Today, we have Beyoncé and Idris, but before they were heating up Google images, there was Eartha Kitt and Billy Dee Williams. With movie star good looks and the magic to make grown men and women cry, these 15 stars gave us nothing but sex appeal and our parents and grandparents loved it! Here are some of the best black sex symbols of yesteryear!
Source: Promotional Photos/Google Images
Billy Dee Williams
“Oh Billy Dee” is what all of our grandmothers said whenever the mere shadow of this actor came on a screen. Billy Dee was so hot that Diana Ross couldn’t stop acting with him, appearing with him in Lady Sings the Blues and Mahogany. Billy even made the hood-classic drink Colt 45 hot. Who else can do that?
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Teddy Pendergrass
The early 1980s were made for Teddy’s Pendergrass’ sexiness. He commanded we turn off the lights and light a candle, and it was done. Only a hot man with a half buttoned silk shirt can tell a black woman what to do.
Promotional Photo/Google Images
Eartha Kitt
At a fabulous 5’4, Ms. Kitt made the Christmas holiday hot and the bearded one blush with her hit, “Santa Baby.” She came back almost forty years later to throw that same hotness at Eddie Murphy in Boomerang. When you can keep your umph for that long, you deserve to be on a list like this.
The Jackson 5
Jackie and Jermaine were for the older girls. Tito was for the thicker girls. Marlon and Randy were for the youngins and Michael was loved by EVERYONE. From their Colgate smiles to their electric dance moves, this band of brothers gave every girl (and woman) something to scream for.
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Donna Summer
Donna Summer moaned us to love in 1975’s “Love to Love You Baby.” Her big hair, that disco ball, and those babydoll eye-lashes, made gay men, straight men, black men and white men lust all over this chocolate beauty. The man upstairs returned her home in 2012 to bring disco-hotness back! She’s probably doing a great job.
Promotional Photo/Google Images
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan? Oh yes, darling. She’s the original lady with the “cute face and slim waist.” Her smile made men melt and her singing chops made women groove. She’s a sweet and hot thang.
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Bobby Brown
It’s hard to imagine Bobby Brown as a sex symbol now, but back in the 19080s, this infamous air humper made the girls melt. He was confident, he could dance and he made the gumpy haircut look extra hot. He even bagged Whitney Houston in her prime. New Edition’s resident bad boy did all of that. Don’t forget.
Promotional Photo/Google Images
Lauryn Hill
It’s pretty weird to put Lauryn Hill and “yesteryear” in the same sentence, but it’s almost true. Back in the day, Lauryn Hill was the intellectual, poetic, dope chick with the dreads. Her effortless sexiness was everything the ’90s loved. Come back, Lauryn. Come back.
Promotional Photo/Google Images
Anita Baker
Anita Baker had a voice that was made for late night R&B radio. Every word she sang turned someone’s father on. Anita had that sweet love.
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Pam Grier
Foxy Brown! Oh, Foxy Brown! Pam Grier looked good in the 1970s, and will look good for eternity! Whether it was your father, your uncle, or your uncle and father’s father, Pam Grier was the woman for them back in the day. The lady was the definition of hot.
Promotional Photo/Google Images
Tina Turner
When Tina was rolling on the river, we noticed her hotness, but it wasn’t until she asked us “What’s Love Got To Do With It” that we really drooled until we had no saliva left. Those legs? Gawd!
Promotional Photo/Google Images
Dorothy Dandridge
Dorothy Dandridge was pretty. Dorothy Dandridge was a movie star. Dorothy Dandridge was Halle Berry before Halle Berry existed. Now, that’s hot.
Promotional Photo/Google Images
Al Green
You wouldn’t think Reverend Al Green was a hot tamale if you saw him now, but you better believe in the 1970s, Al was mmm mmm good. Have you seen his Let’s Stay Together album cover? Wooooo!
Movie-Still (Blade)/Google Images
Wesley Snipes
Wesley Snipes is the old random black guy on red carpets now, but it was only two decades ago that he was the epitome of tall, dark and handsome. Poor thing should have kept up on those taxes.
Promotional Photo/Google Images
Paula Abdul
Paula made dancing with a cartoon hot. She choreographed moves to make even little Penny from Good Times hot. Her racial ambiguity was a turn on, too, but in the black community’s eyes, Paula was simply a hot woman of color!
Promotional Photo/Google Images
Phyllis Hyman
Where to start? Those lips? That body? Those eyes? That voice? That flawless skin? The woman known as Phyllis Hyman was S-E-X-Y! With her model good looks and her sultry voice, Phyllis is the unsung beauty that should have been in movies and make-up campaigns. Her sex appeal will live on forever. Believe that.
