A Drama Desk and Laurence Olivier Award nominee for Best Actor, he performed on Broadway, the Metropolitan Opera, BBC television, in concert and made several recordings.
From 1978 to 1980, after Porgy and Bess, Hubbard was also seen on Broadway and subsequently in two Broadway National tours of Timbuktu!, starring the legendary Eartha Kitt, Melba Moore, Gilbert Price, and William Marshall and directed by the Tony Award winning director, costume designer and choreographer Geoffrey Holder.
He also appeared in the original company of Alan Jay Lerner and Leonard Bernstein's 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the role of Rev.
However it was his performance in the acclaimed Houston Grand Opera Broadway production in 1983, with Donald O'Connor, that garnered Hubbard a nomination for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical.
The 1988 EMI 3-CD set conducted by John McGlinn, featured, for the very first time on recordings, the entire musical score, though not all the dialogue, using the original 1927 vocal arrangements and orchestrations.
But he changed his mind after the all-black chorus, recruited from the Glyndebourne production of Porgy and Bess, strongly objected and sent a letter of protest to EMI.
Blacks today may want to forget the past and build on the future, but we should never lose our sense of history.Hubbard then appeared in the highly acclaimed 1986 Glyndebourne Festival revival of Porgy and Bess, as well as in the Metropolitan Opera production.
However, because the soundtrack of the recording was used in the Emmy-nominated television version, Hubbard can still be heard as Jake, while baritone Gordon Hawkins plays the role onscreen.
In 1991, Hubbard was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical, for reprising his role as Joe in the London Palladium production of Show Boat.
In a letter sent to him after one of his concerts, President Ronald Reagan wrote, "Your performance was brilliant and the richness of your voice thrilled us all.