Tap dance Hines was an avid improviser of tap steps, tap sounds, and tap rhythms alike. His improvisation was like that of a drummer, doing a solo and coming up with rhythms. He also improvised the phrasing of a number of tap steps, mainly to fit the unfolding sound. A laid-back dancer, he usually wore loose-fitting pants and a tighter shirt. Although he inherited the roots of traditional black rhythmic tap, he also promoted contemporary black rhythmic tap. "He purposely obliterated the tempos," wrote tap historian Sally Sommer, "throwing down a cascade of taps like pebbles tossed across the floor. In that moment, he aligned tap with the latest free-form experiments in jazz and new music and postmodern dance." Throughout his career, Hines wanted and continued to be an advocate for tap in America. He successfully petitioned the creation of
National Tap Dance Day in May 1989, which is now celebrated in forty cities in the United States, as well as eight other nations. He was on the board of directors of Manhattan Tap, a member of the Jazz Tap Ensemble, and a member of the
American Tap Dance Foundation, which was formerly called the American Tap Dance Orchestra. In 1989, he created and hosted a PBS special called ''Gregory Hines' Tap Dance in America'', which featured various tap dancers such as
Savion Glover and
Bunny Briggs. In 1990, Hines visited his idol (and
Tap co-star)
Sammy Davis Jr., who was dying of
throat cancer and was unable to speak. After Davis died, an emotional Hines spoke at Davis' funeral of how Davis made a gesture to him, "as if passing a basketball ... and I caught it." Hines spoke of how honored he had been that Davis thought that he could carry on from where Davis left off. Through his teaching, he influenced tap dancers such as
Savion Glover,
Dianne Walker,
Ted Levy, and
Jane Goldberg.
Music Hines performed as the lead singer and musician in a rock band called
Severance based in
Venice, Los Angeles, in 1975 and 1976.
Severance was one of the house bands at an original music club called Honky Hoagies Handy Hangout, otherwise known as the 4H Club.
Severance released their self-titled debut album on Largo Records (a subsidiary of GNP Crescendo) in 1976. In 1986, he sang a duet with
Luther Vandross called "
There's Nothing Better Than Love", which reached the No. 1 position on the
Billboard R&B charts. Encouraged by his first success on the chart, Hines subsequently released his self-titled debut album on Epic in 1988 with much support from Vandross. This album produced a Vandross-penned single "That Girl Wants to Dance with Me", which peaked at #6 on the R&B charts in June 1988.
Film and television In 1981, Hines made his movie debut in
Mel Brooks's
History of the World, Part I, replacing
Richard Pryor, who was originally cast in the role but sustained severe burns just days before he was due to begin shooting.
Madeline Kahn, also starring in the film, suggested to director Mel Brooks that he look into Hines for the role after they learned of Pryor's hospitalization. Hines co-starred with
Mikhail Baryshnikov in the 1985 film
White Nights, and co-starred with
Billy Crystal in the 1986
buddy cop film Running Scared. He starred in the 1989 film
Tap opposite
Sammy Davis Jr. (in Davis' last screen performance). He appeared alongside
Whitney Houston and
Loretta Devine in the highly successful 1995 film
Waiting to Exhale and opposite Houston,
Denzel Washington and
Courtney B. Vance the following year in ''
The Preacher's Wife. On television, he starred in his own sitcom in 1997, The Gregory Hines Show, which ran for one season on CBS, and had a recurring role of Ben Doucette on Will & Grace''. In an interview in 1987, Hines said that he often looked for roles written for white actors, "preferring their greater scope and dynamics." Of his role in
Running Scared, for example, he said that he enjoyed that his character had sex scenes, because "usually, the black guy has no sexuality at all." Hines starred in the 1998 film
The Tic Code. He voiced Big Bill in the
Nick Jr. Channel's animated children series
Little Bill, which ran from 1999 to 2004. He won the
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for the role in 2003.
Other Hines co-hosted the Tony Awards ceremony in 1995 and 2002. ==Personal life==