Whats Buzzing in the Streets – Page 51

Allen Payne

Allen Payne (born July 7, 1968) is an American film and television actor known for his recurring role as Lance Rodman on NBC’s The Cosby Show during its final two seasons and as C.J. Payne on Tyler Perry’s House of Payne television series (2006–2012). Payne is also known for his portrayal of Gerald “Gee Money” Wells; the drug lord sidekick opposite Wesley Snipes in the 1991 film New Jack City, Jason Alexander in the 1994 film Jason’s Lyric and Detective Justice in the 1995 film Vampire in Brooklyn opposite Eddie Murphy and Angela Bassett.

Payne was born Allen Roberts in the Harlem area of New York City, to Allen Roberts and Barbara Reeves. Payne is the oldest of two children although he has many close family and friends he considers to be siblings.

Roberts attended Pennsauken High School in Pennsauken NJ. His first acting role on television was in 1990 on The Cosby Show. During two seasons, he made several appearances in which he played Lance Rodman, Charmaine’s boyfriend. He also appeared as Marcus Stokes in an episode during the second season of The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. He made a guest appearance on Malcolm & Eddie as Preston.

Payne has appeared in many films, including a role with Jada Pinkett Smith in Jason’s Lyric. He played a leading role in the Nelson George-produced and George and Chris Rock-written CB4 as “Dead Mike” – which was a hip-hop parody that co-starred Chris Rock, Charlie Murphy, and Khandi Alexander and in which Ice-T, Ice Cube, Shaquille O’Neal, Flavor Flav and Eazy-E made cameos. He appeared in New Jack City, Vampire in Brooklyn, Double Platinum, and The Perfect Storm. Beginning in 2006, he starred on Tyler Perry’s House of Payne. He appeared in a Stacy Lattisaw video I’m Not The Same Girl.

Angela Bofill

Angela Tomasa Bofill (born May 3, 1954) is an American R&B and jazz singer-songwriter.

Angela Bofill was born to a Cuban father and an Puerto Rican mother on Fox Street in the Bronx. She grew up listening to Latin music and was also inspired by African-American performers. Her weekends were taken up studying classical music and singing in a city chorus. It was as a teenager that her professional singing began.

She performed with Ricardo Marrero & the Group and Dance Theater of Harlem chorus before being introduced to Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen of the jazz label GRP Records by Dave Valentin, her friend and jazz flutist. Grusin and Rosen signed Bofill and produced her first album, Angie, in 1978. Angie was well received both critically and commercially and included the chart single “This Time I’ll Be Sweeter” (co-written by Gwen Guthrie and Haras Fyre), and Bofill’s sprawling jazz composition, “Under the Moon and Over the Sky”.

Less than a year later, a second album, Angel of the Night was released and outperformed its predecessor. The album included the chart singles “What I Wouldn’t Do (For the Love of You)” and the up tempo title track, as well as the song “I Try”, written by Bofill and covered by Will Downing in 1991. The reception of these albums positioned Bofill as one of the first Latina singers to find success in the R&B and jazz markets.

Clive Davis, the head of Arista Records, showed interest in Bofill. Arista had a distribution deal with GRP. Bofill switched labels for her next album, Something About You (1981). Produced by Narada Michael Walden, the album was an attempt to move Bofill into mainstream R&B and pop music. It didn’t perform as well as previous releases, despite the singles “Holdin’ Out for Love” and the title track, which both reached the R&B Top 40.

The following year, she and Walden reunited for Too Tough. The title song reached No. 5 on the R&B chart and spent four weeks at No. 2 on the Dance chart. A follow-up single, “Tonight I Give In”, reached the Top 20. Several months later, Bofill released her final collaboration with Walden, Teaser. The album failed to match the success of Too Tough but did produce one Top 20 R&B hit, “I’m On Your Side”, which has been covered by several artists, most notably Jennifer Holliday, who had a Top 10 hit with it in 1991.

Bofill recorded two more albums for Arista with the help of The System and George Duke before leaving the label in the mid-1980s. Following the birth of her daughter, she moved to Capitol Records and the producer Norman Connors for Intuition (1988), which produced her last significant chart success, a cover of Gino Vannelli’s “I Just Wanna Stop”, which reached No. 11 on the R&B chart. She recorded three more albums over the next eight years and provided backing vocals on albums for Diana Ross and Kirk Whalum and for Connors’s Eternity (2000). She performed live (with a sizable audience internationally, particularly in Asia) and appeared in the stage plays God Don’t Like Ugly and What a Man Wants, What a Man Needs. She also toured the US and Europe in multi-artist jazz shows.

Bofill suffered a stroke on January 10, 2006 and was paralyzed on her left side. She convalesced at Sutter Hospital in Santa Rosa, California, and was released from intensive care on January 15, requiring speech and physical therapy. She lacked health insurance, and a benefit concert was organized to pay her hospital bills. The show was planned by Rich Engel, her manager, and the New York radio stations Kiss FM and WFAN-FM,. It took place on March 11, 2006, at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey. Similar events followed, and other aid was sought from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. Her album Live from Manila (recorded in September 2004) was released during this time. She suffered another stroke in July 2007 which required therapy and left both her speech and mobility impaired.

Although Bofill lost the ability to sing after her second stroke, she returned to the stage, at the suggestion of Engel, for “The Angela Bofill Experience”. In the show, she recounted her life and career and was joined by Maysa Leak, Phil Perry, and Melba Moore, who performed her biggest hits and signature songs. In 2012, she was profiled and interviewed for the TV One documentary series, Unsung.

Al Green

Albert Leornes “Al” Greene (born April 13, 1946), often known as The Reverend Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter and record producer, best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including “Take Me to the River”, “Tired of Being Alone”, “I’m Still in Love with You”, “Love and Happiness” and his signature song, “Let’s Stay Together”. Inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, Green was referred to on the museum’s site as being “one of the most gifted purveyors of soul music”. He has also been referred to as “The Last of the Great Soul Singers”. Green was included in the Rolling Stone list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, ranking at No. 65.

Al Green was born Albert Leornes Greene on April 13, 1946, in Forrest City, Arkansas. The sixth of ten children born to Cora Lee and Robert G. Greene, Jr., a sharecropper, Al began performing with his brothers in a group called the Greene Brothers at around the age of ten. The Greene family relocated to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the late 1950s. Al was kicked out of the family home while in his teens, after his religiously devout father caught him listening to Jackie Wilson.

“I also listened to Mahalia Jackson, all the great gospel singers. But the most important music to me was those hip-shakin’ boys: Wilson Pickett and Elvis Presley. I just loved Elvis Presley. Whatever he got, I went out and bought.”

In high school, Al formed a vocal group called Al Greene & the Creations. Two of the group’s members, Curtis Rodgers and Palmer James, formed an independent label called Hot Line Music Journal. In 1968, having changed their name to Al Greene & the Soul Mates, they recorded the song “Back Up Train”, releasing it on Hot Line Music. The song was a hit on the R&B charts. However, the group’s subsequent follow-ups failed to chart, as did their debut album, Back Up Train. While performing with the Soul Mates, Green came into contact with Memphis record producer Willie Mitchell, who hired him in 1969 to be a vocalist for a Texas show with Mitchell’s band. Following the performance, Mitchell asked Green to sign with his Hi Records label.

Having noted that Green had been trying to sing like Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett and James Brown, Mitchell became his vocal mentor, coaching him into finding his own voice. Before releasing his first album with Hi, Green removed the final “e” from his name. Subsequently, he released Green Is Blues, which was a moderate success. His follow-up album, Al Green Gets Next to You, featured the hit R&B cover of the Temptations’ “I Can’t Get Next to You”, recorded in a slow blues-oriented version. The album also featured his first significant hit, “Tired of Being Alone”, which sold half a million copies and was certified gold, becoming the first of seven consecutive gold singles Green would record in the next couple of years.

Green’s next album, Let’s Stay Together, solidified his place in soul music. The title track was his biggest hit to date, reaching number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts. The album became his first to be certified gold. His follow-up, I’m Still in Love with You went platinum with the help of the singles “Look What You Done for Me” and the title track, both of which went to the top ten on the Hot 100. His next album, Call Me, released in 1973, produced three top ten singles: “You Ought to Be with Me”, “Call Me (Come Back Home)” and “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)”. Green’s album Livin’ for You, released at the end of 1973, was his last album to be certified gold.

In addition to these hit singles, Green also had radio hits with songs such as “Love and Happiness”, his cover of the Bee Gees’ “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart”, “Simply Beautiful”, “What a Wonderful Thing Love Is” and “Take Me to the River”, later covered successfully by new wave band Talking Heads and blues artist Syl Johnson. Green continued to record successful R&B hits in the next several years including “Livin’ for You”, “Let’s Get Married”, “Sha-La-La (Makes Me Happy)”, “L-O-V-E (Love)” and “Full of Fire”. By the time Green released the album, The Belle Album in 1977, however, Green’s record sales had plummeted, partially due to Green’s own personal issues during this time and his desire to become a minister. His last Hi Records album, Truth n’ Time, was released in 1978 and failed to become a success. Two years later, he left Hi for Myrrh Records and recorded only gospel music for the next decade and a half.

Green’s first gospel album, The Lord Will Make a Way, was released in 1980. The title song from the album would later win Green his first of eight Grammy Awards in the Best Soul Gospel Performance category. In 1982, Green co-starred with Patti LaBelle in the Broadway play, “Your Arms Too Short to Box with God”. His 1985 gospel album, He Is the Light reunited Green with Willie Mitchell while his 1987 follow-up, Soul Survivor, featured the minor hit, “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright”, which reached number 22 on the R&B chart, his first top 40 R&B hit since “I Feel Good” in 1978.

Green returned to secular music in 1988 recording “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” with Annie Lennox. Featured on the soundtrack to the movie, Scrooged, the song became Green’s first top 10 pop hit since 1974. Green had a hit in 1989 with “The Message is Love” with producer Arthur Baker. Two years later, he recorded the theme song to the short-lived show Good Sports. In 1993, he signed with RCA and with Baker again as producer, released the album, Don’t Look Back. Green received his ninth Grammy award for his collaboration with Lyle Lovett for their duet of “Funny How Time Slips Away”. Green’s 1995 album, Your Heart’s In Good Hands, was released around the time that Green was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The one single released from the album, “Keep On Pushing Love”, was described as “invoking the original, sparse sound of his [Green’s] early classics.”

In 2000, Green released his autobiography, Take Me to the River. Two years later, he earned the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and recorded a hit R&B duet with Ann Nesby on the song, “Put It On Paper”. Green again reunited with Willie Mitchell in 2003 for the album, I Can’t Stop. A year later, Green re-recorded his previous song, “Simply Beautiful”, with Queen Latifah on the latter’s album, The Dana Owens Album. In 2005, Green and Mitchell collaborated on Everything’s OK. His 2008 album, Lay It Down, was produced by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and James Poyser. It became his first album to reach the top ten since the early 1970s. The album featured a minor R&B hit with the ballad, “Stay with Me (By the Sea)”, featuring John Legend and also featuring duets with Anthony Hamilton and Corinne Bailey Rae. During an interview for promotion of the album, Green admitted that he would have liked to duet with Marvin Gaye: “In those days, people didn’t sing together like they do now,” he said. In 2009, Green recorded “People Get Ready” with Heather Headley on the album, Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration. In 2010, Green performed “Let’s Stay Together” on Later… with Jools Holland.

On October 18, 1974, shortly after Al Green Explores Your Mind was released, Mary Woodson White, a girlfriend of Green’s, assaulted him before committing suicide at his Memphis home. Although she was already married, White reportedly became upset when Green refused to marry her. At some point during the evening, White doused Green with a pan of boiling grits while he was bathing, causing severe burns on Green’s back, stomach and arms. She then found his .38 and killed herself. In her purse, police found a note declaring her intentions and her reasons.

Green cited the incident with White as a wake-up call to change his life. He became an ordained pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis in 1976. Continuing to record R&B, Green saw his sales start to slip and drew mixed reviews from critics. In 1979, Green injured himself falling off the stage while performing in Cincinnati and interpreted this as a message from God. He then concentrated his energies towards pastoring his church and gospel singing. His first gospel album was The Lord Will Make a Way. From 1981 to 1989 Green recorded a series of gospel albums, garnering eight “soul gospel performance” Grammy Awards in that period. In 1985, he reunited with Willie Mitchell along with Angelo Earl for He Is the Light, his first album for A&M Records. In 1984, director Robert Mugge released a documentary film, Gospel According to Al Green, including interviews about his life and footage from his church.

In June 1977, Green married Shirley Kyles. They had three daughters together, Alva, Rubi and Kora. The marriage lasted until January 1983. Shirley later alleged that Green had been subjecting her to domestic violence throughout their marriage.

Green is a member of the Prince Hall Masons, the African-American wing of Freemasonry, at the Thirty-Third Degree.

Green resides and preaches in Memphis, Tennessee near Graceland.

Green’s sister Maxine disappeared in September, 2013 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Babyface Edmonds

Kenneth Brian Edmonds (born April 10, 1959), known professionally as Babyface, is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He has written and produced over 26 number-one R&B hits throughout his career, and has won 11 Grammy Awards.

Edmonds was born on April 10, 1959, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Marvin and Barbara Edmonds. Barbara was a production operator at a pharmaceutical plant. Edmonds, who is the fifth of six brothers (including future After 7 band members Melvin and Kevon Edmonds, the latter of whom went on to have a modestly successful solo career), attended North Central High School in Indianapolis, Indiana, and as a shy youth, wrote songs to express his emotions. When he was in eighth grade, Edmonds’ father died of lung cancer, leaving his mother to raise her sons alone. At this stage, Edmonds became determined to have a career in music.

Edmonds later played with funk performer Bootsy Collins, who tagged him “Babyface” because of his youthful look. He also performed in the group Manchild (which had a 1977 hit “Especially for You” with band member Daryl Simmons) as a guitarist. He played keyboards in the light-funk and R&B group the Deele (which also included drummer Antonio “L.A.” Reid, with whom he would later form a successful writing and producing partnership). One of his first major credits as a songwriter for outside artists came when he wrote the tune “Slow Jam” for the R&B band Midnight Star in 1983. The tune was on Midnight Star’s 1983 double-platinum No Parking on the Dance Floor album, and while it never was a single, it received massive radio airplay and the song is still played on quiet storm radio stations. Babyface remained in the Deele until 1988, when both he and Reid left the group.

His album Playlist consists of eight cover songs and two original works. It was released on September 18, 2007. It was the first album on the newly re-launched Mercury Records label.

On February 4, 2014, he released a Grammy Award-winning duet album with Toni Braxton titled Love, Marriage & Divorce on Motown Records.

In the late 1980s, he contributed to the creation of new jack swing, writing and producing music for the likes of Bobby Brown, Karyn White, Pebbles, Paula Abdul and Sheena Easton.

In 1989, Edmonds co-founded LaFace Records with Reid. Three of the label’s early artists TLC, Usher, and Toni Braxton were very successful. TLC’s second album CrazySexyCool, for which he wrote and produced some of the hits, became the best selling album of all time by an American girl group. Under his direction, TLC was able to sell more than 60 million albums worldwide, and a combined total of 75 million records. Toni Braxton’s first two albums, Toni Braxton (1993) and Secrets (1996), for which he wrote the majority of the songs, went on to sell a combined total of over 10 million copies in America alone.

Babyface helped form the popular late-1990s R&B group Az Yet. Edmonds also helped to mold and work with some of his then-wife Tracey Edmonds’ acts, such as Jon B and producer Jon-John Robinson.

Edmonds has worked with many successful performers in contemporary music. “I’m Your Baby Tonight” (1990), produced for Whitney Houston, was his first No. 1 Top 40 hit in the US. He also wrote and produced Boyz II Men’s 1992 “End of the Road” and 1994 “I’ll Make Love to You”, both of which established records for the longest stay at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He co-wrote, co-produced, and provided backing vocals on Madonna’s 1994 Bedtime Stories, which featured the seven-week No. 1 hit “Take a Bow”, and shared billing with Eric Clapton on the chart-topping Grammy winner “Change the World” from the Phenomenon soundtrack. He also wrote and produced the No. 1 hit “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)” for Whitney Houston as well as the rest of the critically acclaimed 10 million-selling Waiting to Exhale soundtrack in 1995, which spawned additional hits for Houston, Brandy and Mary J. Blige.

Additionally, Edmonds has produced and written music for many artists including Carole King, Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Faith Evans, Al Green, Beyoncé, Diana Ross, Sheena Easton, Toni Braxton, Michael Jackson, Michael Bolton, Paula Abdul, Eric Clapton, Pebbles, Tevin Campbell, Bobby Brown, Whitney Houston, Brandy, Mary J. Blige, Tamia, Shola Ama, 3T, Sisqó, Dru Hill, Fall Out Boy, Céline Dion, Samantha Jade, Backstreet Boys, Honeyz, Katharine McPhee, Mariah Carey, Vanessa L. Williams, Chanté Moore, En Vogue, Zendaya, Kenny G, Kristinia DeBarge, Lil Wayne, Japanese singer Ken Hirai, P!nk, Colbie Caillat, Marc Nelson, TLC, Ariana Grande, Ella Henderson, Jessica Mauboy, Xscape, K-Ci & JoJo, NSYNC, Jordin Sparks and Phil Collins among others. He received three consecutive Grammy Awards for Producer of the Year from 1995 to 1997.

Babyface was in the studio for about two years with Ashanti to produce her album The Declaration (2008).

He worked on the Lil Wayne album Tha Carter III (2008), on the Kanye West-produced “Comfortable”. He also worked with R&B singer Monica for her sixth studio album Still Standing (2010).

In 2013, Babyface served as producer for Ariana Grande’s debut album Yours Truly, producing the majority of her songs, including her second single, “Baby I”.

In September 2014, Babyface collaborated with Barbra Streisand on her album Partners, performing a duet on the track “Evergreen” and background vocals for other album tracks.

Babyface also collaborated with Foxes on her sophomore album, All I Need (2016), producing and co-writing “Scar”.

In July 2016, Babyface along with Bruce Roberts and Carole Bayer Sager helped write the song, “Stronger Together” sung by Jessica Sanchez. The song was played after Hillary Clinton’s speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. The song’s title is named after the slogan that the Clinton campaign uses as a show of uniting behind the Democratic nominee. The song was one of the top trending songs on Shazam that week. The song was widely perceived as positive by the listeners, and even received praise by celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian.

In 1994, he appeared and performed on an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 entitled “Mr. Walsh Goes to Washington (Part 2)”.

In the mid-1990s, Edmonds and his then-wife Tracey Edmonds expanded into the business of motion pictures, setting up Edmonds Entertainment Group and producing films such as Soul Food (1997), Josie and the Pussycats (2001), and also the soundtrack for the film The Prince of Egypt (1998), which included contributions from numerous artists, including Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. They also executive produced the BET reality series College Hill (2004-2009). Edmonds also worked with David Foster to compose “The Power of the Dream”, the official song of the 1996 Summer Olympics, performed by superstar Céline Dion. Linda Thompson provided the lyrics.

Babyface also participated as a duet partner on the Fox reality show Celebrity Duets (2006).

He was portrayed by Wesley Jonathan in the 2015 Lifetime biopic Whitney and is portrayed by actor Gavin Houston in the Lifetime biopic based on Toni Braxton entitled Un-Break My Heart, which premiered on the network in early 2016.

On August 30, 2016, Babyface was revealed as one of the celebrities who will compete on season 23 of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with professional dancer Allison Holker. He and Holker were eliminated on the fourth week of competition and finished in 11th place along with Vanilla Ice and Witney Carson.

Edmonds founded his record label Soda Pop Records in 2009. Since founding the label he has signed R&B icons K-Ci & JoJo, releasing their first album for the label entitled My Brother’s Keeper. In 2013 Babyface secured a distribution deal with E1 Music for the label.

Babyface married his first wife, Denise during his young adult years. In 1990, Babyface met Tracey Edmonds when she auditioned for the music video for his song “Whip Appeal”. They married on September 5, 1992, and have two sons, Brandon and Dylan. On January 7, 2005, Tracey filed for divorce in Los Angeles County Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences. In October 2005, Babyface and Tracey announced that they were ending their marriage of thirteen years.

In 2007, Babyface began dating his backup dancer Nicole “Nikki” Pantenburg (former backup dancer for and personal friend of Janet Jackson). In 2008, Babyface and Nicole welcomed a daughter. The pair married on May 17, 2014.

In 2015, Babyface donated money to the presidential campaign of Republican Senator Marco Rubio.

In 1999, a 25-mile (40-km) stretch of Interstate 65 that runs through Indianapolis was renamed Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds Highway.

Rodent where’s the next episode?

A Street Line original, soap opera drama from creator Vera Edwards, with social media stars Seven Overton, Eric White, Sho-time, Regina Alston, Toni Styles, Andre Frasier, Jerome Hill, Lola Campbell, Gabrielle Williams, Catherine Hodge, John Hopson, Quintin Drakeford, Anabel Castillo, and a slue of social media friends has caught the attention of many video watchers. The soap opera series blends fictional and real-life situations, places and events, as it charts the rise of the cultural phenomenon of relationships gone wrong. The story centers around the creators past friendships that she counseled in her earlier days. When asked how did she come up with the ideals, Edwards stated her past plays back in her head and she decided to bring it out through film. With director of photography, Ricardo Cordero, and music composer, Travis ‘Prizzy’ Piskura, the first three episodes has become a smash hit on YouTube and the Street line video website amongst bootleggers all over the world.

The long awaited episode 4 will resume sometime next year. Many viewers have written the producer and wanted to see more. Emails have piled up questioning about the characters they have fell in love with. When asked what happened, Edwards only sung out ” How do rumors get started…they get started by the jealous people and… “A song written by Timex Social club. To clear it up, Edwards stated it was a difference of opinion and drama on and off the set. A lot of people were in their feelings and it just didn’t work out. Edwards stated the project isn’t abandoned, just put on halt for a while. Edwards stated that Rodent came out first back in 2015 as a pilot and moved onto a series later in 2017 and ending in 2018. Each episode was at least 90 minutes long, making it mini movies.

Edwards also stated that Rodent will continue in the future and that Street line enjoyed the experience with some of the cast, but now is looking for actors that aren’t so sensitive and can take direction. Edwards has helped many in their careers and has worked on other projects since then. Street line has new auditions and new movies they are working on now. Rodent the Urban soap opera is based in Bronx NY

Billy Dee Williams

Billy Dee Williams (born William December Williams Jr.; April 6, 1937) is an American actor, artist, singer, and writer. He is best known for his role as Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars film franchise, as well as acting in the movies Brian’s Song, Nighthawks, The Last Angry Man, Carter’s Army, and for playing Harvey Dent in Tim Burton’s Batman (1989).

Williams was born in New York, the son of Loretta Anne (1915-), a West Indian-born elevator operator from Montserrat, and William December Williams, Sr. (1910-2008), an African-American caretaker from Texas. He has a twin sister, Loretta, and grew up in Harlem, where he was raised by his maternal grandmother while his parents worked at several jobs. Williams graduated from The High School of Music & Art (later merged with the High School of Performing Arts to become the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art) in Manhattan, where he was a classmate of Diahann Carroll, who would later play the wife of his character Brady Lloyd on the 1980s prime-time soap opera Dynasty.

Williams first appeared on Broadway in 1945 in The Firebrand of Florence. He returned to Broadway as an adult in 1960 in the adaptation of The Cool Word. He appeared in A Taste of Honey in 1961. A 1976 Broadway production, I Have a Dream, was directed by Robert Greenwald and starred Williams as Martin Luther King, Jr. His most recent Broadway appearance was in August Wilson’s Fences, as a replacement for James Earl Jones in the role of Troy Maxson in 1988.

Williams made his film debut in 1959 in The Last Angry Man, opposite Paul Muni, in which he portrayed a delinquent young man. He rose to stardom after starring in the critically lauded blockbuster biographical television movie, Brian’s Song (1971), in which he played Chicago Bears star football player Gale Sayers, who stood by his friend Brian Piccolo (played by James Caan), during Piccolo’s struggle with terminal cancer. The film was so popular that it was given a theatrical release. Both Williams and Caan were nominated for Emmy Awards for best actor for their performances.[6]

Having broken through, Williams became one of America’s most well-known black film actors of the 1970s, after starring in a string of critically acclaimed and popular movies, many of them in the “blaxploitation” genre. In 1972, he starred as Billie Holiday’s husband Louis McKay in Motown Productions’ Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues. The film was a box office blockbuster, becoming one of the highest grossing films of the year and received five Academy Award nominations. Diana Ross starred in Lady Sings the Blues opposite Williams; Motown paired the two of them again three years later in the successful follow-up project Mahogany.

The early 1980s brought Williams the role of Lando Calrissian, which he played in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Calrissian’s charm proved to be popular with audiences. He reprised the role when he lent his voice for the character in the 2002 video game Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, as well as the audio dramatization of Dark Empire, the National Public Radio adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back, and two productions for the Star Wars: Battlefront series: Star Wars: Battlefront II and Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron. Between his appearances in the Star Wars films, he starred alongside Sylvester Stallone as a cop in the 1981 thriller Nighthawks.

He co-starred in 1989’s Batman as district attorney Harvey Dent, a role that was planned to develop into Dent’s alter-ego, the villain Two-Face, in sequels. Unfortunately for Williams, that never came to pass; he was set to reprise the role in the sequel Batman Returns, but his character was deleted and replaced with villain Max Shreck. When Joel Schumacher stepped in to direct Batman Forever, where Two-Face was to be a secondary villain, Schumacher decided to hire Tommy Lee Jones for the role. There was a rumor that Schumacher had to pay Williams a fee in order to hire Jones, but Williams said that it was not true: “You only get paid if you do the movie. I had a two-picture deal with Star Wars. They paid me for that, but I only had a one picture deal for Batman.”

After The Walt Disney Company acquired ownership of Lucasfilm in 2012, plans for a sequel trilogy to the Star Wars films were announced. On April 29, 2014, Disney announced a cast list for Star Wars Episode VII, set decades after Episode VI. The confirmed cast included the actors who portrayed Han Solo, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker, along with Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2, but Calrissian’s character was omitted. Fans made their displeasure known on social networks immediately.

Williams’s television work included a recurring guest-starring role on the short-lived show Gideon’s Crossing. He is also well known for his appearance in advertisements for Colt 45 (a brand of malt liquor) in the 1980s and early 1990s, for which he received much criticism. Williams responded indifferently to the criticism of his appearances in the liquor commercials. When questioned about his appearances, he allegedly replied by saying, “I drink, you drink. Hell, if marijuana was legal, I’d appear in a commercial for it.”

In the 1984-1985 season of Dynasty, he played Brady Lloyd opposite Diahann Carroll.

Williams was paired with actress Marla Gibbs on three situation comedies: The Jeffersons (Gibbs’s character, Florence, had a crush on Williams and challenged him on everything because she thought he was an imposter); 227 (her character, Mary, pretending to be royalty, met Williams at a banquet); and The Hughleys (Gibbs and Williams portrayed Darryl’s parents).

In 1992, he portrayed Berry Gordy in The Jacksons: An American Dream.

In 1993, Williams had a guest appearance on the spin-off to The Cosby Show, A Different World, as Langston Paige, a grumpy landlord, in a backdoor pilot for his own series. He appeared as himself on Martin where he provided Martin with advice on getting back together with Gina.

Williams made a special guest appearance on the hit sketch comedy show In Living Color in 1990. He portrayed Pastor Dan in an episode of That ’70s Show. In this episode entitled “Baby Don’t You Do It” (2004), his character is obsessed with Star Wars, and uses this to help counsel Eric Forman (himself a Star Wars fan) and Donna Pinciotti about their premarital relationship. Williams made a cameo appearance as himself on the television series Lost in the episode “Exposé”. He also appears regularly on short clips on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! as a semi-parody of himself. In February 2006, he guest starred as himself in the season 5 episode “Her Story II” of Scrubs, where he plays the godfather of Julie (Mandy Moore). Turk hugs him, calling him “Lando”, even though he prefers to be called Billy Dee.

He played Toussaint Dubois for General Hospital: Night Shift in 2007 and 2008. Williams reprised his role as Toussaint on General Hospital beginning in June 2009. Also in 2009, he took on the role of the voice of Admiral Bitchface, the head of the military on the planet Titan in the Adult Swim animated series Titan Maximum. In July 2010, Williams appeared in the animated series The Boondocks, where he voiced a fictionalized version of himself in the episode “The Story of Lando Freeman”.

In February 2011, Williams appeared as a guest star on USA Network’s White Collar as Ford, an old friend of Neal Caffrey’s landlady June, played by Diahann Carroll. In February 2012, Williams was the surprise guest during a taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show spotlighting Diana Ross. Ross and Williams were reunited after having not seen each other in 29 years. In October 2012, Williams appeared as a guest star on NCIS in Season 10 Episode 5 titled “Namesake”, as Gibbs’ namesake and his father’s former best friend, Leroy Jethro Moore. On January 9, 2013, Williams appeared as himself in a cameo role on Modern Family, Season 4 / Episode 11 “New Year’s Eve”.

It was announced on March 4, 2014 that Williams would be competing on the 18th season of Dancing with the Stars. He partnered with professional dancer Emma Slater. The couple had to withdraw from the competition on the third week due to an injury to Williams’s back.

In spite of his absence from Episode VII, Williams returned to the role Lando Calrissian in a 2015 episode of Star Wars Rebels.

In 1961, Williams ventured into the music industry when he recorded a jazz LP produced by Prestige Records entitled Let’s Misbehave, on which he sang several swing standards. The album, which was a commercial success at the time, made Williams eligible for an appearance in the legendary Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever (1983).

Williams voiced Lando Calrissian in the video game Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Star Wars Battlefront as well as the spin-off Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron (however, the Battlefront appearances were archive footage and his voice-appearance in Elite Squadron is left uncredited or unknown). He also played a live-action character, GDI Director Redmond Boyle, in the game Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, which was released in March 2007. This made him the second former Star Wars actor to appear in a Command & Conquer game, with the first being James Earl Jones as GDI General James Solomon in Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun.

In 2008, Williams reprised his role as Lando Calrissian to appear in a video on FunnyOrDie.com in a mock political ad defending himself for leader of the Star Wars galaxy against vicious attack ads from Emperor Palpatine. Williams is currently a cast member of Diary of a Single Mom, a web based original series directed by award-winning filmmaker Robert Townsend. The series debuted on PIC.tv in 2009.

Before he began acting, Williams attended the National Academy of Fine Arts and Design in New York. In the late 1980s, he resumed painting. Some of his work can be seen at his online gallery BDW World Art. He has had solo exhibitions in various galleries around the United States, and his work hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian Institution and the Schomburg Museum. The covers of the Thelonious Monk Competition programs since 1990 are by him.

Williams has been married three times. His first marriage was to Audrey Sellers in 1959. They were divorced some years later, after which he apparently became quite depressed: “[…] there was a period when I was very despondent, broke, depressed, my first marriage was on the rocks.” They have a son, Corey Williams.

In 1968, Williams married model and actress Marlene Clark in Hawaii. Their marriage lasted only two years and they officially divorced in 1971.

He married Teruko Nakagami on December 27, 1972. She brought a daughter, Miyako (b. 1962), from her previous marriage to musician Wayne Shorter. They have a daughter Hanako (b. 1973). They filed for divorce in 1993, but were reported to have reconciled in 1997.

Judge Mathis

Gregory Ellis Mathis (born April 5, 1960) is a retired Michigan 36th District Court judge turned arbiter of the Daytime Emmy Award–winning, syndicated reality courtroom show, Judge Mathis. Produced in Chicago, Illinois, his program has been on the air since September 13, 1999 and entered its 20th season anniversary beginning on Monday, September 3, 2018.

Emanating from the success of his venerable courtroom series, Mathis has also made a name for himself as a prominent leader within the Black American community as a black-culture motivational speaker. Mathis boasts the longest reign of any African American presiding as a court show judge, beating out Judge Joe Brown whose program lasted 15 seasons. Mathis is also the second longest serving television arbitrator ever, behind only Judith Sheindlin of Judge Judy by three seasons.

A spiritually inspired play, Been there, Done that, based on his life toured twenty-two cities in the U.S. in 2002. In addition, Inner City Miracle, a memoir, was published by Ballantine Books.

Mathis was born in Detroit, Michigan, was the fourth of four boys born to Charles Mathis, a Detroit native, and his wife Alice Lee Mathis, a devoted Seventh-day Adventist, nurse’s aide, and housekeeper. Alice (then divorced from Charles) raised Mathis alone in Detroit during the turbulent 1960s and 1970s. Mathis moved to Herman Gardens in 1964 and lived there with the family until roughly 1970. They moved away from the housing complex to avoid rising drug use and rates of violent crime.

Judge Mathis’ real father was estranged from him, but associated closely with the Errol Flynns, a past notorious Detroit street gang, that Mathis would eventually join while a teenager. In the 1970s, he was arrested numerous times. While he was incarcerated in Wayne County Jail, as a seventeen-year-old juvenile, his mother visited him and broke the news that she was diagnosed with colon cancer. Mathis was offered early probation because of his mother’s illness.

Once out of jail, Mathis began working at McDonald’s, a job he needed to keep in order to maintain his release on probation. A close family friend helped Mathis get admitted to Eastern Michigan University, and he discovered a new interest in politics and public administration. He became a campus activist and worked for the Democratic Party, organizing several demonstrations against South African Apartheid policies. He graduated with a B.S. in Public Administration from the Ypsilanti campus and began to seek employment in Detroit’s City Hall. He also became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

Mathis was denied a license to practice law for several years after graduating from law school because of his criminal past. He received his J.D. from the University of Detroit Mercy in 1987. In 1995, he was elected a district court judge for Michigan’s 36th District, making him the youngest person in the state to hold the post. During the five years he was on the bench, he was rated in the top five of all judges in the 36th District; there are about thirty judges each year.[citation needed]

Mathis began his political career as an unpaid intern, and then became an assistant to Clyde Cleveland, a city council member. It was at this time[when?] Mathis took the LSAT and applied to law schools; he was conditionally admitted to the University of Detroit School of Law, which was located in downtown Detroit, walking distance from city hall. He passed a summer course and was officially admitted to the night program which took four years to complete.

Mathis was appointed head of Jesse Jackson’s Presidential campaign in the state of Michigan in 1988. Mathis later became head of Mayor Coleman Young’s re-election campaign and after the victory was appointed to run the city’s east side city hall.

Mathis has continued to be involved in politics after rising to national entertainment prominence through his television show. Urban politics and African-American movements have been his focus. Most recently, Mathis was invited by the Obama administration to be a part of “My Brothers Keeper”, a White House Initiative to empower boys, and men of color.[6]

On June 4, 2011, Detroit-area drivers lined up for blocks as Mathis offered up to $92 worth of free gasoline apiece to the first 92 drivers to show up at a northwest Detroit Mobil station. He told the Detroit Free Press it was a gift to the people who elected him to District Court despite his youthful criminal record. “LA didn’t elect me judge,” he said. “Chicago didn’t elect me judge. Detroiters took a chance on me. It’s just the right thing to do. And when you’re blessed, you have to look out for the rest.” The giveaway took place near the Mathis Community Center, which he funds. Its activities include self-improvement classes, food and clothing assistance, and training for ex-convicts. “No matter what international fame he’s achieved, he’s still a hometown guy,” said WMXD-FM’s Frankie Darcell, who announced the location on the air. “Everybody’s happy. I’m happy,” said gas station owner Mike Safiedine. “The people need it, especially (because) the price is very high.”

In September 2008, Mathis wrote a novel called Street Judge, based on the life of a judge who solves murders. It was co-written by Zane, a well-known erotic series writer of Zane’s Sex Chronicles. Mathis also wrote a book entitled Of Being a Judge to Criminals and Such.

Following his time spent in the Herman Gardens mixed-income housing, Mathis remained devoted to aiding families in the area. In 2003, he lobbied city officials on the behalf of former Herman Gardens residents, imploring lawmakers to allow these individuals first chance to move into new apartments built where Herman Gardens once stood.

Mathis met his wife, Linda, a fellow EMU student, shortly after his mother’s death. They would go on to have four children together, a daughter Jade, born May 1985, daughter Camara, born October 1987, son Greg Jr. born January 1989 and son Amir, born July 1990. Every year, Thankful of his roots, Judge Mathis gave credit to his home church, City Temple SDA Church. He says that the Black History Achievement Award is the most meaningful award he has received.

Eddie Murphy

Edward Regan “Eddie” Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American comedian, actor, writer, singer, and producer.

Murphy was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984. He has worked as a stand-up comedian and was ranked #10 on Comedy Central’s list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.

In films, Murphy has received Golden Globe Award nominations for his performances in 48 Hrs., the Beverly Hills Cop series, Trading Places, and The Nutty Professor. In 2007, he won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of soul singer James “Thunder” Early in Dreamgirls.

Murphy’s work as a voice actor in films includes Thurgood Stubbs in The PJs, Donkey in DreamWorks’ Shrek series, and the Chinese dragon Mushu in Disney’s Mulan. In some films, he plays multiple roles in addition to his main character, intended as a tribute to one of his idols Peter Sellers, who played multiple roles in Dr. Strangelove and elsewhere. He has played multiple roles in Coming to America, Wes Craven’s Vampire in Brooklyn, the Nutty Professor films (where he played the title role in two incarnations, plus his character’s father, brother, mother, and grandmother), Bowfinger, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Norbit, and Meet Dave.

As of 2014, Murphy’s films have grossed over $3.8 billion in the United States and Canada box office and $6.6 billion worldwide. In 2015, his films made him the 6th-highest grossing actor in the United States.

Murphy was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

From Brooklyn, NY, Edward Regan Murphy’s father was a police officer who died when young Eddie was three. His mother, Lillian, was a telephone operator. He graduated from Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School in Roosevelt, NY and was voted “Most Popular.” Murphy was writing and performing his own routines at youth centers, local bars, and at the Roosevelt High School auditorium in suburban Long Island by the age of 15. Soon thereafter, Murphy headed to the renowned The Comic Strip. At 19, Murphy landed an audition for the new cast of TV’s Saturday Night Live (SNL) and was signed as a featured player for the 1980-81 seasons.

During his four years on “SNL” Murphy created unforgettable characters such as prison poet Tyrone Green, the grown-up Gumby and TV huckster Velvet Jones. Murphy made his film debut in 48 Hrs co-starring Nick Nolte. Another early movie was Trading Places with former “SNL” star Dan Akroyd. While only 21 years old, Murphy’s made his third film, Beverly Hills Cop in 1984. Then came The Golden Child and Beverly Hills Cop II in 1987. A comedian first and foremost, in 1983 and 1984 his original stand-up material was released on two comedy LPs, Eddie Murphy and Eddie Murphy: Comedian. Eddie Murphy received Grammy nominations as Best Comedy Recording and Best R&B Instrumental Performance for the instrumental version of the hit single Boogie Your Butt. Eddie Murphy Comedian brought Murphy the 1984 Grammy for Best Comedy Album of the Year.

His triumphant return to the comedy stage in a nationwide concert tour resulted in Paramount Pictures’ Raw. Other big screen credits include Coming To America 1988 and Harlem Nights 1989, which marked Murphy’s debut as a director and producer. Another 48 Hrs, Beverly Hills Cop II & III, and Boomerang, The Distinguished Gentleman, and Vampire In Brooklyn followed. The worldwide grosses of these movies totals more than $1 billion for his company, Eddie Murphy Productions, which is based in New York to develop and produce film, television, and concert tour projects.

Murphy’s last three feature films include: Shrek 2001, Dr. Dolittle 2, 2001, and Showtime 2002. In 1988, Murphy received the People’s Choice Award for Best Comedy Actor; “Entertainer of the Year” NAACP Image Award; and The Tree Of Life Award presented at the Black Oscar nominees dinner. He has hosted the Emmy, Grammy, MTV and Academy Award shows. Murphy lends support to a number of humanitarian causes and organizations such as the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change in Atlanta, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the AIDS Foundation.

Murphy has a son, Eric (born circa 1989), with then girlfriend Paulette McNeely, and a son, Christian (born circa 1990) with then girlfriend Tamara Hood.

Murphy began a longtime romantic relationship with Nicole Mitchell after meeting her in 1988 at an NAACP Image Awards show. They lived together for almost two years before getting married at the Grand Ballroom of The Plaza Hotel in New York City on March 18, 1993. Murphy and Mitchell had five children together: Bria, Myles, Shayne, Zola, and Bella. In August 2005, Mitchell filed for divorce, citing “irreconcilable differences”. The divorce was finalized on April 17, 2006.

As of 2008, Murphy resides in Long Island, New York.

Following his divorce from Mitchell, in 2006, Murphy began dating former Spice Girl Melanie Brown, who became pregnant and stated that the child was Murphy’s. When questioned about the pregnancy in December 2006, by RTL Boulevard, Murphy told Dutch reporter Matthijs Kleyn, “I don’t know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test. You shouldn’t jump to conclusions, sir”. Brown gave birth to a baby girl, Angel Iris Murphy Brown, on Murphy’s 46th birthday, April 3, 2007.

On June 22, 2007, representatives for Brown announced in People that a DNA test had confirmed that Murphy was the father.[50] Brown had stated in an interview that Murphy has not sought a relationship with Angel, although it was later reported in 2010 that Murphy was getting to know her.

Murphy exchanged marriage vows with film producer Tracey Edmonds, former wife of Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, on January 1, 2008, in a private ceremony on an island off Bora Bora. On January 16, 2008, the couple released a statement saying, “After much consideration and discussion, we have jointly decided that we will forgo having a legal ceremony as it is not necessary to define our relationship further,” and called the Bora Bora wedding a “symbolic union”. The two had planned on having a legal ceremony upon their return to the U.S. but did not, and their wedding was never official.

Murphy began dating model Paige Butcher in 2012. Their daughter Izzy was born May 3, 2016.

Yung Joc

Jasiel Amon Robinson (born September 20, 1980), better known by his stage name Yung Joc, is an American rapper. He is best known for his hit single “It’s Goin’ Down”.

Robinson’s father, Stanley Tucker, owned a hair-care products company and helped him get an opportunity to write a jingle for Revlon. Robinson followed in his father’s entrepreneurial footsteps and founded his own label to release his music.

Yung Joc met Atlanta producer Nitti Beatz and the two recorded the hit “It’s Goin Down” in the spring of 2005. After teaming with Russell “Block” Spencer, founder of the Block Enterprises label, Spencer signed Joc to Sean Combs’s Bad Boy South for a multimillion-dollar deal, and Bad Boy released Joc’s debut New Joc City that year.

Yung Joc was also featured on the songs “Show Stopper” by Danity Kane (from Diddy’s Making The Band 4) & Cassie’s album track Call U Out. Yung Joc was on 2006 “Forbes’ Richest Rappers List”, ranking at #20, having grossed approximately $10 million that year. “It’s Goin’ Down” reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart. The next single, “I Know U See It”, reached #17 on the Hot 100 and #2 on the Hot Rap Tracks.

Joc’s next album, Hustlenomics, was released in 2007, with the singles “Coffee Shop” and “Bottle Poppin'”. Hustlenomics sold 69,000 copies in its first week of release, debuting at number three on the Billboard 200. As of April 2009, it has sold approximately 197,000 copies according to Nielsen Soundscan. In 2007 Yung Joc was featured on his new artist Hotstylz single “Lookin Boy”. During 2008 Yung Joc was featured in the hit singles on “Get Like Me, “So Fly” & “Beep”. Then in 2009 he was featured on Day26 single Imma Put It on Her. Yung Joc released a mixtape entitled Grind Flu for free on his label website Swagg Team Entertainment on August 11, 2009.

Yung Joc recently released his first single from the album Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood entitled “Yeah Boy”. They have also recently shot & released the music video for the single. Yung Joc has also stated in a December 26 interview that he would love to work with New York-based producer DJ Premier for a couple of tracks. The second single has been confirmed as “I Know What She Like” that features Yo Gotti.

On October 7, 2012, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding J Records along with Arista Records and Jive Records. With the shutdown, Joc (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) were to release his future material (including Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood) on the RCA Records brand.

On March 18, 2014 Joc released his first official single entitled “I Got Bitches” from his upcoming third album.[9][10] On September 11, 2014 Joc released his second single from his upcoming album entitled “Features” featuring former collaborator & singer T-Pain.

In 2010, Joc formed a new record label through Jive Records, called Swagg Team Entertainment, after a widely publicized lawsuit with Block Entertainment and Bad Boy South. Joc spoke about the lawsuit and his relationship with Diddy in a recent interview.

Swagg Team Entertainment saw their debut from Chicago rap group Hotstylz; with their first single “Lookin Boy”. It also saw the debut from Dallas rap group GS Boyz; their first single being “Stanky Legg.”

In December 2011, Joc’s recording studio for his label Swagg Team was robbed, and the criminals took about $70,000 worth of studio equipment along with a hard drive containing Joc’s unreleased music for his third studio album. It later was announced that one of the robbers identity was revealed by Joc. Joc knew one of the robbers named “Honcho” of Thomaston, Georgia.

As of 2015, Joc has eight children by four women: Amoni, Ja’Kori, Amir, Chase, twins Cadence and Camora, and twins Eden and Allon.

He’s engaged to Kendra Robinson, as of March 2019.

Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye, born Marvin Pentz Gay Jr.; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Gaye helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo artist with a string of hits, including “Ain’t That Peculiar”, “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, and duet recordings with Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Diana Ross and Tammi Terrell, later earning the titles “Prince of Motown” and “Prince of Soul”.

During the 1970s, he recorded the concept albums What’s Going On and Let’s Get It On and became the first artist in Motown (followed by Stevie Wonder) to break away from the reins of their production company.

Gaye’s later recordings influenced several contemporary R&B subgenres, such as quiet storm and neo soul. Following a period in Europe as a tax exile in the early 1980s, Gaye released the 1982 Grammy Award-winning hit “Sexual Healing” and its parent album Midnight Love.

On April 1, 1984, Gaye’s father, Marvin Gay Sr., fatally shot him at their house in the West Adams district of Los Angeles. Since his death, many institutions have posthumously bestowed Gaye with awards and other honors—including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Marvin Gaye was born Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. on April 2, 1939, at Freedman’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., to church minister Marvin Gay Sr., and domestic worker Alberta Gay (née Cooper). His first home was in a public housing project, the Fairfax Apartments (now demolished) at 1617 1st Street SW in the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood. Although one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods, with many elegant Federal-style homes, Southwest was primarily a vast slum. Most buildings were small, in extensive disrepair, and lacked both electricity and running water. The alleys were full of one- and two-story shacks, and nearly every dwelling was overcrowded. Gaye and his friends nicknamed the area “Simple City”, owing to its being “half-city, half country”.

Gaye was the second eldest of the couple’s four children. He had two sisters, Jeanne and Zeola, and one brother, Frankie Gaye. He also had two half-brothers: Michael Cooper, his mother’s son from a previous relationship, and Antwaun Carey Gay, born as a result of his father’s extramarital affairs.

Gaye started singing in church when he was four years old; his father often accompanied him on piano. Gaye and his family were part of a Pentecostal church known as the House of God. The House of God took its teachings from Hebrew Pentecostalism, advocated strict conduct, and adhered to both the Old and New Testaments. Gaye developed a love of singing at an early age and was encouraged to pursue a professional music career after a performance at a school play at 11 singing Mario Lanza’s “Be My Love”. His home life consisted of “brutal whippings” by his father, who struck him for any shortcoming. The young Gaye described living in his father’s house as similar to “…living with a king, a very peculiar, changeable, cruel, and all powerful king.” He felt that had his mother not consoled him and encouraged his singing, he would have killed himself. His sister later explained that Gaye was beaten often, from age seven well into his teenage years.

Gaye attended Syphax Elementary School and then Randall Junior High School. Gaye began to take singing much more seriously in junior high, and he joined and became a singing star with the Randall Junior High Glee Club.

In 1953 or 1954 the Gays moved into the East Capitol Dwellings public housing project in D.C.’s Capitol View neighborhood Their townhouse apartment (Unit 12, 60th Street NE; now demolished) was Marvin’s home until 1962.

Gaye briefly attended Spingarn High School before transferring to Cardozo High School. At Cardozo, Gaye joined several doo-wop vocal groups, including the Dippers and the D.C. Tones. Gaye’s relationship with his father worsened during his teenage years, as his father would kick him out of the house often. In 1956, 17-year-old Gaye dropped out of high school and enlisted in the United States Air Force as a basic airman. Disappointed in having to perform menial tasks, he faked mental illness and was discharged shortly afterwards. Gaye’s sergeant stated that he refused to follow orders.

Following his return, Gaye and good friend Reese Palmer formed the vocal quartet The Marquees. The group performed in the D.C. area and soon began working with Bo Diddley, who assigned the group to Columbia subsidiary OKeh Records after failing to get the group signed to his own label, Chess. The group’s sole single, “Wyatt Earp” (co-written by Bo Diddley), failed to chart and the group was soon dropped from the label. Gaye began composing music during this period.

Moonglows co-founder Harvey Fuqua later hired The Marquees as employees. Under Fuqua’s direction, the group changed its name to Harvey and the New Moonglows, and relocated to Chicago. The group recorded several sides for Chess in 1959, including the song “Mama Loocie”, which was Gaye’s first lead vocal recording. The group found work as session singers for established acts such as Chuck Berry, singing on the hits “Back in the U.S.A.” and “Almost Grown.”

In 1960, the group disbanded. Gaye relocated to Detroit with Fuqua where he signed with Tri-Phi Records as a session musician, playing drums on several Tri-Phi releases. Gaye performed at Motown president Berry Gordy’s house during the holiday season in 1960. Impressed by the singer, Gordy sought Fuqua on his contract with Gaye. Fuqua agreed to sell part of his interest in his contract with Gaye. Shortly afterwards, Gaye signed with Motown subsidiary Tamla.

When Gaye signed with Tamla, he pursued a career as a performer of jazz music and standards, having no desire to become an R&B performer. Before the release of his first single, Gaye was teased about his surname, with some jokingly asking, “Is Marvin Gay?” Gaye changed his surname by adding an e, in the same way as did Sam Cooke. Author David Ritz wrote that Gaye did this to silence rumors of his sexuality, and to put more distance between Gaye and his father.

Gaye released his first single, “Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide”, in May 1961, with the album The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye, following a month later. Gaye’s initial recordings failed commercially and he spent most of 1961 performing session work as a drummer for artists such as The Miracles, The Marvelettes and blues artist Jimmy Reed for $5 (US $40 in 2016 dollars) a week. While Gaye took some advice on performing with his eyes open (having been accused of appearing as though he were sleeping), he refused to attend grooming school courses at the John Roberts Powers School for Social Grace in Detroit because of his unwillingness to comply with its orders, something he later regretted.

In 1962, Gaye found success as co-writer of the Marvelettes hit, “Beechwood 4-5789”. His first solo hit, “Stubborn Kind of Fellow”, was later released that September, reaching No. 8 on the R&B chart and No. 46 on the Billboard Hot 100. Gaye reached the top 40 with the dance song, “Hitch Hike”, peaking at No. 30 on the Hot 100. “Pride and Joy” became Gaye’s first top ten single after its release in 1963.

The three singles and songs from the 1962 sessions were included on Gaye’s second album, That Stubborn Kinda Fellow. Starting in October of the year, Gaye performed as part of the Motortown Revue, a series of concert tours headlined at the north and south eastern coasts of the United States as part of the chitlin’ circuit. A filmed performance of Gaye at the Apollo Theater took place in June 1963. Later that October, Tamla issued the live album, Marvin Gaye Recorded Live on Stage. “Can I Get a Witness” became one of Gaye’s early international hits.

In 1964, Gaye recorded a successful duet album with singer Mary Wells titled Together, which reached No. 42 on the pop album chart. The album’s two-sided single, including “Once Upon a Time” and ‘What’s the Matter With You Baby”, each reach the top 20. Gaye’s next solo hit, “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)”, which Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote for him, reached No. 6 on the Hot 100 and reached the top 50 in the UK. Gaye started getting television exposure around this time, on shows such as American Bandstand. Also in 1964, he appeared in the concert film, The T.A.M.I. Show. Gaye had two number-one R&B singles in 1965 with the Miracles–composed “I’ll Be Doggone” and “Ain’t That Peculiar”. Both songs became million-sellers. After this, Gaye returned to jazz-derived ballads for a tribute album to the recently-deceased Nat “King” Cole.

After scoring a hit duet, “It Takes Two” with Kim Weston, Gaye began working with Tammi Terrell on a series of duets, mostly composed by Ashford & Simpson, including “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, “Your Precious Love”, “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” and “You’re All I Need to Get By”.

“I Heard It through the Grapevine” was recorded by Gaye in April 1967, several months before Gladys Knight and the Pips recorded it. The song features a Wurlitzer piano, percussion, and horns. Gaye’s recording of it paved the way for what later became “psychedelic soul”.

In October 1967, Terrell collapsed in Gaye’s arms during a performance in Farmville, Virginia. Terrell was subsequently rushed to Farmville’s Southside Community Hospital, where doctors discovered she had a malignant tumor in her brain. The diagnosis ended Terrell’s career as a live performer, though she continued to record music under careful supervision. Despite the presence of hit singles such as “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” and “You’re All I Need to Get By”, Terrell’s illness caused problems with recording, and led to multiple operations to remove the tumor. Gaye was reportedly devastated by Terrell’s sickness and became disillusioned with the record business.

On October 6, 1968, Gaye sang the national anthem during Game 4 of the 1968 World Series, held at Tiger Stadium, in Detroit, Michigan, and played between the Detroit Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals.

In late 1968, Gaye’s recording of I Heard It Through the Grapevine became Gaye’s first to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also reached the top of the charts in other countries, selling over four million copies. However, Gaye felt the success was something he “didn’t deserve” and that he “felt like a puppet – Berry’s puppet, Anna’s puppet….”Gaye followed it up with “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby” and “That’s the Way Love Is”, which reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969. That year, his album M.P.G. became his first No. 1 R&B album. Gaye produced and co-wrote two hits for The Originals during this period, including “Baby I’m For Real” and “The Bells”.

Tammi Terrell died from brain cancer on March 16, 1970; Gaye attended her funeral and after a period of depression, Gaye sought out a position on a professional football team, the Detroit Lions, where he later befriended Mel Farr and Lem Barney. It was eventually decided that Gaye would not be allowed to try out owing to fears of possible injuries that could have affected his music career.

On June 1, 1970, Gaye returned to Hitsville U.S.A., where he recorded his new composition “What’s Going On”, inspired by an idea from Renaldo “Obie” Benson of the Four Tops after he witnessed an act of police brutality at an anti-war rally in Berkeley. Upon hearing the song, Berry Gordy refused its release due to his feelings of the song being “too political” for radio. Gaye responded by going on strike from recording until the label released the song. Released in 1971, it reached No. 1 on the R&B charts within a month, staying there for five weeks. It also reached the top spot on Cashbox’s pop chart for a week and reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 and the Record World chart, selling over two million copies.

After giving an ultimatum to record a full album to win creative control from Motown, Gaye spent ten days recording the What’s Going On album that March. Motown issued the album that May after Gaye remixed portions of the album in Hollywood. The album became Gaye’s first million-selling album launching two more top ten singles, “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” and “Inner City Blues”. One of Motown’s first autonomous works, its theme and segue flow brought the concept album format to rhythm and blues. An AllMusic writer later cited it as “…the most important and passionate record to come out of soul music, delivered by one of its finest voices.” For the album, Gaye received two Grammy Award nominations and several NAACP Image Awards. The album also topped Rolling Stone’s year-end list as its album of the year. Billboard magazine named Gaye Trendsetter of the Year following the album’s success.

In 1971, Gaye signed a new deal with Motown worth $1 million (US $5,913,722 in 2016 dollars), making it the most lucrative deal by a black recording artist at the time. Gaye first responded to the new contract with the soundtrack and subsequent score, Trouble Man, released in late 1972.

“Let’s Get It On” was written by Gaye and producer Ed Townsend, originally as a gospel song, and later as a protest song before eventually turning into a funk-oriented love anthem. It became Gaye’s second number-one hit in 1973.
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In 1973, Gaye released the Let’s Get It On album. Its title track became Gaye’s second No. 1 single on the Hot 100. The album subsequently stayed on the charts for two years and sold over three million copies. The album was later hailed as “a record unparalleled in its sheer sensuality and carnal energy.” Other singles from the album included “Come Get to This”, which recalled Gaye’s early Motown soul sound of the previous decade, while the suggestive “You Sure Love to Ball” reached modest success but received tepid promotion due to the song’s sexually explicit content.

Marvin’s final duet project, Diana & Marvin, with Diana Ross, garnered international success despite contrasting artistic styles. Much of the material was crafted especially for the duo by Ashford and Simpson. Responding to demand from fans and Motown, Gaye started his first tour in four years at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum on January 4, 1974. The performance received critical acclaim and resulted in the release of the live album, Marvin Gaye Live! and its single, a live version of Distant Lover, an album track from Let’s Get It On.

The tour helped to increase Gaye’s reputation as a live performer. For a time, he was earning $10,000 a night (US $48,563 in 2016 dollars) for performances. Gaye toured throughout 1974 and 1975. A renewed contract with Motown allowed Gaye to build his own custom-made recording studio.

In October 1975, Gaye gave a performance at a UNESCO benefit concert at New York’s Radio City Music Hall to support UNESCO’s African literacy drive, resulting in him being commended at the United Nations by then-Ambassador to Ghana Shirley Temple Black and Kurt Waldheim. Gaye’s next studio album, I Want You, followed in 1976 with the title track becoming a No. 1 R&B hit. That summer, Gaye embarked on his first European tour in a decade, starting off in England. In early 1977, Gaye released the live album, Live at the London Palladium, which sold over two million copies thanks to the success of its studio song, “Got to Give It Up”, which became a No. 1 hit.

In December 1978, Gaye released Here, My Dear, inspired by the fallout of his first marriage to Anna Gordy. Recorded as an intent for Gaye to remit a portion of its royalties to her to receive alimony payments, it performed poorly on the charts. During that period, Gaye developed a serious dependence and addiction to cocaine and was dealing with several financial issues with the IRS. These issues led him to move to Maui, Hawaii, where he struggled to record a disco album. In 1980, Gaye went on a European tour. By the time the tour stopped, the singer relocated to London when he feared imprisonment for failure to pay back taxes, which had now reached upwards of $4.5 million (US $13,080,170 in 2016 dollars).

Gaye then reworked Love Man from its original disco concept to another personal album invoking religion and the possible end time from a chapter in the Book of Revelation. Titling the album In Our Lifetime?, Gaye worked on the album for much of 1980 in London studios such as Air and Odyssey Studios.

In the fall of that year, someone stole a master tape of a rough draft of the album from one of Gaye’s traveling musicians, Frank Blair, taking the master tape to Motown’s Hollywood headquarters. Motown remixed the album and released it on January 15, 1981. When Gaye learned of its release, he accused Motown of editing and remixing the album without his consent, allowing the release of an unfinished production (Far Cry), altering the album art of his request and removing the album title’s question mark, muting its irony. He also accused the label of rush-releasing the album, comparing his unfinished album to an unfinished Picasso painting. Gaye then vowed not to record any more music for Motown.

On February 14, 1981, under the advice of music promoter Freddy Cousaert, Gaye relocated to Cousaert’s apartment in Ostend, Belgium. While there, Gaye shied away from heavy drug use and began exercising and attending a local Ostend church, regaining personal confidence Following several months of recovery, Gaye sought a comeback onstage, starting the short-lived Heavy Love Affair tour in England and Ostend in June–July 1981. Gaye’s personal attorney Curtis Shaw would later describe Gaye’s Ostend period as “the best thing that ever happened to Marvin”. When word got around that Gaye was planning a musical comeback and an exit from Motown, CBS Urban president Larkin Arnold eventually was able to convince Gaye to sign with CBS. On March 23, 1982, Motown and CBS Records negotiated Gaye’s release from Motown. The details of the contract were not revealed due to a possible negative effect on the singer’s settlement to creditors from the IRS.

Assigned to CBS’ Columbia subsidiary, Gaye worked on his first post-Motown album titled Midnight Love. The first single, “Sexual Healing” which was written and recorded in Ostend in his apartment, was released on September 30, 1982, and became Gaye’s biggest career hit, spending a record ten weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Black Singles chart, becoming the biggest R&B hit of the 1980s according to Billboard stats. The success later translated to the Billboard Hot 100 chart in January 1983 where it peaked at No. 3, while the record reached international success, reaching the top spot in New Zealand and Canada and reaching the top ten on the United Kingdom’s OCC singles chart, later selling over two million copies in the U.S. alone, becoming Gaye’s most successful single to date. The video for the song was shot at Ostend’s Casino-Kursaal.

Sexual Healing won Gaye his first two Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, in February 1983, and also won Gaye an American Music Award in the R&B-soul category. People magazine called it “America’s hottest musical turn-on since Olivia Newton-John demanded we get Physical.” Midnight Love was released to stores a day after the single’s release, and was equally successful, peaking at the top ten of the Billboard 200 and becoming Gaye’s eighth No. 1 album on the Top Black Albums chart, eventually selling over six million copies worldwide, three million alone in the U.S.

“ I don’t make records for pleasure. I did when I was a younger artist, but I don’t today. I record so that I can feed people what they need, what they feel. Hopefully, I record so that I can help someone overcome a bad time. ”
NME – December 1982

On February 13, 1983, Gaye sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the NBA All-Star Game at The Forum in Inglewood, California—accompanied by Gordon Banks, who played the studio tape from the stands. The following month, Gaye performed at the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever special. This and a May appearance on Soul Train (his third appearance on the show) became Gaye’s final television performances. Gaye embarked on his final concert tour, titled the Sexual Healing Tour, on April 18, 1983, in San Diego. The tour ended on August 14, 1983 at the Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa, California but was plagued by cocaine-triggered paranoia and illness. Following the concert’s end, he retreated to his parents’ house in Los Angeles. In early 1984, Midnight Love was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Male R&B Vocal Performance category, his 12th and final nomination.

At around 12:38 p.m. (PST) on April 1, 1984, while Gaye was in his bedroom, his father Marvin Gay Sr. shot Gaye in the heart and then in his left shoulder, the latter shot taken at point-blank range. Minutes earlier, the two men had been involved in a physical altercation when Gaye intervened in a fight between his parents. The first shot proved to be fatal. Gaye was pronounced dead at 1:01 p.m. (PST) after his body arrived at California Hospital Medical Center.

After Gaye’s funeral, his body was cremated at Forest Lawn Memorial Park at the Hollywood Hills; his ashes were later scattered into the Pacific Ocean. Initially charged with first-degree murder, Gay Sr.’s charges dropped to voluntary manslaughter following a diagnosis of a brain tumor and Gaye’s autopsy revealing the singer had drugs in his system. Marvin Gay Sr. was later sentenced to a suspended six-year sentence and probation. He died at a nursing home in 1998.

Gaye was the father of three children, Marvin III, Nona, and Frankie, and the grandfather of three boys, Marvin IV, Nolan, and Dylan. At the time of his death, he was survived by his three children, parents, and five siblings.