two hit songs in there. I had a ballad and a song. And a swing song. And then I had a vocal thing that I did on one of the dances for one of the dancers, the real dancers in the show. What year was this? - Say what? - What year was this? 61 or 62. So you'd been in New York for a couple years? Yeah. How did you find this? Or how did they find you? They used to have contests at this place called The Lion. They used to have contests? At the place called The Lion. Uh-huh. It was a cabaret club? Yeah. And I went in there and I won the contest. Oh, it was a contest that you entered? I mean, it was something from. Did you have an act together by then? A cabaret act? A regular act? So you were just finding gigs here and there? There's a book out that has an article by Barbara Streisand in it. And it was Barbara's first thing into the village. And she says in this book, but I thought I had lost when I heard Don Hampton. Because in winning the contest, I got the gig. Yeah. And so she come in and I was a house singer. Yeah. And she came in and, of course, she won it. She's. The gay men loved her. Yeah. Well, they still do. Yeah. They loved her. Did you know her? No. No. But you saw her around the. Yeah. The circuit. What do you think of her? Oh, Barbara is Barbara, but she wasn't the performer I was. Well, nobody is. I was a little frightening to some people out there then. In the early 60s, this is. Yeah. But Barbara was Barbara. Yeah. Well, she's got a very different stage persona than you do. Oh, yes. So it's apples and oranges. That's not even fair. Yeah. So you won a contest and that's how they cast you? Yeah. Well, I was, I ended up working at the Lion. And when they got ready to do the show, they asked me to audition. And when I auditioned, I got the job. Yeah. And that was off Broadway? Yes. Was that the first. Did you have. Did you just sing or did you have a part in lines? Like, what kind of a show was that? There was a lot of singing in that show. Yeah. There was very little. I mean, was it almost like a variety show to a certain extent? Yeah, that's what it was. Yeah. So you came on and you did. But it was about Greenwich Village. Uh-huh. It was about Greenwich Village. What was Greenwich Village like then? Yeah. It's changed a lot. Yes. But they saved a lot of it. In fact, one of the songs in there is called Save the Village. Uh-huh. Because the real estate people were like. coming in on the village. But because of that show, I understand, they saved a lot of it. Really? They saved a lot of it because they were just tearing down places. Yeah. In fact, the song that I sing is My Brownstone's Coming Down. Mm-hmm. That was one of the things because they were just going down the streets and just. Yeah. Understand, though, they still saved a lot of it. Yeah. I mean, a lot of it's still there. It's just there's not a lot of cabaret acts and there's not a lot of jazz clubs or folk clubs or any of that. I want to go to Do-Town Mamas. That's up on 46th, though, right? Isn't that up towards Midtown? Yes, right up the street from Swing 46th. Yeah. But also there's a place called The Duplex. Uh-huh. I worked there 100 years ago. That's still open. That's still going. That's still open. Yeah. It's still a piano bar. Yeah. I still want to go see what the people are doing. And I feel sorry for the kids now because they don't have the background music and stuff that I had. I came to New York with a lot of music. Yeah. You know? But then, like I said, there was a lot of shows in New York then that put out a lot of beautiful music. To pull from. And it gave the kids something to work with. And it didn't. It didn't inspire. Uh-huh. It inspired a lot of them. So what was it like for you getting started in New York? How did you get a foothold? Did you just go on audition after audition or. Contests. That's what it was. They had contests, singing contests. That's funny. So it was just. You just checked the paper? Were you checking. I had people who would hear me and they'd tell me they're having a contest over such and such. And it was all singers? And you just destroyed every time you showed up because they'd never seen anything? I was fierce. You're still fierce. No, but I really. I loved my audiences. Yeah. Because they loved me. Yeah. They came wanting to be moved. And a lot of times, street people didn't like to be moved. They'd come out to hear the songs, but they didn't want to be touched. And also. It was an opening act for some of the drag queens. Really? Oh, yeah. Lynn Carter was one of the biggest drags. Were they singing then? Some of them were singing. Yeah. Some were doing comedy. Uh-huh. Yeah. But there were those who were miming. Lip syncing. Lip syncing. That's what almost all of them are now. Yeah. That's all they are. Yeah. But that's the reason that that boy down the street is singing. Yeah. The guy you were talking about. The one Judy Garland. Yeah. He's singing. Yeah. But it's not a drag show. That's a. Well, he's in drag. Oh, really? Yeah. But he's doing a cabaret act. Yeah. A cabaret act. He's being Judy Garland. Good. That's amazing. In fact, somebody was supposed to take me one night to a drag show. And the boy told me the same thing. He said, but Don, they're miming. They're not singing. Nobody's singing. No. But years ago, they learned how to sing exactly. Like whoever it was, they were imitating. Judy or Barbara or whoever. Did you find an audience pretty quickly when you came to New York? No. Or did it take a while? Yeah, no. Right off the bat? But the way that I found them is I wore gay bars. Yeah. Were you one of the only black singers at that time in that circuit? I think there was another black girl. I can't think of what her name is. But she usually went in places behind me, you know. But they even had more men singing. And cabarets. And I don't know how they are doing now. I can't even think of one that I've seen around. That's what I mean. I don't know about that. Yeah. But they did have. So when you started singing in the gay clubs, was that strategic on your part? Did you say like, this is, I'm going to play well here? Or this is an opening for me? Or? No, I knew. You knew. Wherever I went, they followed me. Yeah. So did you seek it out? Like those, that crowd first? Thinking this is a good, this is a good in for me? No, no. They just, they found you and you found them. I used to work for the mafia. And if they got ready to open up a new bar, they'd send for me. Uh-huh. And let me walk around the place and tell them if they should open it or not. And many times I tell them, no, this is not going to happen. And my bars would go to his bars. They'd say, Don says it's not happening. Change it? They wouldn't open. How'd you get that gig? Because I had worked as singers and they knew my following. Uh-huh. And they knew my feeling. Uh-huh. For a place. And if I walked in a place, if it didn't say gay, I'd say nay. So in the early 60s, you were saying this, this is not going to get the gay crowds. You're not going to, you're not going to succeed. You were playing cabaret houses in the village and that lasted through the 80s. Were you singing for 20 years? Yes. When did you have your surgery? 63. So you'd only been singing in New York for a few years before that happened. See, because between that and these reviews, which one of them will tell you that I lost my voice. Yeah. I lost my voice. But because of my following. The Mafia would give me the check room because then the Queens would come there because they knew I was there and they, they knew that it, it was gay sympathetic, you know, but that's because the Mafia, the Mafia would pay. This times article is the one that I was looking at Hampton act. I frightened some people. She says, New York times, 1982. Lost your voice. After surgery. That was 1964. The New York times said, can you talk about what that was like? I started having hoarseness and I had just moved in where I live at now and I went to the doctor and it's funny. The doctor said to me, if I were you, I'd take that pack. Of cigarettes and throw them out the window. I said, that would be hard. He said, why? I said, because I don't smoke. I was going to say, I didn't think you were a smoker. So. But it sounded like you had smokers. I had a problem. So I went to the druggist cause I had just moved in and I told him I was needing a doctor and he said, Dr. Silverman. "Right over here on 8th Street." He said, "But let me call him." let him know you're coming so he called he said he's waiting for you well i went to dr superman's office and it was crowded with people yeah and he walked up to me and he said you're don hampton i said yes come here now all these people were sitting there when i got there so they were all pissed off with me because i walked in the door and he took me right in the door so he put me on the table and he said do you know you have a bad heart murmur i said no he said do you know you have a bad thyroid i said no he's just searching me he said do you know i said wait a minute i'm fucking falling apart and all your do you knows i don't know that was a wednesday he put me in i don't know that was a wednesday he put me in i don't know that was a wednesday he put me in i don't know that was a wednesday he put me in hospital that friday they operated on me hospital that friday they operated on me hospital that friday they operated on me see i never somebody asked me well did see i never somebody asked me well did see i never somebody asked me well did they take out your thyroid or not i they take out your thyroid or not i they take out your thyroid or not i never didn't know they never did tell me never didn't know they never did tell me never didn't know they never did tell me yeah i know when i came out of the yeah i know when i came out of the yeah i know when i came out of the operation i had no voice yeah no speaking operation i had no voice yeah no speaking operation i had no voice yeah no speaking voice voice voice nothing so i spent the next year nothing so i spent the next year nothing so i spent the next year learning hang language learning hang language learning hang language so i could talk because i couldn't talk so i could talk because i couldn't talk so i could talk because i couldn't talk did they tell you that that was a did they tell you that that was a did they tell you that that was a possibility or that that was going to possibility or that that was going to possibility or that that was going to happen or was that a surprise to you no happen or was that a surprise to you no happen or was that a surprise to you no no they didn't tell me anything no they didn't tell me anything no they didn't tell me anything and so that's when i started working in and so that's when i started working in and so that's when i started working in check rooms uh-huh because you couldn't check rooms uh-huh because you couldn't check rooms uh-huh because you couldn't talk i couldn't start saying talk i couldn't start saying talk i couldn't start saying and then all of a sudden i'm trying to and then all of a sudden i'm trying to and then all of a sudden i'm trying to think of what think of what think of what was my first thing to get back singing was my first thing to get back singing was my first thing to get back singing was it the teal on a cat i don't i don't remember but i know i don't i don't remember but i know i don't i don't remember but i know i know i went for i think it was fridays i went for three i think it was fridays i went for three i think it was fridays i went for three fridays fridays fridays i ended up being there a year i used to do i ended up being there a year i used to do i ended up being there a year i used to do that all the time how much time had that all the time how much time had that all the time how much time had passed well from what i had for me you passed well from what i had for me you passed well from what i had for me you had the operation had the operation had the operation probably probably probably well because for one year i couldn't talk well because for one year i couldn't talk well because for one year i couldn't talk so it had to have been about two years so it had to have been about two years so it had to have been about two years so this was still the so this was still the so this was still the the mid to late 60s 60s the mid to late 60s 60s the mid to late 60s 60s and then it got to be the same thing i'd and then it got to be the same thing i'd be working someplace and somebody tell me be working someplace and somebody tell me be working someplace and somebody tell me come come come come here come here come here come here come here come here and then and then and then during these times i was working only the during these times i was working only the during these times i was working only the most important most important most important gay bars in the city gay bars in the city gay bars in the city you know you know you know what did you have to do to get your voice what did you have to do to get your voice what did you have to do to get your voice back did you have to do exercises did it back did you have to do exercises did it back did you have to do exercises did it just come back over time it came back just come back over time it came back yeah but not the same as it was not the yeah but not the same as it was not the yeah but not the same as it was not the same i didn't you had a crazy range same i didn't you had a crazy range same i didn't you had a crazy range yeah i used to have this kind of range yeah i used to have this kind of range yeah i used to have this kind of range when you hear greenwich village usa when you hear greenwich village usa when you hear greenwich village usa there's one thing on there where i don't there's one thing on there where i don't there's one thing on there where i don't sing i don't see anything but i just sing i don't see anything but i just sing i don't see anything but i just vocalizes vocalizes vocalizes my range was unbelievable yeah but my range was unbelievable yeah but look at it at the time as just like well this is what I'm this is what it is now I have to adapt my act accordingly no I told God you took it away you put it back yeah so consequently I never expected to have the voice that I used to have yeah I just never expected it and I didn't feel I needed because I knew what I could do to an audience yeah yeah because you're a performer first there was a um when we talked at at uh in Houston a couple years ago there was a great I don't know where it is now I can't find it's probably in your book somewhere there was a great clip that I read a great um piece that I read from the New York Times where they talk about your singing and I say like the description is exactly like they describe your performance and they talk about the emotion you convey and the expressions that you have and I say like the description is exactly like they describe your performance and that you make and your presence on stage and I say that every time I read that I say that's a description of you as a dancer too somebody else told me that yeah it's it's spot on I mean it's it's 100 it's funny because I never thought about that when I first started dancing again yeah I never equated the two uh-huh you know I just like I said it was the music that that made me dance I couldn't do tunes that were just popular because they were popular if the tune didn't move me I I couldn't do it so after you'd lost your voice is that when you started whistling yeah is that something that you knew you could do oh well somebody had asked me one night to sing stardust uh-huh and I said well I know it but I don't do it yeah and this man gave me twenty dollars he said I want to hear stardust so I whistled it did you not know the lyrics I didn't know them all so that's how you got around it yeah so then in fact I remember the night very strongly that I the first time you whistled and my piano player God bless her did his name is Billy Giddens and Billy a lot of people don't know Billy Giddens but Billy's name is Billy Giddens a lot of times I did things that he thought were corny and and that kind of thing and that night when I got through whistling stardust the fucking Queens went crazy yeah I must have never seen anything like that before I couldn't believe it so I turned around and I looked at Billy and Billy looked at me and went he just shrugged what um where did you learn how to whistle my dad whistled did he teach you or did he teach you how to whistle I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know did you just pick no I just picked it up my dad whistled a lot too yeah it was the only one that I in the family that whistled really I find myself do you do this I I don't even realize I'm whistling when I whistle at home like I just I'll just if I'm lost in thought or something I'll be whistling yeah do you find yourself doing that do you do that a lot are you just a whistle or are you not as much as I used to yeah I used to whistle going down the street but I would be rehearsing yeah you know and people would look at me and I heard some some little black boy say you heard that old lady whistling so you started performing a few years after and you were working in like a coat check or whatever in the meantime and you before did you perform this redefined act for the next 20 years in New York because under these reviews that I'm looking at are all from like the early 80s so did you perform from the late 60s to the early 80s was that your your main source of income you're just a you're just a performer that's amazing living in that same place in in New York I when I think of all the places that I worked in and I use the term work loosely how do you mean again I was a blessed yeah how do you mean you use the term loosely I use a term work I wasn't working because you were singing yeah no because I did so well what I did it wasn't work it was pleasure I was good yeah I was good I don't know when that's me now I'm anxious now to get back to here to see what's happening in cabaret yeah because even I with no voice I could go out there and kick many people's ass yeah because the most of them there's some voices out there now but they don't perform the way they don't perform and they don't know how important performance is you know you have to touch the people uh-huh oh that's what I used to feel yeah you know as a cabaret performer you had to reach out and touch it to people but singers think they sing it and that's it yeah but I do want to go I want to start going out and seeing what they're doing you know yeah because a lot of people have a lot of talent they don't know about it mm-hmm and that's when I said I might I might start coaching again if I can see cuz I used to coach coach Bette Midler I used to coach there's some other singers at the same time baby baby Jane Dexter a lot of people I used to coach when I had no voice yeah after I lost my voice I used to coach but I also had singers who were somebody yeah would come in and watch me and that's would be in a lot of my reviews it'd be amazing that I'd look out in the audience and they would be writing down every song in my set yeah taking notes was it like working with Bette Midler Bette Midler at the lion she was in the Broadway show Fiddler on the Roof and she would come down to the lion for the contest And she comes down, and there's one night she's singing a song that I used to do, Good for Nothing Joe. Yeah. And I asked her, I said, what's that song about? And she said, it's about this girl or this woman and her boyfriend. I said, no, it's about a whore and her pimp. It's a whole different ballgame. It's a whole different feeling. And she's funny. She looked at me and went, Good for Nothing Joe. She changed it right off the bat. Yeah, because she really wanted to be a cabaret performer. Yeah. You know, she was doing Broadway. She left there, and she got me my first gig at the Baths. Really? Yeah, she was. That was Uptown? Yeah, she was a regular there, and she was going to go out on the road. And the man asked her. She said, you get Don Hampton. And Barry Manilow was my accompanist at the time. How'd you hook up with him? He hated me. Well, he was at the house. Oh, in the Baths? Yeah. And he didn't like you? Why? For the same reason. I was fierce. People came here to hear me, not him. But look at him now. He's a fucking multi-minute. He's doing all right. He got over it. But he was also the accompanist for Cab Calloway. When he was there. Yeah. Because I was opening up for Cab there. Wait, so Cab Calloway was playing the Baths? When was this? In the 80s? It had to be. The early to mid-80s, I guess? It had to be. What was Cab Calloway doing there? Was that just a gig? Well, it was a gig, but he had no band no more. He had no band. Yeah, well, there was no place for bands that big to work. Yeah. So what kind of act was he doing there? Being Cab Calloway. He would just. But was he doing like. I mean, he wasn't a band leader. I mean, Cab Calloway is an act of his own, but I mean, was he doing like comedy or. No, he was doing like mini-demouches and stuff like that and doing his whole thing. Just on his own. Yeah, he was a performer. Yeah. He always found stuff. I mean, he was performing late. He was in the Blues Brothers movie. He did all right. He always found a way. But he's. But he's a performer. Yeah, but who's this person? He's supposed to be kin to him as a band. His grandson? Is it his grandson? I think so. Yeah. He had it. He was one of a kind, too. He was one of a kind. And he could sing, but he was a performer first. Yes, he was. Yeah. Because he performed in front of the band even when he wasn't singing. Yeah. You know? And then he was a good-looking man. Yeah. The women were crazy about him. He's from Rochester, New York. Really? Yeah. Wow. Wow. Yeah, I learned that when I was living up there. That was when I was like, all right, Rochester, you go. That's funny. Home of Cab Calloway. That's funny. Yeah, that's where he was from. Yeah, but when he was in the bass, when he did the bass, it amazed me. Because I said, this is Cab Calloway. But look at these queens. Did they get it? He did well. Yeah, he did very well. Really? He did very well. That's not something I ever would have guessed as a Cab Calloway's going to kill at the bass. Yeah. I mean, you, I see, I get it. Yeah. Bet, I get it. Cab Calloway, I would have never guessed in a million years. Huh. I saw Sarah Vaughn. Sarah Vaughn worked the bass. Yeah. Sarah Vaughn, I get. I get that. That makes sense. I mean, I see why they would be drawn to Sarah. Oh, yeah. Or to you, or to Bet, but Cab, I would have never in a million years. He did good. Yeah. He did good. What was that like for you? To work in front of him. Or no, I just, I mean, in the bass in general. They were a gay audience. Yeah. So that was, that was money in the bank for you. Swimming pool was right there. Like I told Smitty, I was afraid I was going to miss something. It's interesting to me. I mean, it's not something I experienced, obviously. So I have a hard time picturing exactly what's going on there, or maybe I don't, but I find it hard to imagine that whatever's going on, everyone's like, like I have to imagine it's gotta be hard to get that audience's attention with a swimming pool being right there. Right. Did you just come on and say it like I'm Don Hampton, you're going to pay attention to me now. And it just happened. It just happened. No, well, most of them already knew me, you know, most of that audience already knew me. So how did a typical night go there for, for you performing? Did you go on at eight and you played a, you played an hour long set and then that was it. Or yeah. Cause usually I wasn't the only performer, you know? So it was just, it was another, it was just a lineup of singers and they went, it was weekends only every day, Monday through Thursday. Did you do weekends? What was it? I think it was a weekends. Yeah. Cause when I left there, I went, I think is when I went to the Tijuana cat, like I said, I went to the cat. I was supposed to be there Fridays for like three Fridays in a row. And I ended up in there. And they're like a year I had a following. So sometime on the weekend, they would be lined out down the door, down the street. She said, and young gays are not attracted to the thing. The only older gays were older gay men were more sensitive than the young gays now and their, and their freedom has not helped them any. Yeah. You know, so you were in your, your fifties by that point. Yeah. And then did you make a conscious decision to retire from performing? Did you say I'm kind of done or no, I think my voice had a lot to do with, yeah. I mean it also, the culture changed a lot. Yeah. I mean the market for your performance and your style of performance. Yeah. Because like I said, there's no music anymore. Yeah. If you do anything, you got to go back and get it and bring it up. So is that about the time that you start? Did you start picking up dancing again? I'm trying to figure it to find out why they first invited me. You weren't dancing before then. No, I was, but on the down, I used to hang out in gay after all joints, you know, gay people used to dance. Yeah. Swing dancing. Really? That was a thing. Cause they did both. They let it follow. Yeah. Let it follow. Yeah. They were good every now and then. In fact, it was a couple of gay girls came in swinging 46 not too long ago. They from out of town. They could dance. Yeah. Yeah. There's, there's actually a good, I think there's a pretty good representation nowadays of, yeah, I don't know where they go now. They go to the same stuff as everybody else. Now they don't have to go do their own thing. They're with us. They're hanging out. The thing is the most of them. Police is where they hang out out now. There's not a big enough dance floor. Yeah. The bars are well in New York. Laws are weird too about that. Yeah. Cause they do have that, you know, cabaret and drink in the same bar. No more than three people. You have to get a permit. I've never figured that out. Cabaret license. They called it of all things. Yeah. Cabaret. I remember that Frank Sinatra remembers that they gave, they were given every never have figured out what that means. What does that mean? Well, I think it's just an excuse for them to shut down clubs that they don't want to shut down. It's probably racially motivated. It's probably, it's one of those catch all things that it doesn't mean they use it, but not for what it was intended. Like they got it passed because of that. It's an outdated weirdo thing, but they use it to shut down nightclubs all the time. Now that trouble clubs. Really? Yeah. I mean, Giuliani used it all the time and he shut down a lot of clubs using that law because for a long time it wasn't enforced. It was just, it would happen to be on the books. But that is so tacky. Yeah. So you started, you started dancing again in the, around that time, around the mid eighties. I'm trying to think that the first club that I went back dancing to was, was the cat club, the cat club. Yeah. And I forget what year that was, but my neighbor, he kept telling me, Dawn, come on, they're dancing. Yeah. I said, yeah, right. And I thought she meant yeah, whatever they were doing. And one night she really, he coerced me to go to the cat club with her. Cause I live right on sixth street. It's on 13th street. And so I went and when I opened up the door, it was phenomenal. Yeah. I knew everybody in the band. I even knew the singer that was singing with the band. You knew them personally from, from around. So they were like, finally like where the hell have you been? All right. It was amazing. And that I went there until they closed it. When was that in the nineties? Every Sunday. It was in the nineties that they closed it? It had to have been in the nineties. What was the crowd like then? Frank Manning, Norma Miller, the Nicholas brothers. That's what the crowd was like in the cat club. Was it predominantly African-American or was it? Yes. Yes. Yes. The Nicholas brothers, they were there too. Trying to think of what the felon's name was. An actor, a couple of actors used to come there. that were good dancers, and they'd come there. Who was the band? Well, they had a different band every week. Bob January was the band when I was there. Then I saw Count Basie there. I saw so many bands there. It was Count Basie. He was still alive then? When did he die? He died in the late 80s? Good band. Yeah. Playing for dancers. What was the music like then? Well, Count Basie's, all his music, you know. It was New Testament, bigger band. Yeah, well, Count Basie would tell his arrangements, his arrangers, you're playing for dancers. Arrange for dancers. He was not about thinking about jazz. Well, I mean, he went for a good long stretch where they weren't playing for dancers. Yeah. I mean, in the 60s and the 70s, they were playing mostly concerts. And the Ghost Band now is playing mostly concerts. I just saw that they got booked for something recently. But by then, he was consciously playing for dancers again. Yeah, because I think Joe Williams was still alive then. Yeah. So they were doing Joe Williams tunes, you know. Is that music different? I mean, I think of that music differently than the swing music that you started playing when you were in the family band. Is it different to you? Oh, yes. Because I've added too much jazz to it. Yeah. See, the cats are not playing again for the people. Yeah. They're playing for themselves. How many notes can I put in this bar? You know? But you found that Basie band kept the dance mentality the whole time? There are a lot of people that don't like later Basie. I know. Some girls told Chris, she probably told Chris, that's not swing you're playing. He was playing Basie. Yeah, I've had that happen to me. Can you play some swing music? And for me, it's funny. I've had it to, like, classic Count Basie, like Old Testament Basie, like from, like, 1930, whatever. I was playing One O'Clock Jump. I was like, all right, you need to turn around. Wow. Well, they're like, this was, you'll love this. So there's an event here in New York, and I was playing a bunch of songs, and it was during band breaks, and someone came up to me and said, can you play some swing music? It was my second song. And I was like, well, this is swing music. They're like, this isn't swing music. And I was like, this is Count Basie. And they're like, no, no, no. This is One O'Clock Jump. And they're like, no, no, no, play some swing music. And I was like, what are you asking for? And they're like, well, it doesn't have any lyrics. It's like, oh, okay, okay. I see what you're saying. Go walk away now. I'll play something with words later. But that's one of my favorite. Do you have any lyrics? Yeah, well, but they didn't say, like, do you have something with words? They're like, play something. I was like, this is Count Basie from 1938. Like, this is pretty much swing. That's pitiful. So you started going every Sunday after that to the Cat Club? Yeah, it was every Sunday. What was that like? Was folks your age? They had, well, Frankie was older than me. Yeah. Norma was older than me. Yeah. Even the Nicholas brothers were older than me. Right. Margaret had some films of the Cat Club. Yeah. But, I mean, it wasn't kids then. No. No. Yeah. I mean, it was a generation above you and your generation and maybe a generation below you, but it wasn't 20-year-olds. It wasn't. No. No. No. That was a good time, though? You went out every Sunday? I don't know what happened to them. Well, Margaret and them were teaching. For one thing. So I think it did attract it. Yeah. Not many. Yeah. Not many of the young people. Not until the late 90s. Right. Right. And that was a long time. So was that, I mean, I didn't start until 97 or 98. Really? Yeah. What was it like during the 80s and 90s? Did you go out a lot? Dancing? No, not a lot. Was it around? Was Frankie teaching then? No, I don't think Frankie was teaching. He didn't teach until he came to the ring. Yeah. And that was the later 80s, I guess? Yeah, 80s or something. But he was socially dancing then? Yeah. Yeah. Because there were a couple of places that they were going uptown. Yeah. In Harlem? But I didn't go up there. I didn't go up there. I don't know if they were dancing at the Cotton Club then or not. Yeah. But was there a scene? Was there a group that you would see regularly? Or was it just a weird, like a weird? No, there were a few people, a few white people too that came to the Cotton Club. Yeah. Tom Lewis and a few other people were there every Sunday. Because Tom is a freak. He don't dance like nobody. So, but I got some of those pictures home. But like I said, Margaret. And Margaret documented a lot of it. Yeah, she's got a lot of it. Well, she was dancing. She was a student then. Yeah. What was it like from your perspective when that big, the big swing thing hit in the late 90s? I was amazed. Yeah. I was amazed because I still wasn't, I still was having trouble with the music. Uh-huh. With the thing of about jazz, you know. I used to, because people used to call me a jazz dancer. I said, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. I'm not a jazz dancer. I said, in fact, I didn't even know I was a swing dancer until you all told me. You were just dancing? I was just dancing. So, I'm trying to think of where I was at when they found me to ask me to ring. It was Frank Manning's recommendation. Mm-hmm. That I went over there because he also knew that I had not only danced at the suburb, but I had played there. Mm-hmm. So, he recommended me very strongly. Because when I first started going out there, then Norma Miller could not stand my ass. Yeah. Oh, my God. Because I didn't. You weren't of her generation. Yeah. Yeah, because even now, what, Norma's, what, 10, 12 years older than I am. Still. She's still 10 or 12 years older than she is. That hasn't changed. She had a head start on you. Yes. But, I mean, when you were at the Savoy in the 50s, it was very different than the Savoy was in 1936. Oh, yes. It had, I mean, lots of things had changed by then. Lots of things had changed. The war had come through, and dancing was very different by then. Yes, it was. And they had all left, and she was touring, and. But, see, but Frank and him at that time were going overseas. Right. You know? Right. And I never went overseas in my life until I went to Hawaii. That was the first time you had gone overseas? You got your passport just for that? What was that like, the first time you went to Hawaii? I, of course, everybody, they worshipped me. I was like the, I was one of the old people. Yeah. You know? Every now and then, I'd run into somebody that would say, Can you teach me a six count? Well, we were doing Malcolm X. The choreographer, well, she was an assistant choreographer. She said, Don, teach me a six count. And I went like. I don't know what that is. Well, teach me an eight count. And that's when I told them the only count I know is count Basie. If you get beyond Basie, I'm lost. Because I knew nothing about counting. Yeah. That was the early 90s at Malcolm X. Was it fun? No. Well, it was fun for me to sit there and see all these white people dance. Yeah. That really, because black people were running around saying, This is our dance. Right. But it was the white people that were doing it. Right. You know? So it's practically the same thing. You want to know how many black people come in, swing 46, can't dance? And I just mean can't dance. Period. So it's amazing. It's amazing. So I guess the music has a lot to do with it. Because they all of a sudden, Michael Jackson and them came out. And so dance as we know it. It changed. Yeah. Yeah. It was the end of disco. I always felt, though, I used to say it, God bless it, before he died. I said there'd be a lot more young black people swing dancing if Michael Jackson had put out one MTV show. Swing dancing. Yeah. All the kids would have followed him. One video. Yeah. Cab Calloway was in a Janet Jackson video. Yeah. He wasn't swing dancing, though. He was Cab Calloway-ing. He was in a Janet Jackson video. Yeah, because Michael was a genius in his way. Yeah. But it had nothing to do with that. And I feel like I can't think of anybody else. That. did MTVs, they could have betrayed us. as many people he defined he defined an entire yes genre yes and an entire generation yes without it like with not come i mean the closest the next closest person to have any kind of influence like that would probably be madonna madonna yeah and it would it's not even close no it's not and it's not even going to happen no it's not i saw sammy davis jr but he was a tap dancer yeah but he was a giant yeah in that kind of thing and i saw him when he was with the the group of fellas that he tapped the rap oh his tap group yeah yeah he could really move i'm sorry drugs got him yeah they're not not many people i i realized people the shit that they went through a lot of musicians and shit that they got on the show drugs for that but he didn't have that excuse yeah you know except he was an ugly little boy that that might have drove him off like that because i probably didn't very talented man very talented man and just i don't even know what he was doing was he sniffing i don't know i don't know what he was doing and when he died i said what a waste yeah but i understand his mother hated him too so what did you bring to harangue that first time what did i what what did you bring to harangue that first time i don't mean like stuff but i mean my mouth yeah what they had never seen anybody like you before anybody like me they didn't know anybody that had experienced the life that i had you know and when i told them that i that frankie had been to the sauvage and gone before i ever got there there were a lot of people that didn't respect me as much because they thought i should have been there at the same time and i should have been dancing at the same time and i told him i said i didn't dance the same way frankie did i never did did it take you i mean you definitely found a place in this scene now and i think everybody absolutely recognizes everything that you have to offer but did it feel like it took a little while to find a place did you search for a place yes i did i because i didn't know what i was going to tell these people because when i got over there a lot of people could already dance you know because uh frankie had been teaching for some time before i got there so i had to start telling them about my life you know to let them have some insight into me not just me as a dancer but then spirit spoke to me and said talk to them about the music who said that to you my spirit oh your spirit and that's what my thing began to be my every time actually at first i would dance alone to the music and then i would ask them go dance with me to the music i want you to feel the music and there was some of them that i danced with that never were going to feel the music so i would have to bend myself to go along with their thing because they had taken lessons and a lot of times their lessons had nothing to do with what i call the truth right so now they at swing 46 they give a lesson every night there are very few people that come in there that think they need a lesson they think they already know and that's because they've seen the charleston or turning and it has little or nothing to do with dance and that's when i sit back here so much many times and don't do nothing yeah you know and i have many people come over and ask me come on don't listen no no thank you because i'm watching all night long yeah and i'm seeing who can and who can't yeah dance to the music not not so much dance ability right but who's feeling the music who's feeling the music i think it's just do you remember what year the first year you went to harangue was was it the 90s by then well it had to have been because leonard asked me one time the same thing yeah and i said i think i've been coming here about 12 years he said 14 and how long ago was that so that's that's got to be two years ago 16 years okay that's 16 years okay so that was 2000 okay essentially the reason i'm asking is that one of the things that i think would have been interesting but by then they had embraced social dancing but when they first had brought frankie out i mean i wasn't there obviously but i very much from what i've heard and seen i get the impression that they were very much into recreating the choreographed performances yes yes and it wasn't about the social dancing so like i couldn't i have to imagine that you must have been blowing people's minds when you were like yeah i don't do any of that stuff it's just no well i tell them i used to do it when i was younger but i can't even think air steps and stuff but they were more about choreography and not so much about social dancing because they were watching day at the races the films yeah and and that stuff but but see my sister and i used to do all that i used to when my brothers were in the service and my sister and i would dance we did all those air steps and everything had you had you seen how's it popping did you watch that when you were young oh yeah really what was your impression of it then a bunch of crazy niggas really that wasn't like the dancing that you saw when you were playing no no people didn't do people didn't do air steps and things on the on the floor you just didn't do it yeah well i mean it's it's a special yeah it was a special thing yeah you you see this man ice man yeah i love ice that's what the cats were doing really yeah no one dances like him oh he comes for him every week he's the best yeah he's he's he loves the music yeah he loves him he always has a nice thing to say about my djing i always appreciate it he always makes a point he always makes a point to say something about the music yeah which a lot of people don't no i know they don't yeah but they do when heather and i are well i'm so proud that i i uh i discovered the djs the new hot young dj star don hampton when you started djing it from frame a couple years ago you like djing oh yeah it's fun yeah it's fun because she's doing it she's doing she's pushing doing the work she'll ask me well what do you think about so-and-so and i'll say that you just played something that tempo yeah just change the tempo you're doing the work you're curating yeah she's she's doing the the grunt work yeah she's on she but there are times i have to i've i want to talk to george about that four songs up here no yeah no don't do that yeah but he's more worried about the cat's plan yeah than he is about where the show yeah the show of it yeah yeah so because when we were coming up you varied your time performing i don't think i ever did two seconds at the same time same tempo when you were singing you mean yeah and that wasn't even for dancers no yeah you mixed it up but you have had people saying she takes you on a roller coaster uh-huh yes so like three of those reviews i'm looking at say that so they're kind of one way or another they say that but that says they should take it for a ride it says it should be but that's again though that's how i was raised yeah see you're not singing so much you're not singing anymore right do you find that dancing when you get to go dance kind of scratches that itch for you a little bit as far as like these do you still feel the the desire to perform yeah and you think dancing scratches that it scratches it just a bit yeah yeah yeah but when i'm when i go to what you say dancing and when i like i said i went to see my friend at don't tell mama's and i i've had singers come on george's stage and there have been many times that i said oh god i wish i could sing again because i could show them how to do that to them yeah you know because they nobody does it anymore yeah you know and of course they don't feel they have to you know but i couldn't have to it right i would have to yeah have to do it you know but i do feel like dancing because there have been many times i was just dancing the other night who was i dancing and we were dancing the tune was a little bit too fast for me but I looked up and I saw people and the floor was full of people dancing but I saw people I know I'm weird and that's what I just tell people I'm weird, I don't dance like anybody else and I don't feel bad about it yeah but i got to realize mine comes from years of different experience you got a head start on a lot of us yeah you do like it when people stop i mean people do every time that you dance i get from fram or at swing 46 or whatever like everyone stops and watches they do you like that they do because i'm a ham yeah i'm total ham yeah you don't shy away from it you don't i tell people that quick i said my name is dawn ham to the number ham a ton of ham i'm so happy that um you got this cd together from when you were singing at don't tell mamas oh yeah because people are able to hear that i had never heard it before that's pretty amazing do you remember that night oh yeah what was that like that was that was 1986 yeah you the room was full of people yeah it was the first time you had sang in a while yeah what brought you back for that mark nadler he he's a fan of yours yeah he was a piano player he just he said he was going to do a show but he didn't want to do it alone uh-huh and he wanted a lot of original music which i had yeah and so um a lot of the audience that night was his yeah you know and he's still performing in fact he's going to perform me sometime this month and i'm going to try to get to see him oh wow yeah he's he's still so that audience didn't know what they were signed up for they didn't have a clue most of them wow they must have blown but i did i did have some great some gay following there yeah but but the other people they knew me as a dancer but they did not know me as a singer because you had been you had been dancing by then because that was the mid-80s they didn't know me what was that first song like how did that feel like new orleans yeah and mark sings the first chorus yeah and then i come out and sing so you were off stage until your your chorus well how did that feel and the people well they knew i was going to be in the show but they didn't have any idea and while he's singing he sings two two parts and then i just put my hand out and they started screaming because i said oh god here she comes and so i did the last course and we did it together and then we closed out then we wrote a song i wrote a song for don't tell mamas uh-huh and that was the name of the second song yeah and uh there were people who just they were not expecting yeah you know and and not one song in the show was familiar right right they were all original songs they were all originals and so the people just they didn't know me as a songwriter except when i did my own show if i had a uh encore i would do mama's face and then sometime i do uh life is what you make it other than that i did all standards right that's what most people did yeah yeah but then when i uh We went there for one night, and we ended up being there every Tuesday for I don't know how long. A long time? Wow. That's awesome. For I don't know how long. But that's when I say I want to go see what they're doing. Yeah. I don't want to put them down or anything. Yeah. I want to see if they're doing it. That's 20 years ago. Yeah. That's a long time. Yeah. Lots changed since then. That's a long time. Yeah. But since then, I've been dancing. When you see what happens, when I hit the floor at the Apollo, this girl said, we just saw these gold shoes walking around. And I told my mother, that's done, that's done. That was Frankie 100? Yeah. What was that like? It was amazing. Was that the first time you'd been back to the Apollo since you played? That was the first time since I went back. Yeah, I was there. So the first time in 60-something years, you were back at the Apollo? So the only two times you've been to the Apollo, you've been on stage? That's right. What was that experience like, going back? Did it bring back a lot of memories? Not as many memories as, no. Because when I was there with the family, everything was family. But when I went there with these, these gentlemen, it was neat. Yeah. A whole different ballgame. And I was very grateful to them. Because they were each in his own right a good dancer. They were good dancers. You're talking about the guys that performed with you? Yeah. That number brought the house down. Everybody loved that number. Yeah? That's the number I hear the most about. Yeah. Was it, was it a thrill performing there again? Yeah. Yeah. It was a very different, very different crowd, I imagine. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Because I, I couldn't imagine all of those people knowing me. Yeah. You know, like when I said, "Who'd you expect, Halle Berry?" And they screamed. Yeah. And I was like, "Wow." Yeah. Wow. Well, you've definitely, I mean, since that first time you went to Harang, which is 15 years ago, um, I mean, you've toured around and you travel and you give your talks that I am just, I will never miss if I, if I, if I can't help it. And, uh, you do Bhangra, which everyone knows about. We talked about that last time we talked. You reached a lot of people. Was that one of the first times that, or was that, it really sank in? Yeah. That's the first time that I realized I had touched that many people. And that's a fraction of. True. Yeah. True. That was really just a fraction, but I, I couldn't imagine. I know it wasn't all from Harang, but I couldn't imagine where all those people knew me from. Yeah. You know? Well, I mean, you go to Houston, you're going, you're going to Toronto. Yeah. You've been to Harang, you've been here in New York. Yeah. You've been all over. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, you touch a lot of people. Yeah, we have to make a, um, a map sometime. Of all the places you've gone? You had to bring out your passport and all those places you've stamped? Seattle, I was off to Seattle twice with Frankie before he passed. Yeah. And you went to Korea last year? Went to Korea. South Korea. Yes, I sure did. Did you ever think you would be going all these places? It's amazing. Did you ever think you'd be going all these places? No. As a, as a dance guru? No. No, because I always said, uh, the thing that I thought Frankie and him had over me was their thing of traveling around the world, you know? And I didn't have that. I mean, you bring, you bring a whole other thing to it. Well, that's it. I think if I had, if I had been with them, I wouldn't have had the same thing to bring to the people that I could bring them as me. Yeah. You know, it's, it's a whole different, Yeah. whole different thing. And that's when I'm dancing. Somebody, somebody asked me the other day, "Well, where did you take lessons?" I said, "The streets of New York." But if I had taken lessons, I would be doing what everybody else is doing, you know? But I mean, it sounds like, it sounds like the thing that you've always brought from dancing and cabaret and the Hampton Family Band is the thing that you brought was Don Hampton. Yeah. Well, I tell them quick, there's only one me. There's only one you. That's the way I feel about her. That's why I ring. That's when they call me and they, they really been on me, you know, because they want another dance teacher. They can find them all over. Yeah. There's only one Don Hampton. Shh. There will only be one Don Hampton. That, that is what upsets me. I hate to bring it up. That's what upsets me about Steven. Yeah. He fucked up. Yeah. There's only one Steven Mitchell. He just, to himself, has said. Yeah. I don't know if the people will ever forgive him for that. But other than that. I think there's new life out here in the dance community. Yeah. I don't agree with what they call blues dancing. We didn't call it blues dancing years ago. Yeah. I can Balboa. I've done it, but it isn't what I like to do. Yeah. I would much rather do Latin dancers than what they call Balboa. Yeah. But you have people, I have a spiritual thing that I read that says, do not be prejudiced against new ideas. So that's what I have to remind myself. I am prejudiced against new ideas. Uh-huh. Because I feel like if you're going to be a swing dancer, then call it swing dancing. You know, if you're going to do something else, then call it something else. Yeah. I do the same thing. Really? Yeah. I feel the same way. But there's so many of you have to realize now that from when I started dancing, there are millions more people on the earth than it was when I came up, you know? So I have to realize that it's a whole different thing than when I came up. Well, you've reached a lot of them. And you brought them the only one. Don't have to. I have so much love in my life. I have, even in my building, people that don't know me, they love me. Yeah. It's a, it's a, it's an interesting feeling, you know? So I think right now I'm the oldest person in the building. But people will carry my bags. They'll open the doors if you need anything. It's amazing. I don't know how many people are that blessed. Yeah. But I am. Well, you've blessed all of us with being Dawn Hampton. We always appreciate it. And we all love you. Thank you so much. You have good taste. So do you. Thank you, Dawn. You know there's good and there's bad Happy and there's sad But life is what you make it There's real and there's fake Give and there's take But life is what you make it You can't arrive on time Or you can always be late You can get in on the finish Or you can just get the gate You can be optimistic Or just keep the blues Our happiness goes to the winner The blues to the ones who lose There's smiles and there's frowns Hops and there's downs But life is what you make it And if this whole world extends It's hand like a friend You go right out and you shake it Yes, life is full of good things Self-sat and glazed But if this whole world extends If you want to be a winner You have to get in the race Yes, life is what you make it But if you can't make it That's why You know there's good and there's bad Happy and there's sad But life is what you make it There's real and there's fake You've got to give, you've got to take But life is what you make it You can arrive on time Or you can always be late You can get in on the finish Or you can just get the gate You can be optimistic Just keep the blues Happiness goes to the winner You get the blues when you lose There's smiles and there's frowns Hops and there's downs But life is what you make it And if this whole world extends It's hand like a friend You go right out and you shake it Yes, life is full of good things Self-sat and glazed But if you want to be a winner You have to get in the race Life is what you make it But if you can't make it That's life Thank you.