Apollo Singer Falls Flat

The stars Clarence Hill saw at the Apollo, weren't amateur-night host Whoopi Goldberg, rapper Chingy or comic Al Capone.

Hill saw stars when a two-foot, three-inch plaster chunk broke loose from the landmark Harlem theater's ceiling on Oct. 4 and knocked the aspiring R&B singer out for 10 minutes.

Notwithstanding a 65 million renovation from the Apollo Theater Foundation, $11.9 million of it from city coffers – The Apollo Theatre called this an isolated incident and says it has no plan to further revamp the ceiling.

The two partner duo, Ky.Hill, 44, and Clyde Hill, came up from Louisville, to sing on Amateur Night and were in the front row for rehearsal when the ceiling chunk fell. Apollo spokeswoman Nina Flowers insists the plaster was just a quarter-inch thick and four inches square.

Amateur Night resumes Oct. 18. Hill has pain, double vision, memory lapses and trouble sleeping.

"They said they did some renovations, but they didn't fix what was obviously an open hazard," said lawyer, Michael Lamonsoff, who plans to file suit tomorrow.

by Janon Fisher
New York post
10/18/2005