Category: Whats Buzzing in the Streets

Samuel Jackson

Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and film producer. He achieved prominence and critical acclaim in the early 1990s with films such as Jungle Fever (1991), Patriot Games (1992), Amos & Andrew (1993), True Romance (1993), Jurassic Park (1993) and his collaborations with director Quentin Tarantino including Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Django Unchained (2012), and The Hateful Eight (2015). He is a highly prolific actor, having appeared in over 100 films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Unbreakable (2000), Shaft (2000), The 51st State (2001), Black Snake Moan (2006), Snakes on a Plane (2006), and the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005).With Jackson’s permission, his likeness was used for the Ultimate version of the Marvel Comics character Nick Fury. He has also played Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) as well as the TV show Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..The actor has provided his voice to several animated films, television series and video games, including the roles of Lucius Best / Frozone in Pixar Animation Studios’ film The Incredibles (2004), Mace Windu in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), Afro Samurai in the anime television series Afro Samurai (2007), and Frank Tenpenny in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004).Jackson has achieved critical and commercial acclaim, surpassing Frank Welker as the actor with the highest-grossing film total of all time in October 2011, and he has received numerous accolades and awards. He is married to LaTanya Richardson, with whom he has a daughter, Zoe. Samuel L. Jackson is ranked as the highest all-time box office star with over $4.9 billion total box office gross, an average of $69.1 million per film.Jackson was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Elizabeth (née Montgomery) and Roy Henry Jackson. He grew up as an only child in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His father lived away from the family in Kansas City, Missouri, and later died from alcoholism. Jackson only met his father twice during his life. Jackson was raised by his mother, who was a factory worker and later a supplies buyer for a mental institution, and by his maternal grandparents and extended family. According to DNA tests, Jackson partially descends from the Benga people of Gabon.Jackson attended several segregated schools and graduated from Riverside High School in Chattanooga. Between the third and twelfth grades, he played the French horn and trumpet in the school orchestra. During childhood, he had a stuttering problem. While he eventually learned to “pretend to be other people who didn’t stutter” and use the curse word motherfucker as an affirmation word, he still has days where he stutters.Initially intent on pursuing a degree in marine biology, he attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. After joining a local acting group to earn extra points in a class, Jackson found an interest in acting and switched his major. Before graduating in 1972, he co-founded the “Just Us Theatre”.After the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackson attended the funeral in Atlanta as one of the ushers. Jackson then flew to Memphis to join an equal rights protest march. In a Parade interview Jackson revealed: “I was angry about the assassination, but I wasn’t shocked by it. I knew that change was going to take something different – not sit-ins, not peaceful coexistence.”In 1969, Jackson and several other students held members of the Morehouse College board of trustees (including a nearby Martin Luther King, Sr.) hostage on the campus, demanding reform in the school’s curriculum and governance. The college eventually agreed to change its policy, but Jackson was charged with and eventually convicted of unlawful confinement, a second-degree felony. Jackson was then suspended for two years for his criminal record and his actions. He would later return to the college to earn his Bachelor of Arts in Drama in 1972.While he was suspended, Jackson was employed as a social worker in Los Angeles. Jackson decided to return to Atlanta, where he met with Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, and others active in the Black Power movement. Jackson revealed in the same Parade interview that he began to feel empowered with his involvement in the movement, especially when the group began buying guns. However, before Jackson could become involved with any significant armed confrontation, his mother sent him to Los Angeles after the FBI told her that he would die within a year if he remained with the Black Power movement.Jackson initially majored in marine biology at Morehouse College before switching to architecture. He later settled on drama after taking a public speaking class and appearing in a version of The Threepenny Opera. Jackson began acting in multiple plays, including Home and A Soldier’s Play while in residence at the Negro Ensemble Company. He appeared in several television films, and made his feature film debut in the blaxploitation independent film Together for Days (1972). After these initial roles, Jackson proceeded to move from Atlanta to New York City in 1976 and spent the next decade appearing in stage plays such as The Piano Lesson and Two Trains Running, which both premiered at the Yale Repertory Theater. At this point in his early career, Jackson developed addictions to alcohol and cocaine, resulting in him being unable to proceed with the two plays as they continued to Broadway (actors Charles S. Dutton and Anthony Chisholm took his place). Throughout his early film career, mainly in minimal roles in films such as Coming to America and various television films, Jackson was mentored by Morgan Freeman. After a 1981 performance in the play A Soldier’s Play, Jackson was introduced to director Spike Lee who would later include him in small roles for the films School Daze (1988) and Do the Right Thing (1989). He also played a minor role in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas as real-life Mafia associate Stacks Edwards and also worked as a stand-in on The Cosby Show for Bill Cosby for three years.

Written by Dianne Washington

Earth Wind and Fire

Maurice White (December 19, 1941 – February 4, 2016) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, arranger, and bandleader. He was the founder of the band Earth, Wind & Fire. He was also the older brother of current Earth, Wind & Fire member Verdine White, and former member Fred White. He served as the band’s main songwriter and record producer, and was co-lead singer along with Philip Bailey.He won seven Grammys, and was nominated for a total of twenty Grammys. White was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame as a member of Earth, Wind & Fire, and was also inducted individually into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.Also known by his nickname “Reece”, he worked with several famous recording artists, including Deniece Williams, the Emotions, Barbra Streisand, and Neil Diamond. White was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the late 1980s, which led him eventually to stop touring with Earth, Wind & Fire in 1994. He retained executive control of the band, and remained active in the music business until his death.White was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on December 19, 1941. He grew up in South Memphis, where he lived with his grandmother in the Foote Homes Projects and was a childhood friend of Booker T Jones, with whom he formed a “cookin’ little band” while attending Booker T. Washington High School. He made frequent trips to Chicago to visit his mother, Edna, and stepfather, Verdine Adams, who was a doctor and occasional saxophonist. In his teenage years, he moved to Chicago and studied at the Chicago Conservatory of Music, and played drums in local nightclubs. By the mid-1960s he found work as a session drummer for Chess Records. While at Chess, he played on the records of artists such as Etta James, Ramsey Lewis, Sonny Stitt, Muddy Waters, the Impressions, the Dells, Betty Everett, Sugar Pie DeSanto and Buddy Guy. White also played the drums on Fontella Bass’s “Rescue Me” and Billy Stewart’s “Summertime”. In 1962, along with other studio musicians at Chess, he was a member of the Jazzmen, who later became the Pharaohs.By 1966, he joined the Ramsey Lewis Trio, replacing Isaac “Red” Holt as the drummer. Holt and bassist Eldee Young left and formed Young-Holt Unlimited with pianist Hysear Don Walker. Young was replaced by Cleveland Eaton. As a member of the Ramsey Lewis Trio, Maurice played on nine of the group’s albums, including Wade in the Water (1966), from which the track “Hold It Right There” won a Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Group Performance, Vocal or Instrumental in 1966. White featured on other Ramsey Lewis albums including: The Movie Album (1966), Goin’ Latin (1967), Dancing in the Street (1967), Up Pops Ramsey Lewis (1967) and The Piano Player (1969). While in the Trio he was introduced in a Chicago drum store to the African thumb piano or kalimba and on the Trio’s 1969 album Another Voyage’s track “Uhuru” was featured the first recording of White playing the kalimba.In 1969, White left the Trio and joined his two friends, Wade Flemons and Don Whitehead, to form a songwriting team who wrote songs for commercials in the Chicago area. The three friends got a recording contract with Capitol Records and called themselves the Salty Peppers. They had a moderate hit in the Midwest area with their single “La La Time”, but their second single, “Uh Huh Yeah”, was not as successful. White then moved from Chicago to Los Angeles, and altered the name of the band to Earth, Wind & Fire, the band’s new name reflecting the elements in his astrological chart.With Maurice as the bandleader and producer of most of the band’s albums, EWF earned legendary status winning six Grammy Awards out of a staggering 14 nominations, a star on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame, and four American Music Awards. The group’s albums have sold over 90 million copies worldwide. Other honors bestowed upon Maurice as a member of the band included inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, The Songwriters Hall of Fame and The NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame.White brought the kalimba into mainstream use by incorporating its sound into the music of Earth, Wind & Fire. He was also responsible for expanding the group to include a full horn section – the Earth, Wind & Fire Horns, later known as the Phenix Horns. White began showing signs of the Parkinson’s disease in 1987, and was finally forced to retire from Earth Wind & Fire in 1994. He retained executive control of the band and was still very active in the music business, producing and recording with the band and other artists. Messages of encouragement from celebrities including: Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Boyz II Men, Smokey Robinson, Isaac Hayes, Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine were published for White.From time to time, after his retirement, he appeared on stage with Earth, Wind & Fire at events such as the 2004 Grammy Awards Tribute to Funk, and alongside Alicia Keys at Clive Davis’s 2004 pre-Grammy awards party where they performed the band’s 1978 hit “September”.Maurice’s younger brother, Verdine, an original member of Earth, Wind & Fire, still tours with the band as its bassist and a backing vocalist. Additionally, their brother Fred joined the band in 1974, when the band recorded “Devotion”. Maurice was a married father of three and owned two homes in California; one in Carmel Valley, and the other, a four-level condominium in Los Angeles. As recorded in his obituary, his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Verdine Adams, Sr., MD, had a total of ten children, and Maurice White was the oldest. He was affectionately called Reese by many of his brothers and sisters, according to his obituary which was distributed at his Memorial Service held at Agape International Spiritual Center March 22, 2016 in California.White died in his sleep from the effects of Parkinson’s disease at his home in Los Angeles, California, on the morning of February 4, 2016, at the age of 74. He was survived by his wife, Marilyn White, sons Kahbran and Eden, daughter Hamia (nicknamed MiMi on his obituary) and brothers Verdine and Fred. As written in his obituary, he was the eldest of nine siblings.

Written by Dianne Washington

DMX

Earl Simmons (born December 18, 1970), 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.

Written by Dianne Washington

Jamie Foxx

Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, singer, songwriter, producer, and comedian. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor, BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the 2004 biographical film Ray. The same year, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the crime film Collateral. As of spring 2017, Foxx serves as host and executive producer of the new Fox game show Beat Shazam.Other acting roles include Staff Sergeant Sykes in Jarhead (2005), record executive Curtis Taylor, Jr. in Dreamgirls (2006), Detective Ricardo Tubbs in the 2006 film adaptation of TV series Miami Vice, the title role in the film Django Unchained (2012), the supervillain Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), and gangster Bats / Leon Jefferson III in Baby Driver (2017). Foxx also starred in the 1990-94 sketch comedy show In Living Color and his own television show from 1996 to 2001, the sitcom The Jamie Foxx Show, in which he played Jamie King, Jr. Foxx also starred in the 2014 film Annie, in which he played Will Mellor.Foxx is also a Grammy Award-winning musician, producing four albums which have charted in the top ten of the US Billboard 200: Unpredictable (2005), which topped the chart, Intuition (2008), Best Night of My Life (2010), and Hollywood: A Story of a Dozen Roses (2015).Foxx was born in Terrell, Texas. He is the son of Louise Annette Talley Dixon and Darrell Bishop; his father sometimes worked as a stockbroker, and changed his name to Shahid Abdula after converting to Islam. Shortly after his birth, Foxx was adopted and raised by his mother’s adoptive parents, Esther Marie (Nelson), a domestic worker and nursery operator, and Mark Talley, a yard worker. He has had little contact with his birth parents, who were not part of his upbringing. Foxx was raised in the black quarter of Terrell, at the time a racially segregated community. As a teenager, he was a part-time pianist and choir leader in Terrell’s New Hope Baptist Church, and had a strict Baptist upbringing.Foxx began playing the piano when he was five years old. As a second grader, he was so talented in telling jokes that his teacher used him as a reward. If the class behaved, Foxx would tell them jokes. Foxx attended Terrell High School, where he received top grades, played basketball and football as quarterback, and had an ambition to play for the Dallas Cowboys. He was the first player in the school’s history to pass for more than 1,000 yards. He also sang in a band called Leather and Lace. After completing high school, Foxx received a scholarship to United States International University, where he studied classical music and composition. He has often acknowledged his grandmother’s influence in his life as one of the greatest reasons for his success.Foxx first told jokes at a comedy club’s open mic night in 1989, after accepting a girlfriend’s dare. When he found that female comedians were often called first to perform, he changed his name to Jamie Foxx, feeling that it was a name ambiguous enough to disallow any biases. He chose his surname as a tribute to the black comedian Redd Foxx. Foxx joined the cast of In Living Color in 1991, where his recurrent character Wanda also shared a name with Redd’s friend and co-worker, LaWanda Page. Following a recurring role in the comedy-drama sitcom Roc, Foxx went on to star in his own sitcom The Jamie Foxx Show, from 1996 to 2001.Foxx made his film debut in the 1992 comedy Toys. His first dramatic role came in Oliver Stone’s 1999 film Any Given Sunday, where he was cast as a hard-partying American football player, partly because of his own football background. In 2001, Foxx starred opposite Will Smith in Michael Mann’s biographical drama Ali. Three years later, Foxx played taxi driver Max Durocher in the film Collateral alongside Tom Cruise, for which he received outstanding reviews and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.In 1994, Foxx released an album (on the Fox record label) entitled Peep This, which was not commercially successful. In 2003, Foxx made a cameo in Benzino’s music video for “Would You”, which features LisaRaye McCoy and Mario Winans.In 2003, Foxx featured on the rapper Twista’s song, “Slow Jamz”, together with Kanye West, which reached #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and #3 on the UK Singles chart. His second collaboration with Kanye West, “Gold Digger,” in which Foxx sang the Ray Charles-influenced “I Got a Woman” hook, then went straight to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining there for 10 weeks. In 2005, Foxx featured on the single “Georgia” by Atlanta rappers Ludacris and Field Mob, which sampled Ray Charles’ hit “Georgia on My Mind”.Foxx would also portray Ray Charles in the biographical film Ray (2004), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor[ and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Foxx is the second male in history to receive two acting Oscar nominations in the same year for two different movies, Collateral and Ray (the only other male actor to achieve this feat being Al Pacino). In 2005, Foxx was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.Foxx released his second studio album, Unpredictable, in December 2005. It debuted at #2, selling 598,000 copies in its first week, rising to #1 the following week and selling an additional 200,000 copies. To date, the album has sold 1.98 million copies in the United States, and was certified double Platinum by the RIAA. The album also charted on the UK Albums Chart, where it peaked at #9. Foxx became the fourth artist to have both won an Academy Award for an acting role and to have achieved a #1 album in the U.S, joining Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Barbra Streisand. Foxx’s first single from the album, the title track “Unpredictable” (featuring Ludacris), peaked in the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 singles and also made the UK Top 20 singles chart; the track samples “Wildflower” by New Birth. The second US single from the album was “DJ Play a Love Song,” which reunited Foxx with Twista. In the UK, the second single was “Extravaganza”, which saw Foxx once again collaborate with Kanye West, although Foxx did not feature in the song’s music video.At the 2006 Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards, Foxx won Best Duet/Collaboration with Kanye West for “Gold Digger” and tied with Mary J. Blige’s “Be Without You” for Video of the Year. On December 8, 2006, Foxx received four Grammy Award nominations, which included Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for Love Changes featuring Mary J. Blige, Best R&B Album for Unpredictable, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for Georgia by Ludacris & Field Mob featuring Jamie Foxx, and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for Unpredictable featuring Ludacris.Following on from these successes, Foxx went on to appear in the box-office hits Jarhead, Miami Vice and Dreamgirls, which lifted his profile even higher as a bankable star in Hollywood.Foxx has two daughters: Corinne Bishop (born 1994) and Annalise (born August 2009). Corinne made her formal debut at the Bal des débutantes in November 2014 and was named Miss Golden Globe 2016 on November 18, 2015.In 2008, Foxx filmed a public service announcement for Do Something to promote food drives in local communities.Foxx has been involved in feuds with co-stars LL Cool J and Colin Farrell.On January 18, 2016, Foxx rescued a young man from a burning vehicle that crashed outside his home. The driver, Brett Kyle, was driving his truck “at a high rate of speed” when the truck left the road, traveled into a drainage ditch, and rolled over multiple times. Kyle was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.Foxx’s daughter, Corinne, co-starred with him in the second season of Beat Shazam on Fox Broadcasting Company in 2018. She replaced DJ October Gonzalez from the first season of the show.On 26th October 2020, Foxx announced via Instagram that his 36-year-old sister Deondra had died, stating “My heart is shattered into a million pieces…my beautiful loving sister Deondra has transitioned…I say transitioned because she will always be alive.”

Written by Dianne Washington

Morris Day

Morris E. Day (born December 13, 1957) is an American musician, composer, and actor. He is best known as the lead singer of The Time.Morris Day was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA as Morris Eugene Day. He is an actor, known for Purple Rain (1984), The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990) and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001). He was previously married to Judith Jones, they have three children.In addition to his roles in Purple Rain (1984) and Graffiti Bridge (1990), Day also appeared in small parts in films such as Richard Pryor’s Moving (1988) and the Andrew Dice Clay film The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990). Day’s presence on the screen decreased until, in 2001, he returned to film in Kevin Smith’s Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, performing “Jungle Love” with The Time and dancing with the movie’s stars in the film’s coda, and being introduced emphatically by Jason Mewes’ character as “Morris Day and The motherfuckin’ Time!”.Day also appeared on the small screen in 1990 when he portrayed the character Lamarr on ABC’s short-lived sitcom New Attitude. He guest-starred on the sitcom Eve as a pimp who wanted Eve’s fashion boutique to design a flamboyant suit to match his witty personality, and appeared as himself in an episode on the series Moesha, attempting to file a lawsuit against Moesha’s ex-boyfriend Q, who used a sample from “The Oak Tree” without permission. He also appeared on 227 in the 80s.He appeared opposite James Avery and Matthew Stewart in a pilot called Heart & Soul produced by Quincy Jones. In 2018, Will Smith revealed that he auditioned on the spot for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air with a script for a “failed Morris Day pilot” that Jones handed to him.

Written by Dianne Washington

Dionne Warwick

Dionne Warwick (born Marie Dionne Warrick; December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress and television show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health.Having been in a partnership with songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest hit makers of the entire rock era, based on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Charts. She is second only to Aretha Franklin as the most-charted female vocalist of all time, with 56 of Warwick’s singles making the Billboard Hot 100 between 1962 and 1998 and 80 singles making all Billboard charts combined.Having been in a partnership with songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest hit makers of the entire rock era (1955–2012), based on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Charts. Dionne Warwick is second only to Aretha Franklin as the most-charted female vocalist of all time with 56 of Dionne’s singles making the Billboard Hot 100 between 1962 and 1998.Warwick was born in East Orange, New Jersey, to Mancel Warrick (1911–1977), who began his career as a Pullman porter and subsequently became a chef, a gospel record promoter for Chess Records and later a Certified Public Accountant; and Lee Drinkard Warwick (1920–2005), manager of The Drinkard Singers (see below). Warwick had a sister Delia “Dee Dee” and a brother, Mancel Jr., who was killed in an accident in 1968 at the age of 21. She has African American, Native American, Brazilian and Dutch ancestryDionne came from a family of singers. Dionne’s mother, aunts and uncles were members of the Drinkard Singers, a renowned family gospel group and RCA recording artists that frequently performed throughout the New York metropolitan area. The Drinkard family originated from Blakley, Georgia and migrated to Newark, New Jersey in 1923. The family was composed of Nitcholas “Nitch” Drinkard, and Delia Drinkard, Warwick’s grandparents, and their children: William, Lee (Warwick’s mother), Marie “Rebbie” (Warwick’s namesake), Hansom, Anne, Larry, Nicky, and Emily “Cissy” (who is the mother of Warwick’s cousin, Whitney Houston). Dionne’s paternal grandfather, Elzae Warrick was the preacher at St. Luke’s AME, the church attended by the Drinkard family. Lee Drinkard and the preacher’s son, Mancel, were later married and Dionne became the Drinkard family’s first grandchild on December 12, 1940.The original Drinkard Singers (known as the Drinkard Jubilairs) consisted of Cissy, Anne, Larry, and Nicky. Marie instructed the group and they were managed by Lee. As they became more successful, Lee and Marie also began performing with the group, and they were augmented by Judy Guoins, later known as pop/R&B singer Judy Clay, whom Lee had unofficially adopted. Elvis Presley eventually expressed an interest in having them join his touring entourage. Dionne began singing gospel as a child at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. She performed her first gospel solo at the age of six and frequently joined The Drinkard Singers.Her first televised performances were in the mid-and late 1950s with the Drinkard Singers on local television stations in New Jersey and New York City. Warwick grew up in a racially mixed middle-class neighborhood. She stated in an interview on The Biography Channel in 2002 that the neighborhood in East Orange “was literally the United Nations of neighborhoods. We had every nationality, every creed, every religion right there on our street.” Warwick was untouched by the harsher aspects of racial intolerance and discrimination until her early professional career, when she began touring nationally.Warwick graduated from East Orange High School in 1959 and was awarded a scholarship in Music Education[citation needed] to the Hartt College of Music in Hartford, Connecticut (from which she earned a masters degree and which would later award her an honorary doctorate in Music Education in 1973). In My Life, as I See It: An Autobiography, Warwick lists her honorary doctorate from Hartt among those awarded by six other institutions.Dionne Warwick married actor and drummer William David Elliott (1934–1983) (CBS’s Bridget Loves Bernie – 1972–73) in 1966; they divorced in May 1967. They reconciled and were remarried in Milan, Italy, in August 1967, according to Time. On January 18, 1969, while living in East Orange, New Jersey, she gave birth to her first son, David Elliott. In 1973, her second son Damon Elliott was born. On May 30, 1975, the couple separated and Warwick was granted a divorce in December 1975 in Los Angeles. The court denied Elliott’s request for $2000 a month in support pending a community property trial, and for $5000, when he insisted he was making $500 a month in comparison to Warwick making $100,000 a month. Warwick stated in Don’t Make Me Over: Dionne Warwick, a 2002 Biography Channel interview, “I was the breadwinner. The male ego is a fragile thing. It’s hard when the woman is the breadwinner. All my life, the only man who ever took care of me financially was my father. I have always taken care of myself.”Warwick lived in Brazil, a country she first visited in the early 1960s, until 2005, according to an interview with JazzWax, when she moved back to the United States to be near her ailing mother and sister. She became so entranced by Brazil that she studied Portuguese and divided her time between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. In April 2010, in an interview on talk-show Programa do Jô, she said Brazil was the place where she intended to spend the rest of her life after retiring.In 1993, her older son David, a former Los Angeles police officer, co-wrote with Terry Steele the Warwick-Whitney Houston duet “Love Will Find a Way”, featured on her album, Friends Can Be Lovers. Since 2002, he has periodically toured with and performed duets with his mother, and had his acting debut in the film Ali as the singer Sam Cooke. David became a singer-songwriter, with Luther Vandross’ “Here and Now” among others to his credit.Her second son, Damon Elliott, is also a noted music producer, who has worked with Mýa, Pink, Christina Aguilera and Keyshia Cole. He arranged and produced his mother’s 2006 Concord release My Friends and Me. She received a 2014 Grammy Award nomination in the Traditional Pop Category for her 2013 album release, Now.On January 24, 2015, Warwick was hospitalized after a fall in the shower at her home. After ankle surgery, she was released from the hospital.Warwick’s sister Dee Dee Warwick also had a successful singing career, scoring several notable R&B hits, including the original version of “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” and “I Want To Be With You”, from the Broadway version of the musical ‘Golden Boy’. She also recorded the original version of the song “You’re No Good”, which later became an R&B hit for the late Betty Everett and also a #1 Pop smash for Linda Ronstadt. It was also covered by Liverpool group The Swinging Blue Jeans in 1964, reaching No.3 in the UK and No.97 in the US. This group also recorded ‘Don’t Make Me Over’ and had a 1966 hit, reaching No. 31 in UK.Warwick’s cousin was the singer Whitney Houston, and her aunt is Gospel-trained vocalist Cissy Houston, Whitney’s mother.In her 2011 autobiography, My Life, as I See It, Warwick notes that opera diva Leontyne Price is a maternal cousin.

Written Dianne Washington

Jermaine Jackson

Jermaine La Jaune Jackson (born December 11, 1954) is an American singer, songwriter, bass guitarist and member of the Jackson family. He was a member of The Jackson 5, a singing group composed of him and four of his brothers, from 1962 to 1975, where he was the second lead vocalist (after brother Michael) and played bass guitar. He sang the lead on some of their songs and had featured vocals on many others, including many of their biggest hits like “I’ll Be There” and “I Want You Back”. When the group left the Motown label and reformed as “The Jacksons”, Jermaine stayed with Motown, due to loyalty to Motown founder Berry Gordy, whose daughter he had married, and was replaced in the group by youngest brother Randy. He rejoined the group in 1983, and has remained with them since, through various breakups and reunions.Jermaine also had a solo career concurrent with his brother Michael’s, and had a number of top 30 hits throughout the 1970s and 80s. He also produced and recorded duets with American singer Whitney Houston in her early years as a recording artist, and was a producer for the band Switch.Jackson was born December 11, 1954 in Gary, Indiana, after his brother Tito Jackson. He is the fourth child born to Joseph and Katherine Jackson. His siblings are Rebbie, Jackie, Tito, La Toya, Marlon, Michael, Randy, and Janet. His father Joseph had musical aspirations, playing guitar with his brother’s band, The Falcons, and Katherine was a passionate pianist and singer. But their large family and lack of money ended their dreams with Katherine becoming a housewife, and Joseph, a steel worker at nearby Inland Steel Company in East Chicago, Indiana (his parents lived there before they moved to Gary in 1950). While his father worked long hours as a crane operator, Jermaine and his brothers, Tito and Jackie, secretly practiced their own songs using their father’s guitar. Jermaine became the original lead singer of the Jackson Brothers—an earlier incarnation of The Jackson Five until 1966, when younger brother (Michael Jackson) began singing lead. Jermaine would continue to provide some leads over the years. Jermaine graduated from Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California in 1973.Jermaine and his brothers first signed as The Jackson Five with Gordon Keith of Steeltown Records in November 1967, and their first single “Big Boy”, was released on January 31, 1968. After the group recorded three more songs with the Steeltown label (on two records) they were signed with Berry Gordy of Motown Records in 1968 and 1969. As the co-lead singer of The Jackson 5 after his brother Michael, Jermaine sang notable parts of “I Want You Back”, “ABC”, “I’ll Be There”, “The Love You Save”, “Dancing Machine”, and many other Jackson 5 songs. Jermaine performed as part of the group for six years. Not feeling that they were being paid fair royalties by Motown Records for their success as well as their desire for creative control, the Jackson 5 decided to leave the label and sign with Epic Records in 1975. However, Jermaine decided to stay with Motown Records, citing loyalty to the company as the reason. Others argue that Jermaine’s marriage to Motown founder Berry Gordy’s daughter Hazel, whom he married in 1973, was the reason. Jermaine split from the Jackson 5 to start a solo career at Motown, and was replaced by his brother Randy Jackson. Unbeknownst to the group, Gordy had trademarked the name The Jackson Five and did not allow the group to continue using the name when they left the label. Once signed with Epic, the group became known as The Jacksons. Several years later, in 1983, Gordy asked the group to perform at the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever television special. After the success of the broadcast, Jermaine rejoined the band to record the album Victory which featured all six brothers on The Jackson’s album cover. Jermaine also participated in the band’s Victory Tour. He stayed with the group for their final album, 2300 Jackson Street, in 1989. In 2001, he reunited with his brothers to perform for the 30th Anniversary Special.Like Michael, Jermaine began a solo career while still a member of The Jackson 5, and had a hit with the 1972 Shep and the Limelites cover “Daddy’s Home”. It sold over one million copies by March 1973, and was awarded a gold disc. When The Jackson 5 left Motown, Jermaine left the group and stayed at Motown. Jermaine was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for his 1980 album Let’s Get Serious. He had a number of Billboard Top 30 hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including “Daddy’s Home” (#9), “That’s How Love Goes”, “Let’s Be Young Tonight”, “Bass Odyssey”, “Feel the Fire”, “Let Me Tickle Your Fancy” (featuring Devo on backing vocals) (#18), “Let’s Get Serious” (#9, also one of his only two UK hits, peaking at #8), “Dynamite” (#15), “Do What You Do” (#13), and “I Think It’s Love” (#16). A duet with his brother Michael, “Tell Me I’m Not Dreamin’ (Too Good to Be True)”, hit No. 1 on the dance chart in 1984. He and Michael also collaborated with Rockwell, both providing guest vocals on his 1984 hit single, “Somebody’s Watching Me”. In 1985, his duet with Pia Zadora, “When the Rain Begins to Fall”, topped several singles charts in Europe. His final chart success, 1989’s “Don’t Take It Personal”, hit #1 on the R&B singles chart. Some of Jermaine’s finest moments as a singer can be heard in the soulful “Castle of Sand” and the Earth Wind & Fire-inspired “You Need To Be Loved”.[13] Jackson is proficient on the electric guitar and is a talented bass guitar player. At an early age, he performed the parts of legendary bass player James Jamerson and others when the J5 performed live. Jermaine also composed and produced for other artists, such as Switch, and he produced and sang duets on Whitney Houston’s debut album for Arista Records.Jackson has been married three times and has seven children. His first marriage was to Motown founder Berry Gordy’s daughter, Hazel Gordy, from 1973 until 1988. He has three children with Hazel: Jermaine La Juane “Jay” Jackson Jr., (born January 27, 1977), Autumn Joy Jackson (born July 10, 1978), and Jaimy Jackson (born March 17, 1987). Jermaine Jr. and his longtime girlfriend, Asa Soltan Rahmati, have a son, Soltan Jackson, born January 20, 2017.Jackson was in a relationship with Margaret Maldonado from 1986 till 1993 that produced two sons: Jeremy Maldonado Jackson (born December 26, 1986), and Jourdynn Michael Jackson (born January 5, 1989).Jackson, like the rest of his family, was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness. In 1989 he converted to Islam after a trip to Bahrain in which he was impressed by the local children’s devotion to their religion.He began a relationship with Alejandra Genevieve Oaziaza while she was dating his younger brother Randy. He married Oaziaza on March 18, 1995, and the marriage lasted until May 19, 2003. They had two childreen: Jaafar Jackson (born July 25, 1996), and Jermajesty Jackson (born October 3, 2000).In January 2004, Jackson met Halima Rashid while in line at Starbucks. In March 2004, he proposed to her and five months later they got married in a mosque in Los Angeles Rashid was arrested on November 28, 2015 in Los Angeles for alleged domestic violence. She was booked for felony corporal injury on a spouse by the Los Angeles Police Department. The charges were later dropped when prosecutors could not determine who the aggressor was. Rashid filed a petition for divorce on June 21, 2016 citing irreconcilable differences.Jermaine supported his brother, Michael, during the 2005 child-abuse trial. He came to Michael’s defense on CNN’s Larry King Live and appeared with him in court on many occasions. On June 25, 2009, Jermaine held a press conference at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and broke the news of Michael Jackson’s death to the media.

Written by Dianne Washington

Monique

Monique Angela Jackson (née Imes; born December 11, 1967), known professionally as Mo’Nique, is an American comedian and actress. She is best known for her role as Nikki Parker in the UPN series The Parkers while making a name as a stand-up comedian hosting a variety of venues, including Showtime at the Apollo. Mo’Nique transitioned to film with roles in such films as Phat Girlz, and Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins. In 2009, she received critical praise for her villainous role in the film Precious and won numerous awards including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She hosted The Mo’Nique Show, a late-night talk show that premiered in 2009 on BET; it was cancelled in 2011.Mo’Nique was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Steven Imes, Jr., a drug counselor, and Alice Imes, an engineer. She is the youngest of four children: sister Millicent is her personal assistant; brother Steve is her manager. Mo’Nique graduated from Milford Mill High School in Baltimore County and attended Morgan State University. She is a 1987 graduate of the Broadcasting Institute of Maryland.Before working in her chosen career, Mo’Nique worked as a phone operator. She got her start in comedy at the downtown Baltimore Comedy Factory Outlet, when her brother Steve dared her to perform at an open mic night.Mo’Nique revealed during an interview with Essence magazine in 2008 that she was sexually abused by her brother, Gerald, from the age of seven until she was eleven. He went on to sexually abuse another girl and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. After her twin boys were born in 2005 she cut all contact with her brother and they have not spoken since.On April 19, 2010, Mo’Nique’s brother admitted on Oprah to sexually abusing her and that the abuse continued for over several years. Her brother, who has struggled with substance abuse, was also abused himself by other family.She played the role of Nicole “Nikki” Parker on the UPN television series The Parkers. The show ran from 1999 to 2004. Mo’Nique was subsequently featured on a number of leading stand-up venues, including stints on Showtime at the Apollo, Russell Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam, and Thank God You’re Here.She was also named hostess of Showtime at the Apollo. She is currently the hostess and executive producer of Mo’Nique’s Fat Chance, a beauty pageant for plus-sized women, on the Oxygen cable network. She hosted the first season of Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School on VH1, where she crowned Saaphyri as the winner.Her 2007 documentary I Coulda Been Your Cellmate!, focuses on women who are incarcerated. Mo’Nique touches on the common factors that bring many women into the penal system in her interviews with individual women. The documentary was related to her filming a comedy special at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, also known as The Farm. In 2007, Mo’Nique had a guest-starring role on the hit television series Ugly Betty as L’Amanda, Mode’s weekend security guard.Mo’Nique starred in her own late-night talk show called The Mo’Nique Show. Taped in Atlanta, the show premiered October 5, 2009, on BET.

Written by Dianne Washington

Mos Def

Yasiin Bey born Dante Terrell Smith; December 11, 1973), best known by his stage name Mos Def, is an American hip hop recording artist, actor and activist from Brooklyn, New York City, New York. Best known for his music, Mos Def embarked on his hip hop career in 1994, alongside his siblings in the short-lived rap group Urban Thermo Dynamics (UTD), after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. He subsequently formed the duo Black Star, alongside fellow Brooklyn-based rapper Talib Kweli, and they released their eponymous debut album in 1998. He was featured on the roster of Rawkus Records and in 1999 released his solo debut, Black on Both Sides. His debut was followed by The New Danger (2004), True Magic (2006) and The Ecstatic (2009). The editors at About.com listed him as the 14th greatest emcee of all time on their “50 greatest MC’s of our time” list.Prior to his career in music, Mos Def first entered public life as a child actor, having played roles in television movies, sitcoms, and theater. Since the early 2000s, Mos Def has been well known for his roles in films such as Something the Lord Made, Next Day Air, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, 16 Blocks, Be Kind Rewind, The Italian Job, The Woodsman, Bamboozled and Brown Sugar, as well as for his portrayal of Brother Sam in the Showtime drama series Dexter. He is also known as the host of Def Poetry Jam, which aired on HBO between 2002 and 2007.Mos Def has been vocal on several social and political causes, including police brutality, the idea of American exceptionalism, and the state of African Americans.Mos Def was born as Dante Terrell Smith in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Sheron Smith and Abdul Rahman. The eldest of 12 children and step-children, he was raised by his mother in Brooklyn, while his father lived in New Jersey.Although his father was initially a member of the Nation of Islam and later followed Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, who merged into mainstream Sunni Islam from the Nation, Mos Def was not exposed to Islam until the age of 13. At 19, he took his shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith. He is close friends with fellow Muslim rappers Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Kamaal Ibn John Fareed (Q-Tip) of the rap group A Tribe Called Quest.Mos Def attended middle school at Philippa Schuyler Middle School 383 in Bushwick, Brooklyn where he picked up his love for acting. After returning from filming You Take the Kids in Los Angeles, and getting into a relationship with an older girl, Mos Def dropped out of high school during sophomore year. Growing up in New York City during the crack epidemic of the 1980s and early 1990s, he has spoken about witnessing widespread instances of gang violence, theft and poverty in society, which he largely avoided by working on plays, Off-Off-Broadway and arts programs. In a particularly traumatic childhood experience, Mos Def witnessed his then five year old younger brother Ilias Bey (b. Denard Smith) get hit by a car. Bey, who later adopted the alias DCQ, was described by Smith as “my first partner in Hip Hop”.Mos Def began his rap music career in 1994, forming the rap group UTD (or Urban Thermo Dynamics) along with younger brother DCQ and younger sister Ces. In 2004, they released the album Manifest Destiny, their first and only release to date. The album features a compilation of previously unreleased and re-released tracks recorded during the original UTD run.In 1996, Mos Def emerged as a solo artist and worked with De La Soul and Da Bush Babees, before he released his own first single, “Universal Magnetic” in 1997.Mos Def signed with Rawkus Records and formed the rap group Black Star with Talib Kweli. The duo released an album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star, in 1998. Mostly produced by Hi-Tek, the album featured the singles “Respiration” and “Definition”, which both reached in the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.Mos Def released his solo debut album Black on Both Sides in October 1999, also through Rawkus. The single “Ms. Fat Booty” charted, while the album reached #25 on the Billboard 200. Around this time he also contributed to the Scritti Politti album Anomie & Bonhomie.In January 2002 Rawkus Records was taken over by Geffen Records, which released his second solo album The New Danger in October 2004. It included contributions by Shuggie Otis and Bernie Worrell, Doug Wimbish,and Will Calhoun as the Black Jack Johnson Band. The album reached #5 on the Billboard 200, making it the most successful for the artist to date. The single “Sex, Love & Money” charted, and was nominated for a Grammy Award. Mos Def’s final solo album for Geffen Records, titled True Magic, was released in 2006.Mos Def married Maria Yepes in 1996, and has two daughters with her: Jauhara Smith and Chandani Smith. He filed for divorce from Yepes in 2006. The former couple made headlines when Yepes took Mos Def to court over failure in child-support obligations, paying $2,000 short of the monthly $10,000 he is ordered to pay. Mos Def has four other children.His mother Sheron Smith, who goes by her nickname “Umi”, has played an active role managing portions of her son’s career. She is also a motivational speaker, and has authored the book Shine Your Light: A Life Skills Workbook, where she details her experience as a single mother raising him.In January 2016, Mos Def was ordered to leave South Africa and not return for five years, having stayed in the country illegally on an expired tourist visa granted in May 2013. Also that month, he was charged with using an unrecognized World Passport and having lived illegally in South Africa since 2014. Mos Def had reportedly recruited Kanye West to help defend him, and posted a message on West’s website announcing his retirement from show business. There was an ongoing court case in relation to immigration offences involving the artist and his family.On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Mos Def among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.On June 28, 2019, Bey appeared on Bandana, an album by Freddie Gibbs and Madlib, alongside Black Thought, on a track named “Education”.

Written by Dianne Washington

Flip Wilson

Clerow “Flip” Wilson Jr. (December 8, 1933 – November 25, 1998) was an American comedian and actor, best known for his television appearances during the late 1960s and 1970s. In the early 1970s, Wilson hosted his own weekly variety series, The Flip Wilson Show. The series earned Wilson a Golden Globe and two Emmy Awards, and at one point was the second highest rated show on network television. Wilson also won a Grammy Award in 1970 for his comedy album The Devil Made Me Buy This Dress.In January 1972, Time magazine featured Wilson’s image on its cover and named him “TV’s first black superstar”. According to The New York Times, Wilson was “the first black entertainer to be the host of a successful weekly variety show on network television.”Born Clerow Wilson Jr. in Jersey City, New Jersey, he was the tenth child out of 24 children born to Cornelia Bullock and Clerow Wilson Sr. His father worked as a handyman but, because of the Great Depression, was often out of work. When Wilson was seven years old, his mother abandoned the family. His father was unable to care for the children alone and he placed many of them in foster homes. After bouncing from foster homes to reform school, 16-year-old Wilson lied about his age and joined the United States Air Force. His outgoing personality and funny stories made him popular; he was even asked to tour military bases to cheer up other servicemen. Claiming that he was always “flipped out,” Wilson’s barracks mates gave him the nickname “Flip” which he used as his stage name. Discharged from the Air Force in 1954, Wilson started working as a bellhop in San Francisco’s Manor Plaza Hotel.At the Plaza’s nightclub, Wilson found extra work playing a drunken patron in between regularly scheduled acts. His inebriated character proved popular and Wilson began performing it in clubs throughout California. At first Wilson would simply ad-lib onstage, but eventually he added written material and his act became more sophisticated.Opportunity found him in 1959 when a Miami businessman sponsored him for one year for $50 per week, enabling him to concentrate on the work he loved. For the next five years,Flip Wilson appeared regularly at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. The Tonight Show was his next stop. in 1965, he began a series of nationwide appearances, followed by long-term contracts and a number of hit records. With “The Flip Wilson Show” in the early 1970s, he became the first Black American to have a weekly prime-time television show under his own name.In 1970, on the nation’s TV screens, Flip Wilson put on a wig and a minidress and became Geraldine, who screeched: “What you see is what you get!” The man who gave the world Geraldine and the catch phrase, “The devil made me do it!” crossed all lines with his comedy, said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who had known the comedian since the 1970s. “Flip was a breakthrough artist for African-Americans,” Jackson said. “He led with a brand of comedy that was clean and decent and not vulgar.”Wilson made the cover of Time Magazine in 1972 and made his dramatic debut on the Six Million-Dollar Man in 1976. Other television credits include “People Are Funny” (1984) and “Charlie & Co.” (1985).Wilson was married twice. In 1957 he wed Lavenia Wilson née Dean. They divorced in 1967. In 1979 he married Tuanchai MacKenzie. They divorced in 1984. After winning custody of his children in 1979, Wilson performed less, in order to spend more time with his family.Before becoming ill, he was an active lighter-than-air pilot.Wilson had undergone surgery Oct. 2 at St. John’s Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica for a malignant tumor that was close to his liver. He died November 25, 1998. He was 64.

Written by Dianne Washington