FAIRFIELD, Conn.—New York City performer Joe Gray, a mainstay of the iconic Apollo Theater for nearly 30 years, has found a new home as production manager at the Sacred Heart University Community Theatre.
Long known as the “Set It Off Man,” who warmed up crowds and gained a following at the Harlem landmark, Gray brings a wealth of technical knowledge, musical artistry and colorful stories to his new position, said Matt Oestreicher, SHU’s Community Theatre director.
Oestreicher, who met Gray when they worked together at the Apollo Theater, said he’s thrilled to welcome his friend to the downtown Fairfield stage. From performing as the touring drummer for the R&B funk band Cameo, to singing with Patti LaBelle and Lenny Kravitz and working shows with everyone from Metallica to James Brown, Gray has seen and done it all, Oestreicher said.
“Joe is a legend, and he knows everyone. I’ve walked into his office at the Apollo to find everyone from James Taylor to Natalie Cole hanging out in there,” he added.
Born in the then-segregated tobacco town of Rocky Mount, NC, Gray grew up living with his parents, three sisters and his grandparents. “The train tracks ran through town and told you where you stood,” Gray said, explaining that the tracks essentially separated Blacks from whites.
His mother and grandmother worked in a tobacco factory, and his grandfather worked on a cotton gin. Gray’s father was a bootlegger who also “ran numbers” on the side. “He made ends meet for us,” Gray said. “We weren’t rich, but we didn’t lack for anything we needed.”
When Gray was just 11, his grandmother got tickets to see James Brown nearby, and the family stopped at place called Dig’s Grill for dinner before the show. Brown happened to be dining at a nearby booth, and a nervous Gray managed to tell his hero, “Mr. Brown, I’m going to play the drums!” Brown invited the boy to listen in on a sound check before the concert and gave him a few pointers. Years later, Gray met Brown again when the “Godfather of Soul” was playing at the Apollo. “He didn’t remember me, but he did remember Dig’s Grill,” Gray said, laughing.
During junior high school, Gray could hear the high school band practicing from his backyard, so he gathered some cardboard boxes and branches and taught himself the drum section’s parts. He later won a coveted place in the marching band because he already knew the percussion cadences.
If not for a beloved high school English teacher who took Gray under her wing, his future would have been very different. When she learned he planned to work as a janitor after graduation, she persuaded her husband to talk to the president of Fayetteville State College (which later became Fayetteville State University) about taking a chance on Gray. He was admitted and graduated with a music degree. “She saw something in me I didn’t see in myself,” Gray said.
Before making his way to New York City, Gray took a short, Vietnam-era detour with the National Guard band and later won a gig playing drums for Cameo, the band that hit big with songs such as Word Up and Candy. Between construction jobs that helped Gray get by, he met and worked with Onnie McIntyre, guitarist for the Average White Band, and recorded songs that ended up on the TV show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.
He started out at the Apollo unloading trucks for Stevie Wonder and then climbed the ranks to head of stage. He was running mics for “Amateur Night at the Apollo” one evening when program creator Ralph Cooper and another Apollo legend, Miss Eva Isaac, invited him to sing onstage. “I sang, ‘Don’t you remember you told me you loved me, baby,’” a line from the Carpenters’ song, Superstar. “I just took to it and ran with it,” he said.
Gray will bring his skills and industry contacts to the Sacred Heart University Community Theatre to elevate production possibilities and potential. His positive and team-focused style are expected to help incoming artists and collaborators feel welcomed and at home.
On Gray’s cell phone, he keeps a photo of SHU’s Community Theatre that he took a few years ago, when Oestreicher drove him by before its restoration. “I liked it,” Gray said. “I thought I’d like to re-open that one day. And now, I’m here.”
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About Sacred Heart University
As the second-largest independent Catholic university in New England, and one of the fastest-growing in the U.S., Sacred Heart University is a national leader in shaping higher education for the 21st century. SHU offers nearly 90 undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and certificate programs on its Fairfield, Conn., campus. Sacred Heart also has satellites in Connecticut, Luxembourg and Ireland and offers online programs. More than 9,000 students attend the University’s nine colleges and schools: Arts & Sciences; Communication, Media & the Arts; Social Work; Computer Science & Engineering; Health Professions; the Isabelle Farrington College of Education & Human Development; the Jack Welch College of Business & Technology; the Dr. Susan L. Davis, R.N., & Richard J. Henley College of Nursing; and St. Vincent’s College. Sacred Heart stands out from other Catholic institutions as it was established and led by laity. The contemporary Catholic university is rooted in the rich Catholic intellectual tradition and the liberal arts, and at the same time cultivates students to be forward thinkers who enact change—in their own lives, professions and in their communities. The Princeton Review includes SHU in its Best 387 Colleges–2022 Edition, “Best Northeastern” and Best Business Schools–2022 Edition. Sacred Heart is home to the award-winning, NPR-affiliated radio station, WSHU, a Division I athletics program and an impressive performing arts program that includes choir, band, dance and theatre. www.sacredheart.edu