April 24, 2001

Al Hibbler, a pop/jazz singer and the first African American to have a radio program in Little Rock (Pulaski County), died in Chicago, Illinois. He was also the first blind entertainer to gain national prominence. He sang with the Duke Ellington Band for eight and a half years before he left to make five solo recordings that became Billboard pop hits. Hibbler also became a prominent figure in the civil rights movement.