Imhotep Gary Byrd

Imhotep Gary Byrd (born March 14, 1949) is an American, New York City–based radio talk-show host and executive producer, radio DJ, poet, songwriter, music recording artist and producer, rapper, writer and community activist.

Byrd began his career in Buffalo, New York, in 1965, as a 15-year-old radio DJ. In 2015, he celebrated 50 years as a radio personality.

For more than 30 years, he has been a talk show host at WBLS and WLIB radio in New York City.

Gary Byrd and the GB Experience was an American mixed-gender vocal and instrumental group, which had a single titled "The Crown", in the UK Singles Chart. It was released on the Motown label, entered the chart on July 23, 1983, at number 21, and rose to a high of number 6; it remained in the chart for nine weeks. It had previously been released in the US on Stevie Wonder's short-lived Wondirection label but did not receive the proper promotion because its release coincided with the purchase of Motown by MCA Records, where the small label was overlooked.

Radio Byrd began his career in Buffalo, New York, on WUFO in the 1960s, discovered and mentored by broadcaster-educator Hank Cameron as a radio prodigy at age 15. During the 1990s, he created the "Global Black Experience," a live broadcast for the Apollo Theater.

During the 1980s, Byrd was also a radio and television personality in England, hosting shows on the BBC and other British networks. Byrd described the song at the time thus: "The idea is not that black, white or anyone is better, but that we all have our place. We've all made contributions - and mistakes too. Wearing the crown is reaching the top of your potential. You could be a writer or you could be a mechanic, but you can still wear the crown."

Present day Currently, his tri-state arts & entertainment community column "Imhotep’s Guide To Black Events" runs weekly in the New York Amsterdam News, one of the nation's oldest African American newspapers.

Byrd’s "Express Yourself" broadcasts are now available to listeners on a variety of multiple media platforms. The simulcast WBLS and WLIB talk show is available globally at WBLS.com, WLIB.com, WBLS-HD2, and iHeart radio. "iGBE: Imhotep Gary Byrd’s Express Yourself" programming is also interactive in real time on his Facebook page.

Legacy In 1973, James Brown dedicated the song "Mind Power" from his The Payback album to Byrd.