Whats Buzzing in the Streets – Page 11

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin (March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer and songwriter. Franklin began her career as a child singing gospel at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, where her father, C. L. Franklin, was minister. In 1960, at the age of 18, she embarked on a secular career, recording for Columbia Records but only achieving modest success.

Following her signing to Atlantic Records in 1967, Franklin achieved commercial acclaim and success with songs such as “Respect”, “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”, “Spanish Harlem” and “Think”. By the end of the 1960s decade she had gained the title “The Queen of Soul”. Franklin eventually recorded a total of 112 charted singles on Billboard, including 77 Hot 100 entries, 17 top ten pop singles, 100 R&B entries and twenty number-one R&B singles, becoming the most charted female artist in the chart’s history. Franklin also recorded acclaimed albums such as I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, Lady Soul, Young, Gifted and Black and Amazing Grace before experiencing problems with her record company by the mid-1970s. After her father was shot in 1979, Franklin left Atlantic and signed with Arista Records, finding success with her part in the film The Blues Brothers and with the albums Jump to It and Who’s Zoomin’ Who?. In 1998, Franklin won international acclaim for singing the opera aria “Nessun dorma”, at the Grammys of that year replacing Luciano Pavarotti. Later that same year, she scored her final Top 40 recording with “A Rose Is Still a Rose”. Franklin’s other popular and well known hits include “Rock Steady”, “Jump to It”, “Freeway of Love”, “Who’s Zoomin’ Who”, “Chain Of Fools”, “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” (with George Michael), and a remake of The Rolling Stones song “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”.

Franklin has won a total of 18 Grammy Awards and is one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, having sold over 75 million records worldwide. Franklin has been honored throughout her career including a 1987 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in which she became the first female performer to be inducted. She was inducted to the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. In August 2012, Franklin was inducted into the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Franklin is listed in at least two all-time lists on Rolling Stone magazine, including the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time; and the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Franklin was born in Memphis and grew up in Detroit, where her father, the Rev. C. L. Franklin, was the pastor at the New Bethel Baptist Church. She began singing church music at an early age, and recorded her first album, The Gospel Sound of Aretha Franklin, for the Checker label at age 14. Her early influences, however, included secular singers like Dinah Washington, Sam Cooke, LaVern Baker, and Ruth Brown. Franklin signed with Columbia Records in 1960, yet her tenure at Columbia was open to doubt and found her dabbling in pop and jazz styles.

Columbia’s white ideals misunderstood her brilliance. With her switch to Atlantic Records in 1966, Aretha helped usher in an era of fresh, straightforward soul music. It began with her first single for the label; I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Loved You). Her next achievement was Respect, a fervent reworking of an Otis Redding song. Working with producer Jerry Wexler, engineer Tom Dowd, and arranger Arif Mardin, Franklin rewrote the book on soul music in the late Sixties with a string of smash crossover singles that included Chain of Fools, Think and A Natural Woman (You Make Me Feel).

The Seventies brought continued success to Franklin, who has to date, charted more million-sellers than any other woman in recording history did. “Lady Soul” (as she was dubbed) released Spirit in the Dark and Young, Gifted and Black. Her long tenure with Atlantic came to an end in 1980 and she signed with Arista. There, she recorded everything from gospel to dance music, including Freeway of Love and I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me). In 1987, she became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Franklin backed out of the spotlight in 1988, the year that her sister Carolyn, her brother, and her manager all died. What followed was a long line of accolades, a performance at President Bill Clinton’s 1993 inauguration, and countless minor projects such as a biography and television special. In 1998, Franklin recorded A Rose Is Still a Rose. Aretha Franklin, the “Queen of Soul,” remains one of the greatest vocalists of the age, a singer of great passion, and control whose finest recordings characterize the term soul music in all its deep, expressive glory. As Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun said, “I don’t think there’s anybody I have known who possesses an instrument like hers and who has such a thorough background in gospel, the blues and the essential black-music idiom.

She is blessed with an extraordinary combination of remarkable inner-city sophistication and of the deep blues feeling that comes from the Delta. The results, maybe she is the greatest singer of our time.” Franklin’s latest CD is called “So Damn Happy.”

Franklin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1979, had her voice declared a Michigan “natural resource” in 1985, and became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. NARAS awarded her a Grammy Legend Award in 1991, then the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994. Franklin was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1994, recipient of the National Medal of Arts in 1999, and was bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.

Franklin become the second woman inducted to the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. She was the 2008 MusiCares Person of the Year, performing at the Grammys days later. Following news of Franklin’s surgery and recovery in February 2011, the Grammys ceremony paid tribute to the singer with a medley of her classics performed by Christina Aguilera, Florence Welch, Jennifer Hudson, Martina McBride, and Yolanda Adams. That same year she was ranked among the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time top artists, and ranked first on the Rolling Stone list of Greatest Singers of All Time.

Inducted to the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2012, Franklin has been described as “the voice of the civil rights movement, the voice of black America” and a “symbol of black equality”. Franklin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1979, had her voice declared a Michigan “natural resource” in 1985, and became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. NARAS awarded her a Grammy Legend Award in 1991, then the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994. Franklin was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1994, recipient of the National Medal of Arts in 1999, and was bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.

She retired in 2017 and passed on August 16, 2018.

By Dianne Washington

George Benson

George Benson (born March 22, 1943) is a ten-time Grammy Award-winning American musician, guitarist and singer-songwriter. He began his professional career at twenty-one, as a jazz guitarist. Benson uses a rest-stroke picking technique similar to that of gypsy jazz players such as Django Reinhardt.

A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, playing soul jazz with Jack McDuff and others. He then launched a successful solo career, alternating between jazz, pop, R&B singing, and scat singing. His album Breezin’ was certified triple-platinum on the Billboard 200 chart in 1976. His concerts were well attended through the 1980s, and he still has a large following. He has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Benson was born and raised in the Hill District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At the age of seven, he first played THE ukulele in a corner drug store, for which he was paid a few dollars. At the age of eight, he played guitar in an unlicensed nightclub on Friday and Saturday nights, but the police soon closed the club down. At the age of 10, he recorded his first single record, “She Makes Me Mad”, with RCA-Victor in New York, under the name “Little Georgie”.

Benson attended and graduated Schenley High School. As a youth, instead, he learned how to play straight-ahead instrumental jazz during a relationship performing for several years with organist Jack McDuff. One of his many early guitar heroes was country jazz guitarist Hank Garland. At the age of 21, he recorded his first album as leader, The New Boss Guitar, featuring McDuff. Benson’s next recording was It’s Uptown with the George Benson Quartet, including Lonnie Smith on organ and Ronnie Cuber on baritone saxophone. Benson followed it up with The George Benson Cookbook, also with Lonnie Smith and Ronnie Cuber on baritone and drummer Marion Booker. Miles Davis employed Benson in the mid-1960s, featuring his guitar on “Paraphernalia” on his 1968 Columbia release, Miles in the Sky before going to Verve Records.

Benson then signed with Creed Taylor’s jazz label CTI Records, where he recorded several albums, with jazz heavyweights guesting, to some success, mainly in the jazz field. His 1974 release, Bad Benson, climbed to the top spot in the Billboard jazz chart, while the follow-ups, Good King Bad (#51 Pop album) and Benson and Farrell (with Joe Farrell), both reached the jazz top-three sellers. Benson also did a version of The Beatles’s 1969 album Abbey Road called The Other Side of Abbey Road, also released in 1969, and a version of “White Rabbit”, originally written and recorded by San Francisco rock group Great Society, and made famous by Jefferson Airplane. Benson played on numerous sessions for other CTI artists during this time, including Freddie Hubbard and Stanley Turrentine, notably on the latter’s acclaimed album Sugar.

By the mid- to late 1970s, as he recorded for Warner Bros. Records, a whole new audience began to discover Benson. With the 1976 release Breezin’, Benson sang a lead vocal on the track “This Masquerade”, which became a huge pop hit and won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year. (He had sung vocals infrequently on albums earlier in his career, notably his rendition of “Here Comes the Sun” on the Other Side of Abbey Road album.) The rest of the album is instrumental, including his rendition of the 1975 Jose Feliciano composition “Affirmation”. Breezin′ was a significant album in terms of popular music history – the first jazz release to go platinum.

In 1976, Benson toured with soul singer Minnie Riperton, who had been diagnosed with terminal breast cancer earlier that year. Also in 1976, George Benson appeared as a guitarist and backup vocalist on Stevie Wonder’s song “Another Star” from Wonder’s album Songs in the Key of Life. He also recorded the original version of “The Greatest Love of All” for the 1977 Muhammad Ali bio-pic, The Greatest, which was later covered by Whitney Houston as “Greatest Love of All”.During this time Benson recorded with the German conductor Claus Ogerman. The live take of “On Broadway”, recorded a few months later from the 1978 release Weekend in L.A., also won a Grammy. He has worked with Freddie Hubbard on a number of his albums throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

The Qwest record label (a subsidiary of Warner Bros., run by Quincy Jones) released Benson’s breakthrough pop album Give Me The Night, produced by Jones. Benson made it into the pop and R&B top ten with the song “Give Me the Night” (written by former Heatwave keyboardist Rod Temperton). More importantly, Quincy Jones encouraged Benson to search his roots for further vocal inspiration, and he re-discovered his love for Nat Cole, Ray Charles and Donny Hathaway in the process, influencing a string of further vocal albums into the 1990s. Despite returning to his jazz and guitar playing most recently, this theme was reflected again much later in Benson’s 2000 release Absolute Benson, featuring a cover of one of Hathaway’s most notable songs, “The Ghetto”. Benson accumulated three other platinum LPs and two gold albums.

In 1985, Benson and guitarist Chet Atkins went on the smooth jazz charts with their collaboration “Sunrise”, one of two songs from the duo released on Atkins’ disc Stay Tuned. In 1992, Benson appeared on Jack McDuff’s Colour Me Blue album, his first appearance on a Concord album. Benson signed with Concord Records in 2005 and toured with Al Jarreau in America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand to promote their 2006 multiple Grammy-winning album Givin’ It Up.

To commemorate the long-term relationship between Benson and Ibanez and to celebrate 30 years of collaboration on the GB Signature Models, Ibanez created the GB30TH, a very limited-edition model featuring a gold-foil finish inspired by the traditional Japanese Garahaku art form. In 2009, Benson was recognized by the National Endowment of the Arts as a Jazz Master, the nation’s highest honor in jazz. Benson performed at the 49th issue of the Ohrid Summer Festival in Macedonia on July 25, 2009, and his tribute show to Nat King Cole An Unforgettable Tribute to Nat King Cole as part of the Istanbul International Jazz Festival in Turkey on July 27. In the fall of 2009, Benson finished recording a new album entitled Songs and Stories, with Marcus Miller, producer John Burk, and session musicians David Paich and Steve Lukather. As a part of the promotion for his recent Concord Music Group/Monster Music release Songs and Stories, Benson has appeared and/or performed on The Tavis Smiley Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Benson toured throughout 2010 in North America, Europe and the Pacific Rim, including an appearance at the Singapore Sun Festival. He performed at the Java Jazz Festival March 4–6, 2011. In 2011, Benson released the album Guitar Man—revisiting his 1960s/early-1970s guitar-playing roots with a 12-song collection of covers of both jazz and pop standards overseen by producer John Burk.

In June 2013, Benson released his fourth album for Concord Records, Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole, which featured Wynton Marsalis, Idina Menzel, Till Brönner, and Judith Hill. In September, he returned to perform at Rock in Rio festival, in Rio de Janeiro, 35 years after his first performance at this festival, which was then the inaugural one.

Benson has been married to Johnnie Lee since 1965. Benson describes his music as focusing more on love and romance, rather than sexuality. He is a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Written by Dianne Washington

Stephanie Mills

Stephanie Dorthea Mills (born March 22, 1957) is an American Grammy award–winning singer, songwriter and Broadway stage actress. Mills rose to stardom as “Dorothy” in the original Broadway run of the musical The Wiz from 1975 to 1977. The song “Home” from the show later became a Number 1 U.S. R&B hit for Mills and her signature song. During the 1980s, Mills scored five Number 1 R&B hits, including “Home”, “I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love”, “I Feel Good All Over”, “(You’re Puttin’) A Rush on Me” and “Something in the Way (You Make Me Feel)”. Mills’ won a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for her song “Never Knew Love Like This Before” in 1981.

Born Stephanie Doretha Mills to Joseph and Christine Mills in Brooklyn, New York City, Mills sang gospel music as a child at Brooklyn’s Cornerstone Baptist Church. Mills began her professional career at age nine, appearing in the Broadway musical Maggie Flynn. After winning Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater six weeks straight at age eleven, Mills went on to become the opening act for the Isley Brothers. In 1973, Mills was signed to Paramount records by Michael Barbiero, and her first single “I Knew It Was Love” was released. Mills was later signed to Motown. Her first two albums there failed to produce a hit, and Mills left the label in 1976.

Mills’ career took a rise when she portrayed Dorothy in an African American adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz entitled The Wiz, where she began dating Michael Jackson. Filled with a more urban style of music and scenery, The Wiz made Mills a star particularly because of her stellar performance of the song “Home”. It would become her signature tune for years, and would be covered later by Diana Ross for the big-screen adaptation three years later and by Whitney Houston for her dramatic musical performance debut on TV in the early 1980s. When she sang “Home”, the musical’s answer to “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”, her theatrical delivery thrilled audiences and marked her as a talent to watch. One of her most appreciative fans was Michael. By his own count he saw The Wiz eight times, in part because of the up-coming film version but also because he and Mills had become friends. Like Michael, and Tatum O’Neal, she was a teen star burdened with adult pressures and popularity. Those close to the young star said she was quite infatuated with Michael. At cabaret appearances around New York, Mills sang “I Wanna Be Where You Are” and used Jacksonesque stage mannerisms. But for Michael she was a good friend, nothing more. Later in her career she often sang a quite passionate version of “He’s Out Of My Life”, a female version of “She’s Out Of My Life”.” – The Michael Jackson Story, Nelson George

Commercial success was elusive until 1979, when signed under the 20th Century Fox Records record label, Mills found her breakthrough in disco music, recording songs such as “Put Your Body In It”, “You Can Get Over”, and “What Cha’ Gonna Do With My Lovin'”. The resulting album, What Cha’ Gonna Do with My Lovin’, was Mills’ first gold record.

She quickly followed the success with 1980’s Sweet Sensation, which featured Mills’ biggest hit to date, the Reggie Lucas-produced “Never Knew Love Like This Before”. The single became a #12 R&B and #6 Pop hit in 1980, as well as reaching #4 in the UK Singles Chart. 1981’s Stephanie featured a top hit for her and Teddy Pendergrass entitled “Two Hearts”, while her 1983 album, Merciless, featured her hit cover of Prince’s “How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore?”, as well as the #3 dance chart hit “Pilot Error”, which was her first dance hit in the U.S. In 1984, Mills had her third UK hit with “The Medicine Song” (#29), which also reached #1 on the U.S. dance chart. In 1985, Mills’ recording of “Bit by Bit (Theme from Fletch)” was featured in the Chevy Chase film, Fletch, and reached #52 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart and #78 on The Billboard Hot 100.

Success for Mills had peaked until 1986, when her version of the Angela Winbush-penned “I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love”, hit #1 on the R&B singles chart. Mills truly returned, however, with her next release, If I Were Your Woman in 1987 under MCA Records, which she was now signed. The hits from the album include the title track, originally a hit for Gladys Knight & the Pips in 1971; a three-week #1 R&B hit, “I Feel Good All Over” (a song her label mate Patti LaBelle did not wish to cover); and “You’re Puttin’ a Rush on Me”, to name a few of the songs released. The album reached platinum status. That same year, she appeared in the NBC TV special, Motown: Merry Christmas along with other musical artists and actors, performing the song, “Christmas Everyday”, which was written by actor/comedian Redd Foxx.

Mills’ success continued with 1989’s Home album. The hits from that album include “The Comfort of a Man”, the title track, a cover of her old standard from The Wiz and another song penned by Winbush titled “Something in the Way You Make Me Feel”. It became another platinum record for Mills.

Mills would record one more album (1992’s Something Real) and a Christmas album before being released from her contract with MCA in 1992. Mills released a live gospel recording in 1995 on GospoCentric Records entitled Personal Inspirations. The set was produced by Donald Lawrence and featured a spiritualized retooling of her hit “I Have Learned To Respect The Power Of Love”. Thereafter, Mills took a break from recording to care for her son.

Mills returned to musical theater in 1997, playing the lead in a major production of Stephen Schwartz’s Children of Eden in New Jersey, which Schwartz has called “the definitive production” of the show. Mills was heavily featured in the cast recording CD that resulted from this production.

In 2008, Mills began a comeback with singles recorded with BeBe Winans and rapper DMX to name a few. She made a comeback in independently-releasing Born For This (released on Expansion Records in the UK) on 3 August 2004. Her first single in over a decade, “Can’t Let Him Go”, garnered buzz at urban contemporary radio. Mills is currently touring. A 2-disc, career-spanning greatest hits compilation entitled Gold was released by Hip-O/Universal Music earlier last year. Mills just finished production of a live DVD recorded at BB Kings in New York which will be sold online and at her shows.

Mills made an appearance in the 2007 gospel TV series Sunday Best and was recently featured in a live interview on The Yolanda Adams Morning Show, where she mentioned that she now has her own record label (JM Records).

Mills performed prior to Pope Benedict XVI celebrating Mass at Yankee Stadium in New York on April 20, 2008.

Her track, “Yesterday”, is available for download on iTunes. Towards the end of 2012, Mills released a new single “So In Love This Christmas”, available for download.

Mills is the fifth of six children. She was born in Queens, and raised predominantly in Brooklyn, New York. Mills claims that she was romantically involved with Michael Jackson for a short period of time while she was doing The Wiz.

In 2002 Ebony magazine reported that Mills had been married in the 1980s for a brief period, to Jeffrey Daniel from the soul group Shalamar and again in the mid-1980s to Dino Meminger but that both marriages had ended in less than two years. “I also wanted to know why my relationships never made it to two years. I knew it was me,” says Mills. “You can’t blame it on another person. That’s where a lot of women go wrong… carrying over from a bad relationship to a new relationship.”

Mills married a third time to Charlotte, North Carolina, radio program manager, Michael Saunders, in 1993 in a wedding ceremony performed by Minister Louis Farrakhan. The couple divorced sometime later.

In an interview with Soul Music in 2002, Mills revealed that she had a son, Farad. She added that giving birth “was the best thing I’ve ever done. It was amazingly wonderful and I wish I had started earlier. I might have had two or three before, but I had some problems before in being able to have children. But things work out when they’re supposed to… now I’m a single working parent and loving it!” However, Mills refused to identify Farad’s father.

In an interview with Windy City Times in 2010, Mills said that she presently makes her home in Charlotte, North Carolina and that her son, Farad has Down’s Syndrome. “The Shriners are celebrating their 88th anniversary, and they have 22 hospitals nationwide,” says Mills. “And what I love is even my son — I have a child with Down syndrome — can get access to the best spinal-cord doctors in the country.”

Stephanie is still performing in sold out shows all over the country and throughout the world.

Written by Dianne Washington

FRED BERRY (Rerun)

In MEMORY of FRED BERRY for his BIRTHDAY – (Mar 19, 1951 – Oct 21, 2003)

Career years: 1972 – 2003

Born Fred Allen Berry, American actor and street dancer. He was best known for his role as Freddie “Rerun” Stubbs on the 1970s television show What’s Happening!!

Early life and career –

Berry was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up in an inner-city housing estate. He had aspirations of becoming a successful dancer and actor as a child. Early in his career, Berry was a member of the Los Angeles-based dance troupe The Lockers, with whom he appeared on the third episode of Saturday Night Live in 1975. He additionally appeared on the dance music show Soul Train, and was featured in the program’s signature line dance segment doing the memorable early 1970s dance step “the slo-mo”.

Berry achieved more widespread fame playing the character Freddie “Rerun” Stubbs on the ABC sitcom What’s Happening!!, which aired from 1976 to 1979 as he was in his mid 20s. The role was originally going to be given by that of a skinny and white actor. His earned Rerun sobriquet was chosen because the character had to continuously repeat all of his classes during summer school. He became one of the show’s top characters with a trademark red beret, suspenders, and the dance moves he previously used during his time with The Lockers. In 1985, Berry returned to reprise his role as Rerun in the series What’s Happening Now!!. He was fired before the first season ended due to a salary dispute, when he requested that he receive more money than the rest of the cast.

Berry struggled with drug and alcohol issues throughout the span of his career and life. In 1996, he told People magazine “I was a millionaire by the time I was 29, but then the stress of success got to me. The fat jokes got to me. And I got heavily into drugs and alcohol.” In a 1996 interview, he said that he had been experimenting with drugs and alcohol since he was a teenager, but as he became more successful, he could afford more drugs. Berry had attempted suicide three times, but later recovered and spent his time visiting many churches.

During the 1990s, Berry became a motivational speaker and Baptist minister, and lost 100 lbs after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

Personal life and death –

Berry was married six times to four different women, the first two of whom he married twice each. He has three children: DeShannon, Portia and Freddy, who works as Fred Berry Jr.

Berry was found dead at his Los Angeles home, where he was recovering from a stroke at the age of 52. The cause of death was listed as natural causes. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles.

Clifton Powell

Clifton Powell (born March 16, 1956) is an American actor who primarily plays supporting roles in films, such as in Ray (2004), for which he received an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture nomination.

Powell has appeared in more than one hundred films, beginning in the 1980s. His credits include Menace II Society (1993), Dead Presidents (1995), Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1998), Rush Hour (1998), Next Friday (2000), and its 2002 sequel, Friday After Next, Woman Thou Art Loosed (2004), and Ray (2004). He played Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1999 television film Selma, Lord, Selma. Powell also has had many supporting roles in smaller direct-to-video films in 2000s and 2010s.

On television, Powell had the recurring roles on Roc, South Central, and Army Wives, and well as guest-starred on In the Heat of the Night, Murder, She Wrote, NYPD Blue, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and House MD. In 2016, Powell was cast as main antagonist in the Bounce TV first prime time soap opera, Saints & Sinners opposite Vanessa Bell Calloway and Gloria Reuben.

Powell is also known for his voice acting role as Big Smoke in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

In 2017, Powell appeared in the second season of My Step Kidz.

Powell was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Mayfair Mansions in Northeast D.C. Attended HD Woodson Senior High School. He transferred and graduated from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Powell is married to Kimberly, with whom he has two children.

Written by Dianne Washington

DJ Scott La Rock

Scott Monroe Sterling (March 2, 1962 – August 27, 1987), known by the stage name DJ Scott La Rock, was an American hip-hop disc jockey and music producer from the Bronx, New York. He was a founding member of the East Coast hip hop group Boogie Down Productions.

Sterling’s death in August 1987 is said to be the first murder of a major hip hop artist.

Scott Sterling was born on March 2, 1962, in the Bronx, New York City. His parents separated when he was four years old, so he was raised by his mother, Carolyn Morant, a municipal employee. They moved from Queens, New York City, to the Bronx: first Morrisania and then Morris Heights.

He excelled in both academics and sports at Our Saviour Lutheran High School, graduating in 1980. He attended Castleton State College in Vermont and earned a varsity letter in basketball there.

La Rock returned to New York City in hopes of finding work and making inroads to the music industry. Through a connection of his mother’s, La Rock landed a job as a social worker at Franklin Armory Men’s Shelter on 166th Street in the Bronx. At night, though, he spun records at the hip hop hot spot the Broadway Repertoire Theatre.

During his time as a social worker, La Rock met rapper KRS-One in 1986 at Franklin Men’s Shelter where KRS resided. The pair formed Boogie Down Productions (BDP) with DJ Derrick “D-Nice” Jones, a cousin of the shelter’s security guard, Floyd Payne. The group’s 1987 debut album, Criminal Minded, is considered a hip hop classic.

On August 27, 1987, D-Nice was assaulted by men upset that he had been talking to one of their ex-girlfriends. D-Nice asked La Rock to help defuse the situation. Later that day, La Rock, Scotty “Manager Moe” Morris, DJ McBooo, D-Nice and BDP bodyguard Darrell rode a Jeep CJ-7 to the Highbridge Homes Projects building on University Avenue in the South Bronx. As they were leaving, bullets were fired through the side and top of the Jeep. La Rock struck his head on the dashboard, not realizing at the time he had been struck by a bullet in the back of his head. He was driven to Lincoln Hospital. He was conscious as he was wheeled into the emergency department, telling doctors he was feeling cold and tired. He died in the operating room.

Two men were arrested and charged with La Rock’s murder, but they were acquitted at the trial.

Written Dianne Washington

Arsenio Hall

Arsenio Cheron Hall, Sr. (born February 12, 1956) is an American comedian and talk show host. He is best known for hosting The Arsenio Hall Show, a late-night talk show that ran from 1989 until 1994, and a revival of the same show from 2013-2014.

Other television shows and films Hall has appeared in are Martial Law, Star Search (host), Coming to America (1988) and Harlem Nights (1989). Hall is also known for his appearance as Alan Thicke’s sidekick on the talk show Thicke of the Night.

In 2012, Hall was the winning contestant on NBC’s reality-competition game show Celebrity Apprentice 5.

Arsenio was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Fred and Anne Hall. His father is a Baptist minister. Hall performed as a magician when he was a child. He graduated from Warrensville Heights High School in Warrensville Heights, Ohio in 1973. After he graduated, he attended Ohio University, where he was on the speech team with Nancy Cartwright and Leon Harris. He then transferred to and graduated from Kent State University in 1977.

Hall later moved to Chicago, and then Los Angeles, to pursue a career in comedy, making a couple of appearances on Soul Train. In 1984, he was the announcer/sidekick for Alan Thicke during the short-lived talk show Thicke of the Night (a role for which he has on occasion noted his confusion with Monty Hall). Arsenio was the original voice of Winston Zeddemore in the cartoon The Real Ghostbusters from 1986–1987. In 1988, he co-starred in the comedy film Coming to America with Eddie Murphy.

In 1986, the Fox network introduced The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, created to directly challenge The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. After a moderate start, ratings for the show sagged. Behind-the-scenes relations between Rivers and network executives at Fox quickly eroded, and Rivers left in 1987. The series was subsequently renamed The Late Show, and featured several hosts, including Ross Shafer, Suzanne Somers, Richard Belzer and Robert Townsend before it was cancelled in 1988. Hall was also chosen to host the show in the fall of 1987, and his stint proved to be immensely popular, developing a cult following which eventually led to Hall landing his own show in syndication.

From January 2, 1989 until May 27, 1994, he had a Paramount contract to host a nationwide syndicated late night talk show, The Arsenio Hall Show. The show became a breakout, late-night success, especially rating high among the coveted younger demographic and known for its audience’s distinctive alternative to applause: chanting “Roo, Roo, Roo!,” while pumping their fists. The practice soon became such a ritual that by 1991 had become a “pop culture stamp of approval” — one that Hall said had become “so popular it’s getting on people’s nerves.” The gesture made it into films of the time: the title character played by Julia Roberts did it in a polo scene in Pretty Woman (1990), and characters played by Penny Marshall and Michael J. Fox did it in The Hard Way. In Disney’s Aladdin (1992), the Genie character voiced by Robin Williams performs the gesture while mimicking the physical appearance of Hall. This popular gesture can also be found in the 1993 Mel Brooks’ comedy, Robin Hood: Men in Tights. It was also seen in the movie Passenger 57, in which an old woman confuses the character played by Wesley Snipes with Arsenio Hall. After saving the day, the passengers on the hijacked plane do the gesture toward the protagonist.

He also had a rivalry with Jay Leno, after the latter was named host of The Tonight Show, during which time Hall said that he would “kick Jay’s ass” in ratings.

Hall used his fame during this period to help fight worldwide prejudice against HIV/AIDS, after Magic Johnson contracted the disease. Hall and Johnson filmed a PSA about the disease that aired in the early 1990s.

Between 1988—1991, Hall hosted the MTV Video Music Awards. Over the years, he has appeared as a guest on numerous talk shows, in special features, as a voice actor, on game shows and other award shows. Since The Arsenio Hall Show ended, Hall had a leading role on television shows such as the short-lived sitcom Arsenio (1997) and Martial Law with Sammo Hung (1999—2000), as well as hosted the revival of Star Search (2003—2004). While hosting Star Search, he popularized the catchphrase “Hit me with the digits!”.

Hall appeared as himself in Chappelle’s Show in March 2004, when Chappelle was imagining “what Arsenio is doing right now” in a dinner scene. Hall has guest co-hosted Wednesday evenings on The Tim Conway Jr. Show on KLSX 97.1 FM radio. Hall also hosted MyNetworkTV’s comedic web video show The World’s Funniest Moments and TV One’s 100 Greatest Black Power Moves. Hall also appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher in May 2012, in a discussion commemorating the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

Hall was considered to be the host of the syndicated version of Deal or No Deal and filmed a pilot (there were six taped). However, by the time the syndicated series began on September 8, 2008, Howie Mandel was chosen as the host.

He also appeared regularly on The Jay Leno Show, and was a guest on Lopez Tonight. George Lopez credits Arsenio for being the reason he had a late night show; Lopez appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show more times than any other comedian. Lopez requested Hall be a co-host on Lopez Tonight (November 25, 2009) since he regarded Hall as his inspiration and the first “late night party show host”. Hall has filled-in as guest host for NBC’s Access Hollywood Live (2011) and CNN’s evening talk/interview program Piers Morgan Tonight in 2012.

In 2012, Hall was a contestant on the fifth edition of The Celebrity Apprentice, which began airing February 19, 2012. Hall represented his charity, the Magic Johnson Foundation, which is dedicated to advancing economic and social equality by engaging minorities in every aspect of their communities; increasing academic and innovative achievement; and raising HIV/AIDS awareness, treatment and prevention. While Hall clashed with Aubrey O’Day, he befriended a majority of the cast. On May 20, 2012, in the live season finale, Hall was chosen as the Celebrity Apprentice winner, being “hired” by billionaire real estate investor Donald Trump over the other celebrity finalist, singer Clay Aiken. For winning The Celebrity Apprentice, Hall won the $250,000 grand prize for his charity, in addition to any money he won for his charity for tasks he and his team won when he was a team leader on the show.

A revival of Hall’s syndicated late-night talk show, The Arsenio Hall Show, premiered September 9, 2013 on Tribune owned stations and other networks via CBS Television Distribution. It was cancelled after one season due to low ratings.

According to reports in 2009, Arsenio made it public that he had dated Paula Abdul in the past, dating back to more than 20 years earlier.

When asked about his charity selection on The Celebrity Apprentice, Hall said that about a month or so before he agreed to be on the show, his cousin died due to HIV/AIDS.

In 1997, after being out of the public eye for three years, Hall took an interview to dispel rumors regarding what had driven him off stage stating, “I went on the Internet and read I was in detox at Betty Ford, I got on line under a fake name and typed in, “I know Arsenio better than anyone else and he’s not in detox, you idiots!”

Hall has one son, born in 1999. Since his birth, Hall mostly took time off to raise his son before resuming The Arsenio Hall Show in 2013. Hall had an interest in returning to the business eventually, but his decision wasn’t confirmed until he appeared on Lopez Tonight in 2009 (although he initially considered a weekend show because he didn’t want to compete in ratings against his friend George Lopez).

On September 4, 2014, Hall had lost legendary comedian, mentor and longtime friend Joan Rivers to anoxic encephalopathy. Prior to her death, he said it was her that “put me on The Tonight Show first! And it was her apprentice victory, that motivated me to give it one hundred!”

On May 5, 2016, Hall filed a $5 million defamation lawsuit against Sinéad O’Connor after she claimed he had fueled Prince’s drug habit.

In July 2016, Hall became the host of the ABC television program Greatest Hits. As of that same month, he is scheduled to appear in the telefilm Sandy Wexler.

Written Dianne Washington

Tim Conway

Thomas Daniel “Tim” Conway (December 15, 1933 – May 14, 2019) was an American actor, comedian, writer, and director. From 1966 to 2012 he appeared in more than 100 TV shows, TV series and films. Among his more notable roles, he portrayed the inept Ensign Parker in the 1960s World War II TV situation comedy McHale’s Navy, was a regular cast member (1975–1978) on the TV comedy The Carol Burnett Show where he portrayed his recurrent iconic characters Mister Tudball, the Oldest Man and the Dumb Private, co-starred with Don Knotts in several films (1975–80), was the title character in the Dorf series of eight sports comedy direct-to-video films (1987–1996), and provided the voice of Barnacle Boy in the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants (1999–2012). Twice, in 1970 and in 1980–1981, he had his own TV series.

He passed away in 2019 at the age of 85 from dementia and a host of other health issues.

Trugoy,of De La Soul, dead at 54

Trugoy born David Jolicoeur co-founder of the legendary rap group De La Soul has died. A cause of death has not been disclosed at this time. Story developing..

Camille Winbush

Camille Simoine Winbush (born February 9, 1990)[1] is an American actress and recording artist best known for her roles as Emma Aimes on short-lived sitcom Minor Adjustments, Vanessa Thomkins on The Bernie Mac Show and as Lauren Treacy on the popular teen drama The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Her work in television has earned her three Image Awards and a Young Artist Award.

Winbush was born in Los Angeles, California on February 9, 1990, the only child of Anthony and Alice Winbush.[2] She never attended public school, having been homeschooled and educated by an on-set tutor while acting as a child.[2] Winbush was a competitive gymnast during her childhood.[2]

Winbush made her acting debut on television series Viper in 1994,[3] playing the role of Lucy Wilkes.[4] The following year, she acted in her first film, Dangerous Minds. She appeared regularly on sitcom Minor Adjustments (1995−96) as Emma Aimes, the daughter of Rondell Sheridan’s character.[5] Winbush reprised her role of Emma on Brotherly Love in a Halloween episode.[6]

She portrayed a young girl named Camille in Eraser (1996)[7] and appeared as Pearline, a bookworm, in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999).[8] Winbush had a recurring role on 7th Heaven[2] and provided the voice of Ashley Tomossian on the Disney cartoon Recess.[9]

Winbush’s big break came in 2001 when she was cast as Vanessa Thomkins on The Bernie Mac Show,[10][11] a role she would play until the series ended in 2006. During her run on the show Winbush earned numerous award nominations for her role, winning three NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) – Leading Young Actress in 2006.

She has guest starred on Strong Medicine,[12] Criminal Minds, That’s Life, The Norm Show, NYPD Blue, and Any Day Now. In 2007, she appeared in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy.[citation needed] Winbush acted in Disney’s musical production of Geppetto.

From 2008 to 2013, Winbush played Lauren Treacy, a recurring character in The Secret Life of the American Teenager.[13] Winbush was cast as Miriam in the web series The Choir, replacing Idara Victor in the role. She provided the voice of Rhonda in Children of Ether and portrayed Syrena in Cannon Busters,[14] both productions by animator LeSean Thomas.

In 2002, Winbush recorded “One Small Voice” featuring singers Myra and Taylor Momsen and “The Night Before Christmas Song” for the compilation album School’s Out! Christmas. She also sang on the soundtrack of the Disney musical production of Geppetto.

As a teenager, Winbush operated an ice cream shop she named Baked Ice, located in Pasadena, California.[12] It opened in 2003 and an aunt supervised the store when Winbush was unavailable.[12] She received a Teenpreneur Award from Black Enterprise in 2004.[15] The business was still extant as of 2005.[16