Joey Hollingsworth

Early Life

Orlando Theo Brown was born in Windsor, Ontario, to Black Canadian Arizona Brown, a drummer in a band. As an infant, he was adopted by parents Jeanne (née Henderson) and Cecil Hollingsworth, who called him Joey. The descendants of people who fled north to escape enslavement, they raised Joey in London, Ontario. As with other Black families in 1940s London, Hollingsworth grew up in poverty. His family lived in a three-room apartment and shared a bathroom with an Irish family of eight. His parents worked various jobs and at one point were washroom attendants at London’s swanky Brass Rail nightclub.

Hollingsworth started tap dancing when he was three and a half years old, taking basic tap at dance school. He learned Black style from his grandpa John “Huskey” Henderson, jazz drummers, Black tap dancers like Peg Leg Bates and Teddy Hale, railway porters and the local Black church.

Facing racial discrimination, Hollingsworth was not permitted to partner with the 90 white dancers at his school. A Black family friend enrolled their daughter, and she and Hollingsworth paired for a Dutch-style dance.

At five years old, Hollingsworth earned his first pay dancing to the vaudeville tune “The Darktown Strutters’ Ball.” He tapped in medicine and minstrel shows, although his father insisted that the organizers not make him wear blackface. Hollingsworth became a local legend for his masterful tap. In 1946, Londoners rallied around the emerging star when he danced with Hollywood's tap star Bill “Bojangles” Robinson.

Career Highlights

Joey Hollingsworth was a groundbreaking Black performer on CBC TV. In the era of big bands, he appeared on CBC’s talent show Pick the Stars (1954), backed by Samuel Hersenhoren’s orchestra. Hollingsworth tapped with precision to “Sabre Dance.” However, he did not win. Years later, he learned that a judge blocked his win because he thought, “How is a little Black kid from London, Ontario, that tap dances ever going to become a star?”

After his first CBC show, Hollingsworth moved into a Toronto YMCA with his lifelong friend, country musician Tommy Hunter. Landing a job at the luxurious Royal York Hotel, Hollingsworth tapped to Duke Ellington’s “Caravan.” Journalists Alex Barris and Gordon Sinclair began to promote Hollingsworth, leading to numerous TV appearances. They included The Barris Beat (1956), the CBC special Christmas with the Stars, directed by Norman Jewison (1956), The Billy O'Connor Show (1957) and Cross Canada Hit Parade (1958).

In the 1960s, Hollingsworth worked with legendary Canadian opera singer Portia White on CBC’s Playdate: In the Good Time (1961). He also starred in a popular grandstand show at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) in Toronto. In 1962, backed by Canadian comedians Wayne and Shuster, Hollingsworth appeared on the iconic Ed Sullivan Show playing conga drums and doing airborne splits.

Hollingsworth’s smooth style of tap, tailored suits, slim ties and custom tap boots made him a hit. However, finding work was precarious. Between big gigs, he played Toronto burlesque houses like the Lux Theatre. Hollingsworth collaborated with such musicians as his friend, renowned jazz guitarist Lenny Breau. In a small smoke-filled nightclub, Hollingsworth sang and tapped a bluesy “Work Song” on the album At the Purple Onion (1962). A regular at the red-hot R&B Club Bluenote in Toronto, he performed the hipster jazz style poetics of Lord Buckley accompanied by Doug Riley.

Keenly aware of the treatment of Black people, Hollingsworth supported the 1960s civil rights movement. He did a benefit show for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Toronto’s Massey Hall, sharing the bill with Canadian musicians Oscar Peterson and Phyliss Marshall. According to the Toronto Daily Star, “The hit of the evening was dancer-singer Joey Hollingsworth. He was brought back so many times he had to do an improvised encore to the rhythmic clapping of the audience.” Hollingsworth also took part in a benefit concert for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) with Dick Gregory, Brock Peters and Leon Bibb.

As a soft-spoken and versatile entertainer, Hollingsworth spent years on the hugely popular children’s show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. He reached widespread international audiences as the dancing salesman.

With electrified taps, Hollingsworth played nightclubs in the 1970s. He can be heard tapping on David Clayton Thomas’s album Clayton (1978) on the jazz rock track “Professor Longhair.” During the 1980s, Hollingsworth appeared in CBC’s Big Sky Country, hosted by his friend, Métis bluegrass musician Ray St. Germain. Hollingsworth and St. Germain also performed at the Canadian Armed Forces base in Alert, Northwest Territories (now Nunavut). Around this time, Hollingsworth worked with another early CBC friend, choreographer Tink Robinson.

Hollingsworth joined “Canada’s first lady of the Blues,” Salome Bey, on her televised version of Indigo (1984), a cabaret on the history of Black music. He was the tap dancing “Grandpa Joey” on Ernie Coombs’s Mr.Dressup and later appeared in the documentary Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe (2023). In the 1990s, he played the Mikado in The Hot Mikado, a swinging tap musical in which he was accompanied by Broadway dancers. He retired in 2001 after writing, directing and performing in shows at the Palace Grand Theatre in Dawson City, Yukon.

Honours and Awards

• Inductee, London Music Hall of Fame (2017)
• Lifetime Achievement Award, Ontario Black History Society (2018)
• Inductee, Dance Collection Danse Hall of Fame (2024)