by Zahra McDoom  

Mr. Hollingsworth was born in 1936, coming from a line of freedom seekers. Mr. Hollingsworth was raised in London, Ontario by his Afro-Canadian adoptive parents. He started tap lessons at 3 ½ years old. His mother dreamed of a “Shirley Temple” but settled for a “Bill BoJangles Robinson”. Mr. Hollingsworth grew up poor. At first, he disliked tap. He was taught how to “dance up” in a school of 90 white girls, on the 1 and the 3, but he wanted to dance down into the wood on the 2 and 4. He explains, Black people move always off the beat. The girls were not permitted to pair with Hollingsworth. A Black friend joined the school to be his partner for the Dutch dance and a childhood theatrical kiss. In the 1940s, at 5 years old he turned professional tapping to Darktown Stutters Ball at the prestigious Brick Street Garden Party with acts like comedian Billy Meek. Circa 1944, Mr. Hollingsworth won the Irish Benevolent Society’s Cup for the Irish gig beating out all Ontario dance teachers competing. In 1946, Mr. Hollingsworth danced backstage, in front of the eager press, with Bill Bojangles Robinson at the London Arena. 

Mr. Hollingworth's parents worked as washroom attendants at the swanky Brass Rail nightclub in London. They got Joey into see shows such as Roy Ranker and the Three Peppers and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. Drummers from the Southern States, who did not make it as tap dancers, showed a young Mr. Hollingsworth a few tap steps between sets. His parents took him to the London Arena where he watched and met tap dancing greats including Teddy Hale, Peg Leg Bates, and Bill Bojangles Robinson. Here he listened to the rhythm and blues of Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Billy Ekstein, Lionel Hampton, and Sarah Vaughn. As a tap dancer, Mr. Hollingsworth danced in a minstrel show, medicine shows, and was a dumb act for vaudeville performers and burlesque shows all before the start of high school. At age 11, Hollingsworth quit tap school and taught himself on his linoleum floors, practicing 5 hours a day, listening to the sounds of his taps until he emerged as a tap dancer at age 14. 

In 1954, Hollingsworth performed on the televised CBC talent contest Pick the Stars. Backed by the Samuel Hersenhoren Orchestra, Mr. Hollingsworth did splits in the air, to “Sabre Dance”. It is believed he was the first Black man on Canadian National television, with Phyliss Marshall, ahead of him, as the first Black woman. He did not win. Years and years later, he met a judge on the show who said he blocked his win because “how is a Black kid from London, Ontario ever going to become a star.” Mr. Hollingsworth proved him wrong. 

In a robin-egg-blue Nash Rambler, Mr. Hollingsworth’s father drove Joey and his friend, country musician Tommy Hunter, to Toronto and booked a room at the Dovercourt YMCA. Hollingsworth and Hunter hoped to make it big. The first job Joey landed was at the Royal York Hotel, main room. Hollingsworth tapped to “Caravan” by Duke Ellington. Alex Barris and Gordon Sinclar were in the audience and immediately promoted him in the newspaper and on the radio. Mr. Hollingsworth captured attention. In the 1950s he tap danced on a number of televised variety shows such as The Barris Beat (circa 1955), 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 1950s, Mr. Hollingsworth took singing lessons with legendary Black opera singer Portia White. Portia taught him how to breathe so after he tapped, he could take the microphone and sing. He acted with Portia in a CBC television drama set in Africa called Playdate: In the Good Time (1961). 

The 1960s continued to be a heyday for Mr. Hollingsworth. Following a singing talent contest at CHUM Radio where Hollingsworth tap danced during the intermission, guest judge Jack Arthur offered Mr. Hollingsworth the CNE Grandstand show. He took the Grandstand stage in a golden suit and golden taps. Jack Arthur phoned top New York City agent Eddie Alcourt to come see the kid perform; he flew in and caught the CNE show. Mr. Alcourt offered Mr. Hollingsworth an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Backed by Wayne and Schuster, Mr. Hollingsworth played Congo drums and tapped on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1962. 

The ’60s saw Mr. Hollingsworth work with his good friend Lenny Breau. He tapped and recorded Live at the Purple Onion with The Don Franks Trio. With the improvisational skills of Lenny Breau, he did what he loved, he jazz tapped. Mr. Hollingsworth was a regular at the after- hours Club Bluenote in Toronto, with hipsters, collaborating with his friend Doug Riley, also known as Dr. Music. 

In the 1960s, the civil rights movement demanded change. Mr. Hollingsworth took up calls to action. Black talent gathered for a benefit concert for Dr. Martin Luther King at Massey Hall. Dr. King was called away to support Black garbage workers striking for equal pay in Alabama and sent Harry Belafonte in his place. Mr. Hollingsworth shared the bill with Oscar Peterson and Phyliss Marshall. Committed to civil rights, Mr. Hollingsworth did a benefit concert for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) at Massey Hall. James Farmer came up to Toronto to do a television interview ahead of the benefit concert for CORE. Farmer’s house was just firebombed by the Klu Klux Klan. The television interview was with Dick Gregeory, Brooke Peters, Leon Bibb, James Farmer, and Joey Hollingworth. Mr. Hollingsworth shared the bill at Massey Hall with Dick Gregory, Brooke Peters, and Leon Bibb. They played to a full house after television audiences heard Farmer’s house was firebombed. Raising funds for the Dallas County Voters League, Mr. Hollingsworth did a benefit show in his hometown of London in 1965 with internationally known Black opera singer Garnet Brooks. 

In the 1960s, Mr. Hollingsworth began working on children's shows, most significantly on shows produced by Ernie Coombs and Fred Rogers. As the dancing salesman on Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, Mr. Hollingsworth was the first Black person in the neighborhood. He began filming the show with Fred Rogers in Canada, and he was brought to the US when the show moved to Pittsburg. Mr. Hollingsworth recorded over 20 episodes alongside legendary jazz pianist Johnny Costa. 

The Canadian government recognized the talent and professionalism of Mr. Hollingsworth and sent him to Toyko, Japan to represent Canada in the Miss Japan-Canada Friendship Show (circa 1965). And he was sent to Lima, Peru as Mr. Maple Leaf Canada (circa 1965) where he had an audience with President Fernando Belaúnde Terry. 

Mr. Hollingsworth did the Tennessee Ernie Ford television show and Mr. Ford invited him to Harris Club in Lake Tahoe to be his co-star. He sang an energetic “Women from Liberia” then took it down to a soft shoe with “Bye Bye Blues”. 

In the 1970s Mr. Hollingsworth criss-crossed Canada coast to coast with his band singing and tapping. He electrified his taps boosting the sound. His band included people like Curly Bridges and various top Humber College students of music. In 1972, he joined the crew of the Toronto- based variety show Half The George Kirby Comedy Hour tapping in sketch comedy scenes; Mr. Kirby had greats on his show like a young Gregory Hines. 

Circa 1980, Mr. Hollingsworth performed in the television show Big Sky Country hosted by his friend Ray St. Germain, a Winnipeg-based Métis country and bluegrass performer. Mr. 

Hollingsworth joined the Ray St. Germain show performing for Canadian troops on a base in Alert, Nunavut. 

Circa 1980, he performed in 8 summer seasons with tap dancer and choreographer Tink Robinson at the Wild Horse Theatre at Heritage Fort Steele, BC. Mr. Hollingsworth first met Tink Robinson on CBC Christmas with the Stars (1956). Mr. Robinson was a chorus line dancer on the show. Later they worked together on the Wayne and Schuster show when Mr. Robinson choreographed. They were the best of friends. Mr. Hollingsworth and Mr. Robinson would exchange steps in Tink’s studio, 

In 1984, Mr. Hollingsworth tapped the part of Bill Bojangles Robinson in Salome Bey’s televised version of Indigo. 

In the 1990s Mr. Hollingsworth played the role of the Hot Mikado, a production by David Bell, in Atlanta, Georgia. Bill Robinson had performed the role in the 1930s. Mr. Hollingsworth took the stage with Broadway dancers and improvised and choreographed his own parts. 

Mr. Hollingsworth ended his career in 2001 in Dawson City after writing, directing, and performing in four shows over four years about the gold rush. He danced the part of the gambler. In the first year, 33,000 people attended, breaking all records in the history of the theatre. 

In 2018, Mr. Hollingsworth was awarded the Ontario Black History Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2021 he made the London Mayor’s New Year’s Honour List and in 2017 he was inducted into the London Music Hall of Fame. 

 Mr. Hollingsworth is a Black Canadian trailblazer who offered Black audiences an image of themselves outside of minstrels and mammies. He inspired and opened the doors for Canadian Black performers. Mr. Hollingsworth remembers himself as a working man, like his father, always looking for the next gig. Today, Mr. Hollingsworth is recording oral histories to archive 20th-century Canadian Black history and the life of dancing Black in Canada.