Azizi Johari

“I grew up all over the world because my stepfather was in the service. But, I came back to Seattle for high school and college,” says our Playmate of the Month. Azizi Johari has always loved music from when she was a teenager. In high school, she put together a singing group called The Marvelles whose song Call Me Back was known by everyone in town. From Seattle to San Francisco, the gorgeous black-haired beauty worked as a stewardess before she joined a theater group called Black Arts West and the movie roles came her way shortly after. Azizi acted in A Raisin in the Sun, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, was a ring girl in Rocky II and was even on an episode of The Six Million Dollar Man. “I'd love to become an actress and perhaps sing - a Freda Payne sort of act,” says our all-natural Miss June 1975. “It's a really strange contradiction. On the one hand, I'm a confirmed introvert, overprotective of my privacy. On the other hand, I want to be a star.” Her career skyrocketed thanks to one infamous poster that appeared in the bedrooms of boys everywhere across the United States and was even in the movie, The Shining. The poster entitled Supernatural Dream featured Azizi, her voluptuous curves and her massive afro encircled by a cloud of smoke. At the time, our sexy Playmate of the Month thought of the poster as a mere stepping stone towards a lucrative modeling career. What she didn’t expect was the poster becoming so iconic it attracted the attention of legendary singer, Sammy Davis Jr. “Sammy was looking for a dancer at the time I found out about his hang-up with my poster. He took one look at me in the flesh and that was that. I was hired on a Sunday and was working in St. Louis with him on Monday,” recalls our Creole-American Miss June 1975 who danced with Sammy’s troupe and even acted in a skit where Sammy tried his best get her attention. “Sammy tries to pick me up. In my platform shoes, I stand about six feet to his five feet, two. First, he tries the Latin-lover approach, then the soul-sister routine. But, I always put him down. That's what gets the laughs.” Azizi took the role with the greatest of ease. She was born to be a temptress. She knew, Sammy knew it, but Playboy fans are just learning this blissful fact. “I love being a Playmate because they said it couldn’t be done as a woman as black as I am,” confesses our ebony Miss June 1975. “With my Playmate fee, I plan to help my mother buy some land. As a child in the South she had a rough time and her lifelong dream has been to have a home of her own.” As for her name, Azizi Johari was a name she chose after jazz pianist Herbie Hancock insisted she change her birth name. After all, her original name wasn’t bold or vibrant enough for a lovely woman like her. “Azizi means precious or rare in Swahili and Johari means gem or jewel,” explains our Miss June 1975. Azizi Johari is a precious gem, indeed.