TheGrio's 100: Steve Harvey, thinking like a media maverick

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No stranger to the spotlight, Steve Harvey, 53, has certainly enjoyed longevity in the entertainment industry. Still, 2009 was a breakout year.

His relationship advice book Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man topped The New York Times Bestsellers List, earning Harvey an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. His widened appeal prompted ABC’s Good Morning America to make him a correspondent in August.

Embarking on a career as a stand-up comedian in the mid-1980s, the former factory worker, insurance salesman and Kent State drop-out got his first big break as a guest comedian on the iconic It’s Showtime at the Apollo in the early 1990s, which he hosted for seven years. His first sitcom, Me and the Boys, where he played a widower raising his three sons, ran on ABC in 1994.

Despite being praised for his positive portrayal of black fatherhood and receiving the 1995 People’s Choice Award for “Favorite Male in a New Television Series,” ABC canceled the show. Still hosting Showtime, Harvey first became a radio guy in 1996, hosting Chicago’s WGCI morning show from L.A. for a year.

WATCH STEVE HARVEY DISCUSS LOVE, RELATIONSHIPS ON THE TODAY SHOW
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From 1996 to 2002, Harvey endeared himself to audiences as Steve Hightower, a former R&B frontman turned inner-city high school music teacher, on The Steve Harvey Show. Meanwhile, Harvey stayed true to his passion for stand-up.

Along with fellow comedians Bernie Mac, D.L. Hughley and Steve Harvey Show co-star Cedric the Entertainer, he hit the road in 1997 for The Kings of Comedy tour, which grossed more than $37 million in a two-year run catering to an African-American audience. Lightning struck again with the Spike Lee-directed film version in 2000.

Returning to radio in 2000 with The Steve Harvey Morning Show, Harvey used humor to address such pressing issues as book shortages in public schools and relationship woes. Today, his radio show is syndicated in over 64 markets, drawing an estimated 7 million listeners and challenging the reigning black radio champ Tom Joyner, who Harvey replaced on Joyner’s flagship Chicago WVAZ in ‘09.

With annual events like the Hoodie Awards honoring black-owned businesses in neighborhoods across the nation and his eponymous foundation, Harvey also does his part to make positive strides.