Whats Buzzing in the Streets – Page 12

Chris Rock

Christopher Julius Rock III (born February 7, 1965) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and director.

After working as a standup comic and appearing in small film roles, Rock came to wider prominence as a cast member of Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s. He went on to more prominent film appearances, with starring roles in Down to Earth (2001), Head of State (2003), the Madagascar film series (2005–2012), Grown Ups (2010), its sequel Grown Ups 2 (2013), Top Five (2014), and a series of acclaimed comedy specials for HBO. He developed, wrote, and narrated the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris (2005–2009), which was based on his early life.

Rock hosted the 77th Academy Awards in 2005 and the 88th in 2016. He has won four Emmy Awards and three Grammy Awards. He was voted the fifth-greatest stand-up comedian in a poll conducted by Comedy Central. He was also voted in the United Kingdom as the ninth-greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4’s 100 Greatest Stand-Ups in 2007, and again in the updated 2010 list as the eighth-greatest stand-up comic.

Christopher Julius Rock III was born in Andrews, South Carolina on February 7, 1965. Shortly after his birth, his parents moved to the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. A few years later, they relocated and settled in the working-class area of Bedford–Stuyvesant. His mother, Rosalie (née Tingman), was a teacher and social worker for the mentally handicapped; his father, Christopher Julius Rock II, was a truck driver and newspaper deliveryman. Julius died in 1988 after ulcer surgery. Rock’s younger brothers Tony, Kenny, and Jordan are also in the entertainment business. His older half-brother, Charles, died in 2006 after a long struggle with alcoholism. Rock has said that he was influenced by the performing style of his paternal grandfather, Allen Rock, a preacher. At eighteen while performing at New York’s Comedy Strip, he met Eddie Murphy, who was so impressed with the scathing young comedian that he cast him in Beverly Hills Cop II (1987). From there Rock went on to play a small supporting role with the Not Ready for Primetime Players on the NBC sketch comedy series and Saturday Night Live (SNL), both in 1990.

He remained with SNL for three years, periodically drifting over to In Living Color as a guest performer. Rock also found time to make more film appearances, with his character a crack head/informant in New Jack City (1991) attracting a favorable attention. Rock made his screenwriting debut in 1993 with CB4. In 1996 he married Malaak Compton who is a publicist. On television, he found particular success with the 1997 HBO comedy special Bring the Pain! During that time he earned two Emmy awards. That same year, he also received an Emmy nomination for his work as a writer and correspondent on Comedy Central’s Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher. Rock went on to entertain with The Chris Rock Show.

In 1997 Rock recorded and received a Grammy nomination for his comedy album Roll With The New. Two years later he did it again with his album Bigger and Blacker. In 1998 and 1999 he won both Emmy, Cable/ACE and NAACP Image Award nominations for the Chris Rock Show. Other films include Lethal Weapon 4 and Kevin Smith’s Dogma, in 1998. Also that year, Rock published a book Rock This! In 2002 Rock starred in the film Bad Company.

In early 2005, Rock hosted the 77th Academy Awards ceremony. The decision to have Rock host the awards was seen by some as a chance to bring an “edge” to the ceremony, and to make it more relevant or appealing to younger audiences. Jokingly, Rock opened by saying “Welcome to the 77th and LAST Academy Awards!” During one segment Rock asked, “Who is this guy?” in reference to actor Jude Law seemingly appearing in every movie Rock had seen that year and implied Law was a low-rent Tom Cruise (he made a joke about filmmakers rushing production when unable to get the actors they want: “If you want Tom Cruise and all you can get is Jude Law, wait [to make the film]!”). Subsequently, a defensive Sean Penn took the stage to present and said, “In answer to our host’s question, Jude Law is one of our finest young actors.” (At the time, Penn and Law were shooting All the King’s Men.) Law was not the only actor that Rock poked fun at that evening, however—he turned the joke on himself at one point, saying, “If you want Denzel [Washington] and all you can get is me, wait!” Older Oscar officials were reportedly displeased with Rock’s performance, which did not elevate ratings for the ceremony. Rock was also criticized for referring to the Oscars as “idiotic”, and asserting that heterosexual men do not watch them, in an interview prior to Oscar night.

Rock’s family history was profiled on the PBS series African American Lives 2 in 2008. A DNA test showed that he is of Cameroonian descent, specifically from the Udeme people of northern Cameroon. Rock’s great, great grandfather, Julius Caesar Tingman, was a slave for 21 years before serving in the American Civil War as part of the United States Colored Troops. During the 1940s, Rock’s paternal grandfather moved from South Carolina to New York City to become a taxicab driver and preacher.

On October 21, 2015 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Rock would host the 88th Academy Awards. When the subsequent acting nominations turned out to include no racial minorities, Rock was called upon to join a boycott of the ceremony. Rock declined however, stating at the ceremony that it would have accomplished little since the show would have proceeded anyway, with him simply replaced. Instead, Rock spoke of his concerns about the lack of diversity in AMPAS at various times during the show, closing by saying “Black Lives Matter.”

Written by Dianne Washington

Help Hotline

Domestic Violence or intimate partner violence can happen to anyone. There is no race, color or age criteria. The girl working on the register at your local supermarket can be a battered woman. The nurse treating your wounds in the emergency room could be a victim of intimate partner violence. It can even happen to the coach of your son’s basketball team.

According to The CDC’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, Intimate partner violence alone affects more than twelve million people each year. On average, twenty four people per minute are survivors of rape, physical violence and stalking by an intimate partner in the United States (twelve million men and women) during the course of a year. Nearly one in four women and one in seven men have experienced severe physical violence by intimate partner in their lifetime. About one in five women and seven in five men who have experienced some form of domestic violence had their first experience between the ages of eleven and seventeen years old.A child has witnessed domestic violence in twenty two percent of intimate partner violence cases filed in state courts.

In the commercial Faces of Domestic Violence Bobbi Cordero portrays a young mother who has been abused by her partner in the presence of her young son. Jalen Hemphill portrays an adolescent in search of help. He is a victim of domestic violence that has ended up homeless because he rather run away than continue to be abused. Seven Overton plays a woman whose husband has taken all of her worldly possessions after abusing her. Ricardo Cordero portrays a victim of domestic violence that has to come to terms with the fact that although he is a man, he is also a victim. Regina Alston is the social worker who is trying so desperately to help all of these victims out of these terrible situations, all while covering up the fact that she is a victim of domestic violence herself. She covers the bruises given to her by her husband, portrayed by Karine “Sho-Time” Thornton with concealer and foundation.

If you or anyone you know is the victim of domestic violence speak up and get help. A simple phone call can change your life.

Numbers to Call

The National Domestic Violence Hotline (800) 787-3224

Safe Horizons (800) 621-HOPE

Charles Dutton

Charles Stanley Dutton (born January 30, 1951) is an American actor, director and producer. He is best known for his roles in the television series Roc (1991–1994) and the television film The Piano Lesson (1995), the latter of which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination. His other accolades include three Primetime Emmy Awards and three NAACP Image Awards.

Dutton has also appeared in many feature films such as Alien 3 (1992), Rudy (1993), A Time to Kill (1996) and Gothika (2003).

Dutton was born January 30, 1951, on the East side of Baltimore, Maryland. His father was a truck driver. His parents divorced when he was 4. He grew up in Baltimore’s Latrobe Homes public housing. In his youth, Dutton dropped out of school before finishing middle school. He had a short-lived stint as an amateur boxer with the nickname “Roc”, a nickname derived from “Rockhead” from childhood rock-throwing battles.

In 1967, when he was 16, Dutton got into a fight which resulted in the death of a man Dutton claimed had attacked him with a knife.

After the knife fight, Dutton plead guilty in 1967 to manslaughter and was sentenced to five years which were begun at the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup, Maryland. Out on parole after 18 or 20 months, he was arrested on robbery and handgun charges. He was sentenced on the handgun violation and sent to the Maryland Penitentiary, right near his boyhood home, for three more years. A fight with a guard added on another eight years. In reference to this, Dutton later said, “I got three years for killing a black man and eight for punching a white man.”

During his prison term, Dutton was stabbed by another prisoner and nearly died. He become interested in radical movements and the Black Panther Party.

Several months into his second prison term, Dutton was sentenced to six days of solitary confinement for refusing to clean toilets. Prisoners were allowed to take one book and, by accident, he grabbed an anthology of black playwrights. He enjoyed the book so much that upon release he petitioned the warden to start a drama group for the winter talent show. The warden agreed on the condition that Dutton go back to school and get his GED. Dutton accomplished that and went on to eventually complete a two-year college program at Hagerstown Junior College (now Hagerstown Community College) in Hagerstown, Maryland, graduating with an Associate of Arts degree in 1976.

Dutton was paroled on August 20, 1976.

After his release from prision, he enrolled as a drama major at Towson State University (now Towson University) in the Baltimore suburb of Towson, Maryland, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1978. After his time at Towson, Dutton earned a master’s degree in acting from the Yale School of Drama in 1983.

In 1984, Dutton made his Broadway debut in August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, winning a Theatre World Award and a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor. In 1988, Dutton played a killer in the television miniseries The Murder of Mary Phagan opposite Jack Lemmon and Kevin Spacey. In 1990, Charles earned a second Best Actor Tony nomination for his role in another Wilson play, The Piano Lesson. From 1991-1994, he starred in the Fox television series Roc. Dutton co-starred in Alien 3, the debut film of director David Fincher, then co-starred in 1993’s Rudy. Other films he has appeared in include Get on the Bus; A Time to Kill; Cookie’s Fortune; Crocodile Dundee II; Cry, the Beloved Country; Surviving the Game, Menace II Society, Secret Window and A Low Down Dirty Shame.

Dutton won Outstanding Guest Actor Emmy Awards in 2002 and 2003 for his roles in The Practice and Without a Trace. He was previously nominated in 1999, for his guest-starring role as Alvah Case in the HBO prison drama Oz in its second-season premiere episode. For this role, he was also nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Also in 1999, he starred in an ensemble cast in Aftershock: Earthquake in New York in which he played the Mayor of New York City. Dutton gained acclaim for his comedy show Roc shown on FOX television (but produced by HBO) from 1991–1994, especially mid-run when the show was broadcast live. His work in this role won him an NAACP Image Award. He co-starred in the popular but short-lived 2005 CBS science fiction series, Threshold.

In 2000, Dutton directed the HBO miniseries The Corner. The miniseries was close to his heart for Dutton grew up on the streets of East Baltimore. It was adapted from The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood (Broadway Books, 1997) by David Simon (a reporter for the Baltimore Sun) and Ed Burns (a retired Baltimore homicide detective). The Corner won several Emmys in 2000, including Best Miniseries. Dutton won for his direction of the miniseries. He worked with Simon previously in a 1996 episode of Homicide: Life on the Street.

He starred as Montgomery County, Maryland Police Chief Charles Moose in the 2003 made-for-TV movie D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear, and appears in Season 2 of The L Word. Dutton also appeared in “Another Toothpick,” an episode of The Sopranos. He guest starred on House M.D. as the father of Doctor Eric Foreman (Omar Epps) and on Sleeper Cell: American Terror as the father of undercover FBI agent Darwyn Al-Sayeed. He also directed two episodes of Sleeper Cell.

On October 9, 2007, HBO announced that it had arranged a deal with Dutton where he would develop, direct and star in series and movies for the network. He also appeared in the 2007 film Honeydripper. On February 14, 2013 Dutton returned to TV in Zero Hour playing the role of a priest. In 2013, Dutton played Detective Margolis in the horror film The Monkey’s Paw.

Written by Dianne Washington

John Witherspoon

John Witherspoon (born John Weatherspoon; January 27, 1942 – October 29, 2019) is an American comedian and actor who has performed in many television shows and films.

Best known for his role as Willie Jones for the Friday series, Witherspoon has also starred in films such as Hollywood Shuffle (1987) and Boomerang (1992). He has also made appearances on television shows such as The Wayans Bros. (1995–99), The Tracy Morgan Show (2003), Barnaby Jones (1973), The Boondocks (2005), The Five Heartbeats and Black Jesus (2014). He wrote a film, From the Old School, in which he played an elderly working man who tries to prevent a neighborhood convenience store from being developed into a strip club.

Mostly known for the Friday series, he has starred in films such as Hollywood Shuffle (1987) and Boomerang (1992). He has also made appearances on television shows such as The Wayans Bros. (1995–99), The Tracy Morgan Show (2003), Barnaby Jones (1973), The Boondocks (2005), and “Black Jesus” (2014). He has also written the film From the Old School where he takes the role as an elderly working man who tries to prevent a neighborhood convenience store from being developed into a strip club.

Witherspoon was born John Weatherspoon in Detroit, Michigan. John Witherspoon was born to the last name Weatherspoon but later changed it to Witherspoon. He also goes by the nicknames of Johnny Witherspoon and “Mexico” John Witherspoon. John is one of 11 children. One of his older siblings, William Weatherspoon, went on to become a songwriter in Detroit for Motown. He is best known for his work “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted.” Another sibling, Cato Weatherspoon, was a longtime director of the PBS-TV Network/CH56 in Detroit, Michigan that span almost four decades. John Witherspoon is also related to Lamont Dozier who was a songwriter and record producer well known for hits coming from Martha & the Vandellas, The Supremes, The Four Tops, and The Isley Brothers. John Witherspoon and his brother William grew up enjoying music. The young John continued his passion for music and learned how to play the trumpet and French Horn. Also during his childhood, Witherspoon did occasional work as a model.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Witherspoon began to take a liking towards comedy. During that time he began his stand up comedy career. While doing stand up comedy he made many friends in the business. This included Tim Reid (while he was working on WKRP in Cincinnati and The Richard Pryor Show), Robin Williams (also on The Richard Pryor Show), Jay Leno, and David Letterman. David Letterman and John Witherspoon became such good friends that Witherspoon asked Letterman to be the Godfather to both his children, John David and Alexander. Letterman would accept the privilege. Witherspoon’s stand up comedy career led to his comedian film career. His comical character was seen in his movies, TV shows, and now once again in his comedy tour. In 1988, he married Angela Robinson. They have two children, John David and Alexander.

John Witherspoon’s career as a stand up comedian made the transition into acting very easy. His first television appearance was on the 1970s CBS television show Barnaby Jones, which was about a father and daughter-in-law that ran a private detective and investigation firm in Los Angeles. In the episode he appeared in, he played the role of a camp counselor for kids who are drug addicts. The episode he was in was also Sean Penn’s first acting job. Sean played the role of one of the kids that Witherspoon counseled in the camp.

After his appearance in Barnaby Jones, Witherspoon appeared in Good Times as a detective, What’s Happening!! as a D.J., and The Incredible Hulk as Tommy.

In 1977, Witherspoon became a regular on the series The Richard Pryor Show, an NBC American comedy series.

This then led to his appearance in WKRP In Cincinnati in 1978 in the fourth season, episode 84. Witherspoon played Detective Davies.

In 1981, he appeared in Hill Street Blues, an NBC police drama, as a businessman who tries to buy a hotdog from an undercover Detective Belker. In 1981, he had an appearance on L.A. Law, an NBC legal drama, in the episode “On Your Honor” as Mark Steadman.

In 1986, he was on the television series You Again? as Osborne.

Next Witherspoon was seen on Frank’s Place (1987). Also in 1987 he made a guest appearance on 227, which was an NBC comedy about women who lived in a majority black apartment complex. The final show Witherspoon was in 1987 was What’s Happening Now!!, the sequel to What’s Happening!!.

A year later Witherspoon was in Amen (1988), an American television sitcom that ran on NBC, as the bailiff. The show was known for being one of the shows during the 1980s that featured an almost entirely black cast. Other shows with this feature included The Cosby Show and 227, which Witherspoon was also in.

Witherspoon became known for his over the top characters in films like Boomerang with Eddie Murphy where he plays Mr Jackson, the ill-mannered father of Murphy’s best friend. During a hilarious dinner scene, he tells Murphy’s “Marcus” to take the upper hand in his relationship with Robin Givens’s character “Jacqueline” simulating aggressive sex pumping his hips under the dinner table yelling “Bang bang…bang bang bang”. The line has become a signature for Witherspoon and is often heard during his stand up routines. Witherspoon’s official website is bangbangbangbang.com.

Next came spots on Townsend Television (1993), Cosmic Slop (1994), and Murder Was The Case (1994) as a drunk. Also in 1994, Witherspoon was in the NBC’s Fresh Prince of Bel Air and played Augusteus in the episode “The Harder They Fall”. Augusteus is the father of Lisa, the girl Will falls in love with, who is seen as stern and almost psychotic. In order scare of Will,[clarification needed] he takes him on a plane ride where the two end up crashing and getting stuck in the wild.

Next in line in his television career, Witherspoon was in Fox’s Living Single (1997) episode “Three Men and a Buckeye” as Smoke Eye Howard who was the protagonist Overton’s uncle, who had a son who was the Buckeyes’ quarterback.

After this, John Witherspoon played his biggest role in a television series in The Wayans Bros. (1995–1999). The series, which aired on The WB, starred Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans, who played brothers Shawn and Marlon Williams, and Witherspoon as their dad, John “Pops” Williams. In the first season, Shawn worked as a courier driver, while Marlon worked in his father’s diner. The series was somewhat re-tooled starting in the second season, where Shawn and Marlon operated a newspaper stand in the lobby of a Manhattan office building, while Pops’ Diner was located in the same building, across the way. The show aired for five seasons and now can be seen as re-runs on BET and MTV2. Also during that time, Witherspoon was on the Kids’ WB animation series Waynehead, which was about a young boy who grew up in poor in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. The show was aired on Saturday mornings and was based on creator Damon Wayans’ own life.

In 2003, Witherspoon made a showing on NBC’s Last Comic Standing, a reality television show that selected the comedian out of a group and gave him a contract, in the Las Vegas finals. The show still airs today. Next in 2003 he was seen in The Proud Family, an animation that aired on Disney Channel, as Oran Jones in the episode “Adventures in Bebe Sitting.” Finally in 2003 he starred in the comedy show The Tracy Morgan Show as Spoon. Witherspoon was seen in all 18 episodes of the show.

In 2004, he made a guest appearance on the Disney Channel’s Kim Possible, which was an animation series about a teenage girl crime fighter who not only has to worrying about worldwide challenges but also family and school issues. He was the voice of Wayne, who was Wade’s uncle who was in the episode of rewriting history. Also in 2004 he was in Pryor Offenses, a television movie and played Willie the Wino.

In 2005, he was seen in the Comedy Central talk show Weekends at the D.L. where he played the character of Michael Johnson. The next year he was on another television movie called Thugaboo: A Miracle on D-Roc’s Street, a story about a group of kids who find the true meaning of Christmas. In the movie he plays Real Santa, a Christmas singer on the radio.

His next appearance was on The Super Rumble Mixshow in 2008.

His latest television appearance was in Aaron Mcgruder’s new show, “Black Jesus,” portraying Lloyd, a homeless man. In 2011 he starred in a Final Destination spoof with Shane Dawson on YouTube.

In May 2013 he featured on a track entitled “Saturday” of rapper Logic on his latest mixtape “Young Sinatra: Welcome To Forever.”

Witherspoon married Angela Robinson in 1988. They have two children, John David (“J.D.”) and Alexander. J.D. is known for making skits and gameplay videos on YouTube, and currently hosts the mobile game show Confetti on Facebook Watch. David Letterman was Witherspoon’s best friend and is the godfather to his two sons.

Witherspoon died of a heart attack at his home in Sherman Oaks, California on October 29, 2019. He was 77 years old. His funeral was held on November 5, 2019 and he was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, California.

Written by Dianne Washington

Abbott and Costello

Abbott and Costello were an American comedy duo composed of comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, whose work on radio and in film and television made them the most popular comedy team of the 1940s and early 1950s and the highest-paid entertainers in the world during World War II. Their patter routine “Who’s on First?” is considered one of the best-known comedy routines of all time.

Their popularity waned in the early 1950s due to overexposure and changing tastes in comedy, and their film and television contracts lapsed. The partnership ended soon afterwards.

While they had crossed paths a few times previously, the two comedians first worked together in 1935 at the Eltinge Burlesque Theater on 42nd Street in New York City, which is now the lobby of an AMC Theatres movie complex. Their first performance resulted from Costello’s regular partner becoming ill. Decades later, when AMC moved the old theater 168 ft (51 m) further west on 42nd Street to its current location, giant balloons of Abbott and Costello were rigged to appear to pull it.

Other performers in the show, including Abbott’s wife, encouraged a permanent pairing. The duo built an act by refining and reworking numerous burlesque sketches with Abbott as the devious straight man and Costello as the dimwitted comic.

The team’s first known radio broadcast was on The Kate Smith Hour on February 3, 1938. At first, the similarities between their voices made it difficult for radio listeners (as opposed to stage audiences) to tell them apart during their rapid-fire repartee. As a result, Costello affected a high-pitched, childish voice. “Who’s on First?” was first performed for a national radio audience the following month. They performed on the program as regulars for two years, while also landing roles in a Broadway revue, The Streets of Paris, in 1939.

After debuting their own program, The Abbott and Costello Show, as Fred Allen’s summer replacement in 1940, Abbott and Costello joined Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy on The Chase and Sanborn Hour in 1941. Two of their films (Buck Privates and Hold That Ghost) were adapted for Lux Radio Theater that year. Their program returned in its own weekly time slot starting on October 8, 1942 with Camel cigarettes as sponsor.

Who’s on First?” is Abbott and Costello’s signature routine. Time magazine (December 26, 1999) named it the best comedy routine of the 20th century. The sketch was based on other earlier burlesque wordplay routines. They began honing the routine shortly after teaming up in 1936, and performed it in vaudeville in 1937 and 1938. It was first heard by a national radio audience on March 24, 1938 when the team were regulars on the Kate Smith radio show. By then, John Grant had been writing or adapting other sketches for the team and may have helped expand “Who’s on First?” prior to its radio debut. He stayed on as their head writer into the 1950s.

Depending upon the version, Abbott has either organized a new baseball team and the players have nicknames, or he points out the proliferation of nicknames in baseball (citing St. Louis Cardinals sibling pitchers Dizzy and Daffy Dean) before launching into the routine. The infielders’ nicknames are Who (first base), What (second base) and I Don’t Know (third base). The key to the routine is Costello’s mounting frustration set against Abbott’s unyielding formality. Audio recordings are readily available on the Internet.

Abbott and Costello both married performers they met in burlesque. Abbott wed Betty Smith, a dancer and comedienne, in 1918, and Costello married a chorus girl, Anne Battler, in 1934. The Costellos had four children; the Abbotts adopted two. Abbott and Costello faced personal demons at times. Both were inveterate gamblers and had serious health problems. Abbott suffered from epilepsy and turned to alcohol for seizure management. Costello had occasional, near-fatal bouts with rheumatic fever.

In the 1950s, Abbott and Costello’s popularity waned with the emergence of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Another reason for their decline was overexposure. Each year they made two new films, while Realart Pictures re-issued their older hits; their filmed television series was widely syndicated, and the same routines appeared frequently on the Colgate program. (Writer Parke Levy told Jordan R. Young, in The Laugh Crafters: Comedy Writing in Radio and TV’s Golden Age, that he was stunned to learn that Bud and Lou were afraid to perform new material.)

Universal dropped the comedy team in 1955 after they could not agree on contract terms. In the early 1950s, the Internal Revenue Service charged them for back taxes, forcing them to sell their homes and most of their assets, including the rights to most of their films.

In 1956 they made one independent film, Dance with Me, Henry, and Lou was the subject of the television program This Is Your Life, then formally dissolved their partnership in 1957. In his posthumously-published 1959 autobiography, My Wicked, Wicked Ways, Errol Flynn claims that he triggered the breakup. Flynn, a chronic practical joker, invited them, along with their wives and children, to his house for dinner, and afterwards, he commenced to show a home movie that “accidentally” turned out to be hard-core pornography. While Flynn pretended to be baffled, Costello and Abbott each blamed the other for the film’s substitution.

In his last years, Costello made about ten solo appearances on The Steve Allen Show doing many of the old routines without Abbott. Costello performed stand-up in Las Vegas, and appeared in episodes of GE Theater and Wagon Train. On March 3, 1959, not long after completing his lone solo film, The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock, he died of a heart attack three days short of his 53rd birthday.

Abbott attempted a comeback in 1960 with Candy Candido. Although the new act received good reviews, Bud quit, saying, “No one could ever live up to Lou.” Abbott made a solo, dramatic appearance on an episode of General Electric Theater in 1961. In 1966, Abbott voiced his character in a series of 156 five-minute Abbott and Costello cartoons made by Hanna-Barbera. Lou’s character was voiced by Stan Irwin. Bud Abbott died of cancer on April 24, 1974.

Written by Dianne Washington

Lisa Marie Presley Dead at 54 After Cardiac Arrest

Lisa was housekeeper found her unresponsive at her Calabasas home. Her ex-husband, Danny Keough, was there and performed CPR on her until paramedics arrived and took over — they administered at least one dose of epinephrine during resuscitation efforts. We’re told EMTs were able to regain a pulse before she was transported to the hospital. Where she died.

DMX

Earl Simmons (born December 18, 1970 – April 9, 2021), known professionally as DMX, is an American rapper and actor. He began rapping in the early 1990s, and released his debut album, It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot in 1998 to both critical acclaim and commercial success, selling 251,000 copies within its first week of release. He released his best-selling album, … And Then There Was X, in 1999, which included the hit single “Party Up (Up in Here)”. Since his debut, DMX has released seven studio albums.

He has been featured in films such as Belly, Romeo Must Die, Exit Wounds, Cradle 2 the Grave and Last Hour. In 2006, he starred in the reality television series DMX: Soul of a Man, which was primarily aired on the BET cable television network. In 2003, DMX published a book of his memoirs entitled, E.A.R.L.: The Autobiography of DMX.

On April 2, 2021, at approximately 11:00 pm, Simmons was rushed to White Plains Hospital, where he was reported to be in critical condition following a heart attack at his home possibly resulting from a drug overdose. The next day, his attorney Murray Richman confirmed Simmons was on life support. That same night, Simmons suffered cerebral hypoxia (oxygen deprivation to his brain) as paramedics attempted to resuscitate him for 30 minutes. Simmons’ former manager, Nakia Walker, said he was in a “vegetative state” with “lung and brain failure and no current brain activity”. His manager, Steve Rifkind, stated Simmons was comatose and that he was set to undergo tests to determine his brain’s functionality and his family will “determine what’s best from there”.

On the morning of April 9, 2021, Simmons lost functionality in multiple essential organs, reportedly his liver, kidneys and lungs, and was pronounced dead shortly after at age 50. It was revealed on July 8 by the Westchester County Medical Examiner’s Office that Simmons’ official cause of death was a cocaine-induced heart attack.

Gerald Levert

Gerald Edward Levert (July 13, 1966 – November 10, 2006) was an American soul singer, songwriter and producer. He sang with his brother, Sean Levert, and friend Marc Gordon of the trio LeVert. He was also a member of LSG, a supergroup comprising Keith Sweat, Johnny Gill, and himself. His father, Eddie Levert, is the lead singer of the 1970s soul group The O’Jays.

Gerald Levert was born to The O’Jays frontman Eddie Levert and his wife Martha in Philadelphia, PA on July 13, 1966. Levert grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. Due to his father’s career, Levert would travel with the band regularly. While in high school, Levert’s inclination towards music became apparent when he formed the trio LeVert, with his younger brother Sean Levert (deceased, March 30, 2008) and friend Marc Gordon in 1984. Four of the group’s seven albums went platinum. These include, I Get Hot in 1985, Bloodline in 1986, The Big Throwdown in 1987, and Just Coolin in 1988. Among the group’s singles were, “(Pop, Pop, Pop, Pop) Goes My Mind”, “Casanova” and “ABC-123”.

In 1991, Levert went solo with the albums, Private Line, which went to number one on the R&B charts. The following year, Gerald and his father, Eddie Levert, hit number one on the R&B charts with the single, Baby Hold On to Me. Levert recorded a string of albums throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, that contained the hit singles, “Thinkin’ About It” (Pop #12) which was released on September 1, 1998, “Taking Everything” (Pop #11), “Funny”, “Mr. Too Damn Good to You”, “U Got That Love”, and a remake of R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly”, along with gospel singer Yolanda Adams.

Levert also sang lead vocals in two songs on the 2002 film documentary “Standing in the Shadows of Motown” – the story of The Funk Brothers. Levert performed “Shotgun” and “Reach Out I’ll Be There”.

Levert released his tenth album,Voices, in 2005.

Levert wrote and produced songs for other artists such as Barry White, Stephanie Mills, Anita Baker, Eugene Wilde, Teddy Pendergrass, James Ingram, Freddie Jackson, Chuckii Booker, The Winans, Troop and The O’Jays. In the early 1990s, he also helped launch the careers of three Cleveland-area ensembles: The Rude Boys, Men at Large and 1 of the Girls. During the release of Groove On, Levert appeared in the group Black Men United for the hit single “U Will Know” for the film Jason’s Lyric, the movie’s soundtrack. who was participated in the group and joining with Keith Sweat and Johnny Gill as well. In 1997, Levert teamed up again with fellow singers Keith Sweat and Johnny Gill, to form the supergroup, LSG. The trio released the album Levert-Sweat-Gill the same year, selling over two million copies; it was followed by LSG2 in 2003. In 1999, Levert sang the chorus on the Chris Rock spoken-word comedy piece, “No Sex (In the Champagne Room)”. Levert performed a duet with Teena Marie on the latter’s 2004 album La Doña. Levert’s last collaborations included Jim Brickman on the song “My Angel”, for Brickman’s 2006 album entitled Escape and on the song “Real S***” from rapper Styles P’s album, Time Is Money. Levert was posthumously featured again on former groupmates Keith Sweat’s “Knew It All Along” and Johnny Gill from the singer’s Til the Morning album, which was released two days after the fifth anniversary of Levert’s death.

Levert began his acting career as Charles Young, his first appearance on The Jamie Foxx Show for 2 episodes with “Just Don’t Do It”, that aired on November 5, 1998 and Jamie disapproves of his mother (Jo Marie Payton) because she decided to marry him in the episode. In January 2001, Gerald appears again in the series finale “Always and Forever” when Jamie (Jamie Foxx) and Fancy (Garcelle Beauvais) got married and sang the opening ceremony at the wedding and joined by fellow singers Gladys Knight and Marilyn McCoo (without her husband Billy Davis, Jr.). On November 10, 2003, three years prior to his death, Levert’s final acting role that aired during his lifetime was when he appeared in an episode of The Parkers, He played T’s father in the episode and comes for a visit to start a new band with T.

On November 10, 2006, Gerald Levert was found dead in his bed at his Cleveland, Ohio home when his cousin tried to wake him. Initial reports stated that Levert had died of an apparent heart attack. In February 2007, an autopsy report conducted by the Cuyahoga County coroner’s office concluded that Levert’s death was caused by a fatal combination of prescription narcotics and over-the-counter drugs. The drugs in his bloodstream included the narcotic pain relievers Vicodin, Percocet, and Darvocet, along with anxiety medication Xanax and two over-the-counter antihistamines. The autopsy also revealed that Levert had pneumonia. The official cause of death was acute intoxication, and the death was ruled accidental. Gerald Levert was only 40 years old.

Following the disclosure of Gerald Levert’s cause of death, a family spokesman stated that all the drugs found in Levert’s bloodstream were prescribed to the singer. Levert was taking the pain medication because of chronic pain from a lingering shoulder problem and surgery in 2005 to repair a severed Achilles tendon.[

Cover for Levert’s final album, In My Songs, released after his death. Shortly before his death, Levert completed work on what would be his final album, In My Songs. The album was released on February 13, 2007. In June 2007, a book Gerald was working to complete entitled, I Got Your Back: A Father and Son Keep it Real About Love, Fatherhood, Family, and Friendship, was released. The book was initially planned as a tie-in for a Levert album of the same name. I Got Your Back explores Gerald and Eddie’s father/son relationship, the necessity of male bonding, and importance of repairing fractured families. Levert was also working on a reality show in which he was losing weight along with 12 of his female fans, who were training with him at his palatial home.

Levert had three children: LeMicah, Camryn, and Carlysia. Carlysia, an aspiring singer, appeared on the MTV series My Super Sweet 16, with her father in 2005.

Written by Dianne Washington

Big Pun

Christopher Lee Rios (November 10, 1971 – February 7, 2000), better known by his stage name Big Pun (short for Big Punisher), was an American rapper and actor, the first Latino rapper to attain Platinum sales status as a solo act. Big Pun emerged from the underground hip hop scene in The Bronx borough of New York City, in the late 1990s. He first appeared on tracks from Fat Joe’s second album “Jealous One’s Envy” in 1995, and The Beatnuts’ second album Stone Crazy in 1997, prior to signing to Loud Records as a solo artist. Pun’s lyrics are notable for technical efficiency, having minimal pauses to take a breath, heavy use of alliteration as well as internal and multi-syllabic rhyming schemes. He is widely revered as one of the all-time rap greats.

About.com ranked him #25 on its list of the 50 Greatest MCs of All Time, while MTV2 ranked him #11 on its list of the “22 Greatest MCs.” In 2012, The Source ranked him #19 on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time. An article from Rolling Stone magazine states, “Pun embodied all of the traits of a master wordsmith: melody, a unique flow, an unforgettable voice, humor, and lyrics that made other MCs go back to their black and white composition notebooks.”

Rios was born on November 10, 1971 in The Bronx, New York City, United States, to parents of Puerto Rican descent. He grew up in the South Bronx neighborhood of the city. At the age of five, Rios broke his leg while playing in a park, which would later lead to a large settlement from the city. By all accounts from Pun’s family, his early years were very difficult, including witnessing his mother’s drug abuse and his father’s death.

During the mid-1980s, he began writing rap lyrics. He later formed the underground rap group called Full-A-Clips which included rappers Lyrical Assassin, Joker Jamz and Toom. Rios made a number of recordings with the group in the early 90’s, which have not been released. At this point Rios was operating under the alias Big Moon Dawg. After changing the alias to Big Punisher, Rios met fellow Puerto Rican and Bronx rapper Fat Joe in 1995 and made his commercial debut on Fat Joe’s second album, Jealous One’s Envy, in addition to appearing on the song, “Watch Out”. He also appeared on The Beatnuts’ song “Off the Books”

Later, “I’m Not a Player” (featuring an O’Jays sample) was supported by a significant advertising campaign and became an underground hit.

In 1996 Big Pun began recording songs for his debut album Capital Punishment. In 1997 producer Knobody’s production partner Sean C took advantage of his new role as A&R at Loud Records to play Knobody’s tracks to Big Pun. Suitably impressed the rapper hired Knobody to remix “I’m Not a Player”. The remixed song, featuring Joe and titled “Still Not a Player”, became Big Pun’s first major mainstream hit and major breakthrough for Knobody. The full-length debut Capital Punishment followed in 1998, and became the first album by a solo Latino rapper to go platinum, peaking at #5 on the Billboard 200. Capital Punishment was also nominated for a Grammy.

Big Pun became a member of Terror Squad, a New York-based group of rappers founded by Fat Joe, with most of the roster supplied by the now-defunct Full-A-Clips who released their debut album The Album in 1999. The album did not fare well commercially but it was well received critically and the album was meant to start the foundation for all other Terror Squad members to release their solo projects.

Pun struggled with a weight problem for all of his adult life. His weight fluctuated in the early 1990s between obese and morbidly obese. Pun later enrolled in a weight-loss program in North Carolina in which he lost 80 pounds (36 kg), but he eventually quit the program before completing it, returning to New York and gaining back the weight he had lost.

On February 7, 2000, Big Pun suffered a fatal heart attack and respiratory failure while temporarily staying with his family at a Crowne Plaza Hotel in White Plains, New York, during a home renovation. Pun was pronounced dead at the hospital after paramedics could not revive him. Big Pun was at his highest weight at the time of his death: 698 pounds (317 kg). He was cremated a few days later. Big Pun is survived by his wife, Liza, and their three children, Amanda (born 1991), Vanessa (born 1993), and Christopher Jr. (born 1994).

Written by Dianne Washington

Sinbad

Born David Adkins in Benton Harbor, MI., he is the son of Rev. Dr. Donald and Louise Adkins. In 1974 and 1978 he attended the University of Denver where he lettered in basketball. Adkins was in the US Air Force as a Boom Operator aboard the KC-135. He almost received a dishonorable discharge for various problems including going AWOL. He joined the military for a vehicle for getting the attention of his idols, the Harlem Globetrotters. His plan was to play basketball in the Air Force, get noticed by the Globetrotters or another pro team and leave; he never made the team.

In 1981, things began to change. The comedy bug hit him when he participated in an Air Force Talent Show. He won several contests while stationed in Kansas. Under the professional name Sinbad, he became popular in the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing on several television series and starring in the feature films Houseguest (1995), First Kid and Jingle All the Way (both 1996). Sinbad married Meredith Fuller in 1985. They have two children together. In 2013, Sinbad voiced Roper in the animated film Planes, and had a guest role on the adult animated series American Dad!, voicing an animated version of himself in the episode “Lost in Space”, and returning in 2014 in the episode “The Longest Distance Relationship”, and in “Holy Shit, Jeff’s Back!” in 2015.

Since 2013, Sinbad has voiced Mr. Smiley on the animated series Steven Universe, first appearing in the episode “Frybo”.

In April 2015, Sinbad appeared in a USO show at Bagram and Kandahar Air Bases in Afghanistan. His show was well received and appreciated by all. The couple divorced in 1992, then remarried in 2002.

He appeared on Star Search and The Redd Foxx Show. At one time, Sinbad hosted his own talk show, VIBE, and portrayed the goofy coach Walter Oakes on A Different World (a spinoff of The Cosby Show). He also had his own show, “The Sinbad Show”, in the early 1990s on Fox. He was also featured in a late 1990s infomercial for Tae Bo, where he claimed that he was successfully using the Tae Bo system to become an action star. He was the host of Showtime at the Apollo (formerly It’s Showtime At The Apollo). He had originally hosted from 1989 to 1991 and was the temporary host in 2005 while regular host Mo’Nique was on maternity leave. During the 1990s, Sinbad guest-starred on an episode of Nickelodeon’s All That. He also made a cameo appearance in the comedy movie Good Burger. Sinbad’s film roles consist of the comedy Houseguest, as well as the films First Kid and Jingle All the Way. In 2004 he was named the #78 greatest stand-up comic of all time on “Comedy Central Presents: 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time”. In 2006 Maxim Magazine ranked Sinbad as the “Worst Comic of All Time”.

Sinbad also made a cameo appearance on the television show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia as himself in a rehab center in the episode Dennis Reynolds: An Erotic Life, which originally aired October 23, 2008. Sinbad was the host of Thou Shalt Laugh 3. The DVD was released in 2008. In 2009, Sinbad was placed in the top 10 of the 250 worst tax debtors for the state of California. The comedian owed the State $2.5 million in personal income tax. In 2009, Sinbad filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. In 2010, it was reported that Sinbad put up his 2.5-acre (10,000 m2) hilltop home for sale in order to alleviate his tax burdens.

In 2010, he debuted on the Celebrity Apprentice and was fired on the second episode after losing in the Kodak challenge as project manager, placing 13th. In 2011, he was the celebrity speaker of MacWorld Expo 2011. He starred in a reality show on WE tv called Sinbad: It’s Just Family, however it was cancelled in 2011. Sinbad made an appearance on “The Eric Andre Show” in 2012.

In 2013, Sinbad voiced Roper in the animated film Planes, and had a guest role on the adult animated series American Dad!, voicing an animated version of himself in the episode “Lost in Space”, and returning in 2014 in the episode “The Longest Distance Relationship”, and in “Holy Shit, Jeff’s Back!” in 2015.

Since 2013, Sinbad has voiced Mr. Smiley on the animated series Steven Universe, first appearing in the episode “Frybo”.

In April 2015, Sinbad appeared in a USO show at Bagram and Kandahar Air Bases in Afghanistan. His show was well received and appreciated by all.

Sinbad married Meredith Fuller in 1985. They have two children together. The couple divorced in 1992, but remarried in 2002.

In November 2020, his family announced to the press that Sinbad was recovering from a recent stroke.

Written by Dianne Washington