Sinbad 1993

[Melany Odeh]

Sinbadwas born November 10, 1956, in Benton Harbor, Michigan, the son of Louise and a Baptist minister, Dr. Donald Beckley Adkins Sr.[2][3][4] He has five siblings: Donna, Dorothea, Mark, Michael, and Donald Jr.[5] His paternal grandmother was of Irish descent.[6] Sinbad attended Benton Harbor High School and graduated in 1974.[7] He attended college from 1974 to 1978 at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado, where he lettered two seasons for the basketball team.

Sinbad served in the United States Air Force as a boom operator aboard KC-135 Stratotankers. While assigned to the 384th Air Refueling Wing at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas, he would often travel downtown to perform stand-up comedy. He competed as a comedian/MC in the Air Force's Talent Contest in 1981. Sinbad was almost dismissed with a dishonorable discharge for various misbehaviors, including going AWOL.[8]

I didn't make the Air Force basketball team and went into denial. So, I kept going AWOL. My mother kept begging me to go back. I told her, "No, I'm not going back. I'll just grow a beard. They won't recognize me. I'll just be another black man with a beard." I was going to Georgia Tech to learn about computers. I'd go AWOL all the time. I'd just leave. I'd come back, hoping they'd throw me out.[8]

In an attempt to stand out in the entertainment industry, Adkins worked under the professional name Sinbad, which he chose out of admiration for Sinbad the Sailor.[8] He began his stand-up comic career appearing on Star Search. Sinbad won his round against fellow comedian Dennis Miller,[10] and made it to the finals before losing to John Kassir.[11]

In 1987, Sinbad landed a role in A Different World, a spin-off of The Cosby Show built around Lisa Bonet's character Denise Huxtable. Previously, Sinbad appeared in a one-off role on The Cosby Show as car salesman Davis Sarrette. While Bonet only stayed with the program for a season,[13] Sinbad stayed with the cast from 1988 until 1991 as Coach Walter Oakes.

Walter began to fall in love with a girl named Jaleesa Vinson, played by Dawnn Lewis. They dated, and eventually became engaged but decided to cancel the wedding due to differing outlooks on life.[14]

By the early 1990s, his popularity had grown enough for Fox to greenlight The Sinbad Show, which premiered September 16, 1993. In it, Sinbad played 35-year-old David Bryan, a bachelor who decides to become a foster parent to two children after becoming emotionally attached to them.[15]

Black men are already responsible, already take care of our duties, but nobody emphasizes that. I hear all this bad talk against men and their children. I just got so tired of it. More than anything else, I'm showing that life has changed, the world has changed. And now the key is not going to just be parenting, it's going to be mentoring, where people who are not even in your family are going to have to go in and help. And we are going to accept that responsibility, which we used to do in our culture.[15]

In 1990, Sinbad did his first stand-up comedy special for HBO called Sinbad: Brain Damaged. The special was recorded at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1993, Sinbad did his next stand up special in New York City's Paramount Theater at Madison Square Garden called Sinbad: Afros and Bellbottoms for which he won a 1995 Image Award. He was brought back in 1996 for Sinbad: Son of a Preacher Man, recorded at the Paramount Theatre in Denver, Colorado, and again in 1997 for Sinbad: Nothin' but the Funk. All of these shows have been released on VHS and DVD.[citation needed]

Sinbad again won an NAACP Image Award in 1998 for his role in Sinbad's Summer Jam III: '70s Soul Music Festival. By 1995, Sinbad created a company called "David & Goliath Productions", that was located in Studio City.[5]

During the 1990s, Sinbad guest starred on an episode of Nickelodeon's All That. In one sketch, he played the father of recurring character Ishboo, dubbed "Sinboo". He also made a cameo appearance in the comedy movie Good Burger, starring Kenan & Kel, as "Mr. Wheat", a short-tempered teacher. His character was modeled after Gough Wheat, a past teacher of the movie's producer, Dan Schneider, at White Station High School in Memphis, Tennessee.[citation needed]

He and Phil Hartman co-starred in the comedy film Houseguest, where he plays Kevin Franklin, a Pittsburgh resident who owes $50,000 to the mob. Hartman, as Gary Young, comments to his children that they are waiting to pick up his old college friend, who is black and he has not seen for twenty years. Taking who they think to be a well-known dentist home, Young's family is stabilized by Franklin's own unstable nature. Released January 6, 1995, the film grossed $26 million in North America.[citation needed]

In August 1997, Vibe magazine started its own syndicated late night talk show, which aired on UPN, hosted by actor Chris Spencer. Spencer was fired in October, and replaced by Sinbad; the series lasted until the summer of 1998. At that same time, Sinbad performed his HBO comedy special "Nothin' But the Funk" in Aruba's Guillermo P. Trinidad Memorial Stadium.

In 1998 and 1999, Sinbad reunited with Bill Cosby and Carsey-Werner Productions, and appeared in three episodes of Cosby. In February 1999, he was featured in an infomercial for Tae Bo, where he stated that he was successfully using the Tae Bo system to become an action star.[21]

In February 2007, actor Mark Curry credited Sinbad and Bill Cosby for helping convince him not to commit suicide.[23] Sinbad was responsible for discovering R&B trio 702, convincing their parents to let him take them to a music convention/competition under the name "Sweeta than Suga"; the group eventually being heard by music producer Michael Bivins.[24]

Sinbad also made a cameo appearance on the television show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia as himself in a rehab center in the episode "Dennis Reynolds: An Erotic Life", which originally aired October 23, 2008.[25] His cameo was met with positive acclaim from fans of both him and the series.[26]

He performed his Comedy Central television special Where U Been? at Club Nokia, which was later released on DVD[29] to even greater success. On March 14, 2010, he debuted on the Celebrity Apprentice and was fired on the second episode (March 21, 2010) after losing in the Kodak challenge as project manager, placing 13th.

In 2017, he appeared on two episodes of Disney Junior's The Lion Guard, as the voice of Uroho the baboon. The same year, he appeared in a CollegeHumor April Fool's video consisting of newly created footage supposedly taken from a 1990s genie movie called Shazaam which never existed. The comedy drew from an Internet rumor confusing Shazaam with the real genie film titled Kazaam (1996), starring Shaquille O'Neal.[30][31][32] The false memories of Shazaam[33] have been explained as a confabulation of memories of the comedian wearing a genie-like costume during a TV presentation of Sinbad the Sailor movies in 1994.[34][35] In addition, in 1960s, Hanna-Barbera had an animated series about a genie called Shazzan.[36]

Sinbad also plays percussion and drums which he most often displays after every show appearance. He has played with numerous artists and musicians under the moniker of "Memphis Red"; such as Dawnn Lewis and Adult-Urban instrumentalist (saxophonist) Journell Henry "p/k/a. J. Henry".

In November 2020, his family announced to the press that Sinbad was recovering from a recent stroke.[42] In March 2024, Sinbad announced on social media that he was still recovering from his stroke but that he was attempting a comeback to his career in the future.[43]

In April 2009, Sinbad was listed as one of the ten worst tax debtors in the state of California, owing the state $2.5 million in personal income tax.[44] On December 11, 2009, Sinbad filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.[45][46] On February 5, 2010, it was reported that Sinbad put his 2.5-acre (1.0 ha) hilltop home up for sale in order to alleviate his tax burdens.[47][48]

The Sinbad Show is an American television sitcom starring comedian David "Sinbad" Adkins that premiered on September 16, 1993, on Fox. The show's main plot is about a bachelor taking in two orphaned children. Chuck Brown performed this sitcom's theme music. It was cancelled on April 21, 1994.[1]

The series follows the life of David Bryan (Sinbad), a carefree bachelor, who becomes a single parent when he adopts two orphaned children, Zana (Erin Davis) and L.J. Beckley (Willie Ray Norwood, Jr.), who face several issues which they work through together.

The show follows David as he guides L.J. and Zana in their new lives, including counselling L.J. on dealing with school, friendships, girls, and being a teenager and helping Zana learn how to function in everyday life. Meanwhile, Clarence shares his antics and David's parents help him deal with raising kids.

The Sinbad Show was cancelled after its first season, and aired its last episode on April 21, 1994. It aired at 8:30 p.m., following The Simpsons, Thursday nights on Fox. The series was one of several shows featuring predominantly black casts that were cancelled by Fox around the same time (others included Roc, South Central and In Living Color).[2] Activist Jesse Jackson protested the cancellations and called for a boycott of the network for their "institutional racism".[3] Fox maintained that the series were low rated and the decision to cancel was not racially motivated.[4]

The Sinbad Show is an American sitcom starring comedian Sinbad that premiered on September 16, 1993 on Fox. The show's main plot is about a bachelor taking in two orphaned children. Chuck Brown performed this sitcom's theme music. It was canceled after one season on April 21, 1994, with two episodes left unaired.

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