John Witherspoon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In 1986, he was on the television series You Again? as Osborne.
Next Witherspoon was seen on Frank’s Place (1987). Also in 1987 he made a guest appearance on 227, which was an NBC comedy about women who lived in a majority black apartment complex. The final show Witherspoon was in 1987 was What’s Happening Now!!, the sequel to What’s Happening!!.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

His next appearance was on The Super Rumble Mixshow in 2008.
His latest television appearance was in Aaron Mcgruder’s new show, “Black Jesus,” portraying Lloyd, a homeless man. In 2011 he starred in a Final Destination spoof with Shane Dawson on YouTube.

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

Written Dianne Washington

Alicia Keys

Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, pianist, actress, and activist. Keys released her debut album with J Records, having had previous record deals first with Columbia and then Arista Records. Keys’ debut album, Songs in A Minor was released in 2001, producing her first Billboard Hot 100 number-one single “Fallin'”, and selling over 12 million copies worldwide. The album earned Keys five Grammy Awards in 2002. Her second album, The Diary of Alicia Keys, was released in 2003, spawning successful singles “You Don’t Know My Name”, “If I Ain’t Got You” and “Diary”, and selling 8 million copies worldwide. The duet song “My Boo” with Usher scored her a second number-one single in 2004. The album garnered her an additional four Grammy Awards in 2005. Later that year, she released her first live album, Unplugged, becoming the first woman to have an MTV Unplugged album debut at number one.

As I Am was released in 2007, producing the Hot 100 number-one single “No One”, selling 5 million copies worldwide and earning an additional three Grammy Awards. The Element of Freedom was released in 2009, becoming her first chart-topping album in the UK, and selling 4 million copies worldwide. Keys additionally collaborated with Jay Z on “Empire State of Mind” as her fourth number-one single, and won Best Rap/Sung Collaboration in 2010. Girl on Fire was released in 2012 as her fifth Billboard 200 topping album, spawning the successful title track. Her second live album, VH1 Storytellers was released in 2013. Here was released in 2016, becoming her seventh R&B/Hip-Hop chart topping album.

Keys has won numerous awards such as 15 Grammy Awards and 17 NAACP Image Awards and has sold over 35 million albums and 30 million singles worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists. Keys made her film debut in Smokin’ Aces and has also appeared in The Nanny Diaries and The Secret Life of Bees. Considered a pop icon, Billboard magazine named her the top R&B artist of the 2000s decade and placed her number 10 on their list of Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years. VH1 also included her on their 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list, while Time have named her in their 100 list of most influential people in 2005 and 2017.

Throughout her career, Keys has won numerous awards such as 15 Grammy Awards, and has sold over 35 million albums and 30 million singles worldwide. 

Keys was born Alicia Augello Cook on January 25, 1981, in the Hell’s Kitchen area of Manhattan, New York City. She is the only child of Teresa (Augello), a paralegal and part-time actress, and Craig Cook, a flight attendant. Keys’ father is African American and her mother is of Italian, Scottish, and Irish descent. Keys has expressed that she was comfortable with her multiracial heritage because she felt she was able to “relate to different cultures”. Her parents separated when she was two and she was subsequently raised by her mother during her formative years in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan. Keys has 2 younger half brothers: Clay Cook (Branch) and Cole Cook. In 1985, Keys made an appearance on The Cosby Show at the age of four, where she and a group of girls played the parts of Rudy Huxtable’s sleepover guests in the episode “Slumber Party”. Throughout her childhood, Keys was sent to music and dance classes by her mother. She studied classical piano from age seven, playing composers such as Beethoven, Mozart, and Chopin, and enrolled in the Professional Performing Arts School at the age of 12, where she majored in choir and began writing songs at the age of 14. She graduated in four years as valedictorian at the age of 16.

In 1994, Keys met long-term manager Jeff Robinson after she enrolled in his brother’s after-school program. The following year Robinson introduced Keys to her future A&R at Arista Records, Peter Edge, who later described his first impressions to HitQuarters: “I had never met a young R&B artist with that level of musicianship. So many people were just singing on top of loops and tracks, but she had the ability, not only to be part of hip-hop, but also to go way beyond that.” Edge helped Robinson create a showcase for Keys and also got involved in developing her demo material. He was keen to sign Keys himself but was unable to do so at that time due to being on the verge of leaving his present record company. Keys signed to Columbia Records soon after. At the same time as signing a recording contract with Columbia Records, Keys was accepted at Columbia University. At first, Keys attempted to manage both, but after a month, she dropped out of college to pursue her musical career full-time.

Keys signed a demo deal with Jermaine Dupri and So So Def Recordings, where she appeared on the label’s Christmas album performing “The Little Drummer Girl”. She also co-wrote and recorded a song titled “Dah Dee Dah (Sexy Thing)”, which appeared on the soundtrack to the 1997 film, Men in Black. The song was Keys’ first professional recording; however, it was never released as a single and her record contract with Columbia ended after a dispute with the label. Keys was unhappy with the label because her career had stalled during her two years under contract at Columbia due to executive indecision over her direction and major changes within the company. Keys called Clive Davis, who sensed a “special, unique” artist from her performance and signed her to Arista Records, which later disbanded. Keys almost chose Wilde as her stage name until her manager suggested the name Keys after a dream he had. Keys felt that name represented her both as a performer and person.

On September 8, 2014, Keys uploaded the music video to a new song called “We Are Here” to her Facebook page, accompanied by a lengthy status update describing her motivation and inspiration to write the song. It was released digitally the following week. Keys was also working with Pharrell Williams on her sixth studio album, first set for a 2015 release. In an interview with Vibe, Keys described the sound of the album as “aggressive”. One of the songs on the album is called “Killing Your Mother”. Keys also played the piano on a Diplo-produced song “Living for Love” which featured on Madonna’s thirteenth studio album Rebel Heart (2015). In November 2014, Keys announced that she is releasing a series of children’s books. The first book released is entitled Blue Moon: From the Journals of MaMa Mae and LeeLee.

Keys gave birth to her second child, son Genesis Ali Dean, on December 27, 2014. In 2015 Keys performed at the BET Awards 2015 with The Weeknd. In September 2015, Swizz Beatz stated that Keys’ sixth studio album will be released in 2016.

Keys played the character Skye Summers in the second season of Empire. She first appeared in the episode “Sinned Against”, which aired November 25, 2015.

In January 2017 she released the track “That’s What’s Up” that re-imagines the spoken word segment on the Kanye West song “Low Lights”.

In season 12 of The Voice, Alicia was a coach for the second season in a row. She won the competition with her artist Chris Blue in the season 12 finale broadcast on May 23, 2017.

In May 2017, in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Alicia announced that she is working on her seventh studio album. In a letter to her fans, on the ‘As I Am’ 10th Anniversary, she revealed that the album is almost ready.

On September 17, 2017, Keys performed at Rock in Rio, in a powerful and acclaimed performance.

On October 18, 2017, NBC announced that she will be returning to the series for the upcoming 14th season on The Voice alongside veterans Levine, Shelton, and new coach Kelly Clarkson.

She wrote and composed the song “We Are Here”, which was featured in the short film We Rise; that film was part of the New-York Historical Society’s “Hotbed” exhibit about women’s suffrage, which ran from November 3, 2017 to March 25, 2018. On December 5, 2017, Hip-hop artist Eminem revealed that Keys would be collaborating on the song “Like Home” for his ninth studio album Revival.

Alicia will be the host of the 2019 Grammy Awards. 

Written by Dianne Washington

Why Do Fools Fall in Love

The Teenagers are an American-Puerto Rican doo wop group, most noted for being one of rock music’s earliest successes, presented to international audiences by DJ Alan Freed. The group, which made its most popular recordings with young Frankie Lymon as lead singer, is also noted for being rock’s first all-teenaged act.

The Teenagers had their origins in the Earth Angels, a group founded at Edward W. Stitt Junior High School in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan by second tenor Jimmy Merchant and bass Sherman Garnes. Eventually, Garnes and Merchant had added lead singer Herman Santiago and baritone John Seda to their lineup and evolved into The Coupe De Villes. In 1954, 12-year-old Frankie Lymon joined the Coupe De Villes, who changed their name to first the Ermines and later The Premiers.

The same year Lymon joined the group, he helped Santiago and Merchant rewrite a song they had composed to create “Why Do Fools Fall In Love”. The song got the Teenagers an audition with George Goldner’s Gee Records, but Santiago was too sick to sing lead on the day of the audition. Lymon sang the lead on “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” instead, and the group was signed to Gee as The Teenagers, with Lymon as lead singer.

“Why Do Fools Fall in Love” was the Teenagers’ first and biggest hit. The group, known for both their harmony and choreography, also had hits with “I’m Not a Juvenile Delinquent” and “The ABC’s of Love”.

By 1957, the group was being billed as “Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers”. This caused in-fighting, and by September Goldner had pulled Lymon out of the group to record solo. The Teenagers continued recording, bringing in a new lead.[1] Billy Lobrano, as the group’s first white member, made them more racially mixed, now with two black, two Hispanic, and one white member. The group had little success with Lobrano, and he left in mid-1958.

Sherman Garnes died of a heart attack in 1977, while Joe Negroni died a year later due to a cerebral hemorrhage. Their replacements were Bobby Jay and Frankie’s brother Lewis Lymon, respectively. In the 1980s, the Teenagers had resorted to using a female singer to imitate Lymon’s prepubescent voice, and Pearl McKinnon joined the band. The members at that time were Jimmy Merchant, Herman Santiago, Eric Ward, and Pearl McKinnon. By 1983, Ward had been replaced by Derek Ventura, and in 1984 Phil Garrito took over for Ventura. Roz Morehead replaced McKinnon, and Marilyn Byers moved into Morehead’s lead spot. Later in the 1980s the group had settled on a new lead, Jimmy Castor. Castor remained lead until the 1990s, when he was replaced by Timothy Wilson, former lead of Tiny Tim and the Hits. This line-up appeared on the PBS special Doo Wop 51 in 2000.

The group’s current line-up is (was) Herman Santiago, Bobby Jay, Terry King and Terrance Farward. They are often billed as Frankie Lymon’s Legendary Teenagers or The Legendary Teenagers.

Written by Dianne Washington

Etta James

Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins; January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012) was an American singer who performed in various genres, including blues, R&B, soul, rock and roll, jazz and gospel. Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as “The Wallflower”, “At Last”, “Tell Mama”, “Something’s Got a Hold on Me”, and “I’d Rather Go Blind”. She faced a number of personal problems, including heroin addiction, severe physical abuse, and incarceration, before making a musical comeback in the late 1980s with the album Seven Year Itch.

James’s powerful, earthy voice bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll. She won six Grammy Awards and 17 Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. Rolling Stone magazine ranked James number 22 on its list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time; she was also ranked number 62 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, but was removed from that list in the 2011 “Special Collector’s Edition” update

Born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles to 14-year-old Dorothy Hawkins. James’ father was white and has never been identified but James speculated that he was the pool player, Rudolf “Minnesota Fats” Wanderone. As a child, James lived with a series of caregivers. James received her first professional vocal training at the age of five from James Earle Hines, musical director of the Echoes of Eden choir, at the St. Paul Baptist Church in Los Angeles. In 1950 her caregiver Mama Lu died, and James’ real mother took her to the Fillmore district in San Francisco. Within a couple of years, James began listening to doo-wop and was inspired to form a girl group, called the Creolettes. The 14-year-old girls met musician Johnny Otis. Otis took the group under his wing, helping them sign to Modern Records and changing their name to the Peaches and gave the singer her stage name reversing Jamesetta into Etta James.

She recorded and co-author,”Dance with Me, Henry” in 1954. Later that year, the song reached number-one on the Hot Rhythm & Blues Tracks chart and the group an opening spot on Little Richard’s national tour. After leaving the Peaches, James had another R&B hit with “Good Rockin’ Daddy”. When her contract with Modern came up in 1960, she decided to sign with Leonard Chess’ namesake label, Chess Records, and shortly afterwards got involved in a relationship with singer Harvey Fuqua, founder of the doo-wop group, The Moonglows. Her debut album, At Last!, was released in late 1960 and was noted for its varied choice in music from jazz standards to blues numbers to doo-wop and R&B. The album also included James’ future classic, “I Just Want to Make Love to You” and “A Sunday Kind of Love”. In early 1961, James released what has become her signature song, “At Last”, which reached number two on the R&B chart and number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100. It has become the most remembered version of the song.

After signing with Chicago’s Chess Records in 1960, James’ career began to soar. She knew how to rock a house, and did so with such gospel-charged tunes as “Something’s Got a Hold On Me” in 1962 and “In The Basement” in 1966. In 1967 Chess took her to the Fame studios to record with the Muscle Shoals house band. The collaboration resulted in the triumphant Tell Mama album. James continued to work with Chess throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. James encountered a string of legal problems during the early 1970s due to her heroin addiction. She was continuously in and out of rehabilitation centers. Her husband Artis Mills, whom she married in 1969, accepted responsibility when they were both arrested for heroin possession and served a 10-year prison sentence. He was released from prison in 1982 and is still married to James. In 1974, James was sentenced to drug treatment instead of serving time in prison. In 1988, at the age of 50, she entered the Betty Ford Center, in Palm Springs, California, for treatment.

James has two sons, Donto and Sametto. Both started performing with their mother in 2003 – Donto on drums and Sametto on bass guitar. The story of the early days of Chess Records was brought to the big screen as Cadillac Records in 2008, with singer Beyoncè Knowles playing James in the film. Beyoncè also recorded her own version of James’s signature song, “At Last” for the soundtrack. While James publicly supported the film, she was reportedly miffed when Beyoncè sang the song at President Barack Obama’s inaugural ball in January 2009. In 2010, she received treatment for a dependency on painkillers as her addiction continued. During that time, her son Donto revealed that James was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2009. In 2011, she had been in and out of the hospital three times with a urinary tract infection and blood infection. On December 16, 2011, it was announced that she was “in the final stages of leukemia”, has been diagnosed with both dementia and Hepatitis C, has been placed on oxygen, is receiving constant care from her husband, and is being visited regularly by her sons.

Recently James has been breathing on her own. She is regarded as having bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll, and is the winner of six Grammy’s and seventeen Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in both 1999 and 2008. Rolling Stone ranked James number twenty-two on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and number sixty-two on the list of the 100 Greatest Artists.

Etta James died on January 20, 2012.

Written by Dianne Washington

Jenifer Lewis

Jenifer Jeanette Lewis (born January 25, 1957) is an American actress, comedian, singer and activist. She began her career appearing in Broadway musicals and worked as a back-up singer for Bette Midler, before appearing in films Beaches (1988) and Sister Act (1992).

Lewis is known for playing roles of mothers in films What’s Love Got to Do With It (1993), Poetic Justice (1993), The Preacher’s Wife (1996), The Brothers (2001), Think Like a Man and in the sequel Think Like a Man Too (2014), Baggage Claim (2013), and The Wedding Ringer (2015), as well as in The Temptations TV miniseries (1998). As such, Lewis earned the title, “Black Mother of Hollywood”. She also provided the voice for Mama Odie in Disney’s animated feature, The Princess and the Frog (2009). Additional film roles include Dead Presidents (1995), Cast Away (2000), and Hereafter (2010).

On television, Lewis starred as Lana Hawkins in the Lifetime medical drama, Strong Medicine from 2000 to 2006. She also had the recurring roles on sitcoms A Different World, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Girlfriends. In 2014, Lewis began starring as Ruby Johnson in the ABC comedy series, Black-ish, for which she received two Critics’ Choice Television Award nominations.

Lewis is best known for playing roles of mothers in films What’s Love Got to Do With It (1993), The Preacher’s Wife (1996), The Brothers (2001), Think Like a Man and in the sequel Think Like a Man Too (2014), Baggage Claim (2013), and The Wedding Ringer (2015), as well as in The Temptations TV miniseries (1998). As such, Lewis earned the title, “Black Mother of Hollywood”. She also had roles in films include Dead Presidents (1995), Cast Away (2000), and Hereafter (2010).

On television, Lewis starred as Lana Hawkins in the Lifetime medical drama, Strong Medicine from 2000 to 2006. She also had the recurring roles on sitcoms A Different World, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Girlfriends. In 2014, Lewis began starring as Ruby Johnson in the ABC comedy series, Black-ish, for which she received a Critics’ Choice Television Award nomination.

Lewis was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to a nurse’s aide mother (Dorothy Lewis) and a factory worker father. She is the youngest of seven children. Lewis also sang in her church choir at age five. She attended Kinloch High School and then college at Webster University in Webster Groves, Missouri. After college she moved to New York to focus on her career in performing. She was cast in a Broadway musical called “Eubie.” Soon after she was offered to work on the famous musical “Dreamgirls” but was later recast by Jennifer Holliday. After she went to work as a background singer for Bette Milder. They worked together in live performances and in the film, “Beaches.” She was a Bette Midler Harlette. In 2012, she married Arnold Byrd who is a retired Marine 1st Sargent. She has a daughter named Charmaine Lewis from a previous relationship. Lewis has revealed she has Bipolar disorder. Lewis at first hid her disorder as she was ashamed of it. “But after 17 years of therapy and 10 years of being medicated for bipolar disorder, actress Jenifer Lewis decided to stop hiding her mental illness from others.” Early works

Soon after, she arrived in New York City, Lewis debuted on Broadway in a small role in Eubie (1979), the musical based on the work of Eubie Blake. She next landed the role of Effie White in the workshop of the Michael Bennett-directed musical Dreamgirls, but when the show moved to Broadway, Bennett chose Jennifer Holliday for the role.

Lewis accepted a position as a Harlette, a back-up singer for Bette Midler which led to Lewis’ first TV appearances on Midler’s HBO specials. She also landed her first screen role as a result, appearing as one of the buxom chorines in the ‘Otto Titsling’ production number in the Midler vehicle Beaches (1988). At the same time, Lewis was developing her nightclub act, The Diva Is Dismissed, an autobiographical comedy and music show in New York City cabarets. She performed the show off-Broadway at the Public Theater. In 1987, Lewis was hired as the Pre-Show announcer on the Star Tours ride at Disneyland.

After Lewis relocated to Los Angeles, she began appearing on television sitcoms, include Murphy Brown, Dream On, In Living Color, Roc, Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper, and Friends. From 1992 to 1993, she played Dean Davenport in the sixth and final season of NBC sitcom A Different World. She also had a recurring role as Will Smith’s Aunt Helen on NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 1991 to 1996. As regular, Lewis starred alongside Patricia Wettig in her short-lived legal drama Courthouse in 1995, playing Judge Rosetta Reide, the first main African American lesbian character on television.

In 1992, Lewis was cast as one of the back-up singers to Whoopi Goldberg in comedy film Sister Act. The following year, Lewis played the mother of Tupac Shakur’s character in drama film Poetic Justice, and as Zelma Bullock, Tina Turner’s mother in the biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It starring Angela Bassett. Lewis originally auditioned to play Tina Turner. Lewis is only one year older than Bassett. For her performance, she received her first NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture nomination. In 1994, she followed with other comedic supporting roles, including Mrs. Coleman the Unemployment Office lady in Renaissance Man and as Whoopi Goldberg’s sister in Corrina, Corrina. In 1995, she was cast in maternal roles to Kadeem Hardison in Panther and to Larenz Tate in Dead Presidents.

In 1996, Lewis appeared as Theresa Randle’s telephone sex line boss in Spike Lee’s comedy-drama, Girl 6. Later that year, she went to play Whitney Houston’s character’s mother in Penny Marshall’s romantic comedy-drama, The Preacher’s Wife. She received another NAACP Image Award nomination for her role in The Preacher’s Wife. She also has had roles in The Mighty (1998), The Temptations TV miniseries (1998), Mystery Men (1999) and Blast from the Past (1999), before landing the leading role on mockumentary comedy Jackie’s Back about the struggling comeback of a diva in turmoil.

In 2000, Lewis had supporting role in the adventure drama film Cast Away directed by Robert Zemeckis. Also in 2000, she began starring as Lana Hawkins on the Lifetime television medical drama Strong Medicine. The show ended in February 2006. Lewis also performed the theme song for Strong Medicine. She also had a recurring role as Veretta Childs (Toni’s mother) in the UPN sitcom Girlfriends. In film, she appeared as Morris Chestnut’s mother in the 2001 romantic comedy The Brothers. In 2006, she had a featured role as the wedding planner in Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion, and also appeared in Perry’s 2008 comedy-drama Meet the Browns as Vera Brown. She also appeared in Juwanna Mann, The Cookout, Nora’s Hair Salon, Dirty Laundry and Not Easily Broken.

On April 22, 2008, Lewis replaced Darlene Love as Motormouth Maybelle in Broadway’s Hairspray. On television, she guest starred on That’s So Raven and Boston Legal. Lewis also had number of voice over roles, include Walt Disney’s animated musical The Princess and the Frog (2009), for which she received Annie Award for Voice Acting in a Feature Production nomination.

In June 2010, Lewis’ distinctive voice was in fine form as she told The Jazz Joy and Roy syndicated radio show, “I just did a production of ‘Hello Dolly’ at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle and it had to be one of the greatest productions that I have ever done, because I got to just do a character, Dolly Levi, and it was just great.” In 2012 Lewis began working with Shangela on the online reality show parody, “Jenifer Lewis and Shangela,” where she acts as herself alongside Shangela, a “drag queen living in her basement.” She later appeared in Shangela’s music video for “Werqin Girl (Professional).”

In 2010, Clint Eastwood cast Lewis in his fantasy film Hereafter. The following year, she starred alongside Rosario Dawson and Tracee Ellis Ross in Five, for which she received another NAACP Image Award nomination. She also co-starred in the short-lived NBC series, The Playboy Club. She played Terrence J’s overbearing mother in box-office hit Think Like a Man (2012), and in its sequel Think Like a Man Too (2014). In 2013, she played Paula Patton’s mother Baggage Claim. In 2015, she starred in The Wedding Ringer.

In 2014, Lewis was cast as Ruby Johnson, Anthony Anderson’s character’s mother in the ABC comedy series, Black-ish. She was upped to regular as of second season. In 2016, she received Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Comedy Series nomination for her performance. She has also been featured on various TV advertising commercials.

Lewis has been married to her husband, Arnold Byrd, a retired Marine 1st Sergeant, since 2012. She has an adopted daughter named Charmaine Lewis.

In 2017, she published a book about her life and career, entitled “The Mother of Black Hollywood.”

Written by Dianne Washington

Aaron Neville (born January 24, 1941, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States) is an American R&B singer and musician. He has had four Platinum-certified albums and four Top 10 hits in the United States, including three that went to #1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart. His debut single, from 1966, was #1 on the Soul chart for five weeks.

He has also recorded with his brothers Art, Charles and Cyril as The Neville Brothers and is the father of singer/keyboards player Ivan Neville. Of mixed African American and Native American heritage, his music also features Cajun and Creole influences.

The first of his singles that got airplay outside of New Orleans was “Over You” (Minit, 1960). Neville’s first major hit single was “Tell It Like It Is”, released on a small New Orleans label, Par-Lo co-owned by local musician/arranger George Davis, a friend from school, and band-leader Lee Diamond. The song topped Billboard’s R&B chart for five weeks in 1967 and also reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. It was not the label’s only release, as some sources claim. At least five other Par-Lo singles, three of them by Neville himself, are known to exist.

A remake of the song was a top 10 pop hit for the rock group Heart featuring Ann and Nancy Wilson in 1981.

In 1989, Neville teamed up with Linda Ronstadt on the album Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind. Among the duets recorded for the disc were the #1 Grammy-winning hits “Don’t Know Much” and “All My Life”. “Don’t Know Much” reached #2 on the Hot 100, and was certified Gold for selling a million copies, while the album was certified Triple Platinum for US sales of more than 3 million.

His other hits have included “Everybody Plays the Fool”, his 1991 cover of the 1972 Main Ingredient song, that reached #8 on the Hot 100; “Don’t Take Away My Heaven”, “Hercules” and “Can’t Stop My Heart From Loving You (The Rain Song).” Neville’s biggest solo successes have been on the Adult Contemporary chart, where “Don’t Know Much,” “All My Life,” and “Everybody Plays the Fool” all reached Number One.

In August 2005, his home in Eastern New Orleans was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina; he evacuated to Memphis, Tennessee before the hurricane hit. He moved to Nashville after the storm. and failing to return to the city by early 2008, caused the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival to temporarily change its tradition of having the Neville Brothers close the festival. However, the Neville Brothers, including Aaron, returned for the 2008 Jazzfest, which returned to its traditional seven-day format for the first time since Katrina. He then decided to move back to the New Orleans area, namely the North Shore city of Covington. Neville performed Randy Newman’s “Louisiana 1927” during NBC’s A Concert for Hurricane Relief on September 2, 2005.

Neville signed to SonyBMG’s new Burgundy Records label in late 2005 and recorded an album of songs by Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Sam Cooke and others for Bring It On Home…The Soul Classics, released on September 19, 2006. The album, produced by Stewart Levine, features collaborations between Neville and Chaka Khan, Mavis Staples, Chris Botti, David Sanborn, Art Neville, and others. The album’s first single was a remake of The Impressions’ 1963 classic “It’s All Right.”

Neville’s career has included work for television, movies and sporting events. Neville sang the National Anthem in the movie The Fan starring Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes. He also sang the anthem at the WWF’s SummerSlam 1993 and at WCW Spring Stampede in 1994. Neville sang the theme music to the children’s TV series Fisher-Price Little People. He also sang a new version of “Cotton,” for Cotton Incorporated which was introduced during the 1992 Summer Olympics. In 1988 he recorded “Mickey Mouse March” for Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films, one of Various Artists. In 2006, Neville performed a rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, alongside Aretha Franklin and Dr. John on keyboards at Super Bowl XL in Detroit, Michigan. In addition, Neville (along with brothers Art and Cyril) did background vocals for the songs “Great Heart”, “Bring Back the Magic”, “Homemade Music”, “My Barracuda”, and “Smart Woman (in a Real Short Skirt)” on Jimmy Buffett’s Hot Water, released in 1988.

On October 27, 2006, Neville made a guest appearance on an episode of the soap opera The Young and the Restless. He sang “Stand By Me” and “Ain’t No Sunshine”, from his album, Bring It On Home … The Soul Classics. In 2008 he released Gold, which includes a double album of his hits.

In 2009, Neville, along with the Mt. Zion Mass Choir, released a version of the song “A Change Is Gonna Come” on the compilation album, Oh Happy Day.

On December 12, 2010, while performing at Baton Rouge’s Manship Theater in the Shaw Center, Neville was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

Neville was the featured artist for the 100th Anniversary Celebration of the University of Memphis Centennial Concert September 30, 2011 at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts.

Neville is an inductee of the Delta Music Museum Hall of Fame in Ferriday, Louisiana.

In January 2013, paying tribute to the songs of his youth, Blue Note Records released Neville’s My True Story, a collection of 12 doo-wop tunes, produced by Don Was and Keith Richards, with backing by musicians such as Benmont Tench and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. In October 2015, Keith Richards selected the song “My True Story” as one of his Desert Island Discs.

Neville met his first wife, Joel in 1957. They were married on January 10, 1959 when both were 18 years old. Joel was diagnosed with lung cancer in late 2004 and died on January 5, 2007. She was 66.

In 2008, during a People magazine photo shoot, Neville met photographer Sarah A. Friedman, who had been hired to take a portrait of the Neville Brothers. Neville and Friedman were married November 12, 2010 in New York City.

Neville’s oldest son Ivan is also a musician and released an album, If My Ancestors Could See Me Now, in 1988, which yielded a Top 40 hit with “Not Just Another Girl.” Ivan has also performed with Spin Doctors, The Rolling Stones and Bonnie Raitt, and played keyboards for Keith Richards on his first solo tour. Ivan then assembled his own band (Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk) which tours and frequently appears in New Orleans.

Neville’s third son, Jason, is a vocalist and rap artist who has performed with his father and with the Neville Brothers, notably at the 2009 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Neville is the uncle of journalist and Fox News personality Arthel Neville.

Neville is Catholic, with a devotion to St. Jude, to whom he has credited his success and survival. He wears a St. Jude Medal as a left earring.

On May 17, 2015 Neville was the recipient of the University of Notre Dame Laetare Medal, an annual award given by the University in recognition of outstanding service to the Catholic Church and society.

He was dubbed “The Human Oboe” due to his unique vocal style.

Written by Dianne Washington

NEW AUTHOR ALERT

Quintin X. Drakeford, is an intriguing actor who also has a knack for expressing his views on society as well as the plight of his own people. Through various struggles of his own this author also known under several surnames is about to shock the world of urban literature. You can find his latest novel “ Imagine That” under amazon kindle ebooks under Quintin.X. However his creative  novel entitled “ Black Wild & Untamed” is a sure winner for lovers of black westerns. He also has several other genres of specialty that will captivate the reader from beginning to end. Move over Guy Johnson and Walter Moseley and allow your protégé to make his mark.

David Ruffin

Davis Eli “David” Ruffin (January 18, 1941 – June 1, 1991) was an American soul singer and musician most famous for his work as one of the lead singers of the Temptations from 1964 to 1968 (or the group’s “Classic Five” period as it was later known). He was the lead voice on such famous songs as “My Girl” and “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.”

Known for his unique raspy and anguished tenor vocals, Ruffin was ranked as one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine in 2008. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 for his work with the Temptations. Fellow Motown recording artist Marvin Gaye once said admiringly of Ruffin that, “I heard [in his voice] a strength my own voice lacked.”

Ruffin was born Davis Eli Ruffin in the rural unincorporated community of Whynot, Mississippi, fifteen miles from Meridian, Mississippi. He was the third born son of Elias “Eli” Ruffin, a Baptist minister, and Ophelia Ruffin (née Davis). His siblings were Quincy B. Ruffin, Rita Ruffin, and Jimmy L. Ruffin. His parents were both natives of Mississippi. His father Eli worked as a truck driver at a lumber mill and his mother Ophelia worked out of their home. As far as the ancestry of the Ruffin family, Eli’s parents had moved from Alabama to Mississippi, due to the harsh circumstances of living after the American Civil War. Prior to living in Alabama, David Ruffin’s great grandparents, John Ruffin and Clara Ruffin, had moved from Bertie County, North Carolina. John Ruffin was a Civil War Veteran, fighting with the 14th United States Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment.

Ruffin’s father was strict and at times violently abusive. Ruffin’s mother died just months after his birth and his father married a schoolteacher, Earline, in 1942. As a young child, Ruffin, along with his other siblings (older brothers Quincy and Jimmy, and sister Rita Mae), traveled with their father and their stepmother as a family gospel group, opening shows for Mahalia Jackson and The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, among others. Ruffin sang in the choir at Mount Salem Methodist Church, talent shows, and wherever else he could. In 1955, at the age of fourteen, he left home under the guardianship of a minister and went to Memphis, Tennessee with the purpose of pursuing the ministry.

At age 15, Ruffin went to Hot Springs, Arkansas with the jazz musician Phineas Newborn, Sr. There they played at the Fifty Grand Ballroom and Casino. Ruffin continued to sing at talent shows, worked with horses at a jockey club and eventually became a member of the Dixie Nightingales. He also sang with the Soul Stirrers briefly after the departure of Johnnie Taylor. It was in Ruffin’s travels as a teenager that he met such later popular personalities as Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Frankie Lymon, Bobby Womack, the Staple Singers, the Swan Silvertones and the Dixie Hummingbirds.

After some of his singing idols like Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson had left gospel music and gone secular, Ruffin also turned in that direction. The 16-year-old Ruffin met and came under the guardianship of Eddie Bush and his wife Dorothy Helen, who took the teenager to Detroit, Michigan, where his brother Jimmy was pursuing a career in music while working at the Ford Motor Company. 

After moving to Detroit with the Bushes, Ruffin recorded his first released records with the songs “You and I” (1958) b/w “Believe Me” (1958) and the original version of “Statue of a Fool.” These songs were recorded at Vega Records and released under the name “Little David Bush”, using the last name of the man he was living with at the time, Eddie Bush. Ruffin would later recall how he initially recorded “a different kind of music”, strongly influenced by the smoother pop and R&B of the time, when he first recorded in Detroit for Vega.

In 1957, Ruffin met Berry Gordy, Jr., then a songwriter with ambitions of running his own label. Ruffin lived with Gordy’s father, a contractor, and helped “Pops” Gordy do construction work on the building that would become Hitsville USA, the headquarters for Gordy’s Tamla Records (later Motown Records) label. Ruffin’s brother Jimmy would eventually be signed to Tamla’s Miracle Records label as an artist.

Ruffin also worked alongside another ambitious singer, Marvin Gaye, as an apprentice at Anna Records, a Chess-distributed label run by Gordy’s sister Gwen Gordy Fuqua and his songwriting partner Billy Davis. Asked about Ruffin in the Detroit Free Press in 1988, Gordy Fuqua said, “He was very much a gentleman, yes ma’am and no ma’am, but the thing that really impressed me about David was that he was one of the only artists I’ve seen who rehearsed like he was on stage.”

Eventually, Ruffin started recording at Anna Records, and recorded the song “I’m in Love” b/w “One of These Days” (1961), with the Voice Masters, which included future Motown producer Lamont Dozier and members of the singing group the Originals Ty Hunter, C.P. Spencer, Hank Dixon and Voice Masters and The Originals founder Walter Gaines (and, at one time, it also had another future Temptations member, Melvin Franklin, one of numerous people David would claim as a cousin).

Ruffin eventually met an up-and-coming local group by the name of The Temptations. His older brother Jimmy Ruffin went on a Motortown Revue tour with the Temptations, and he told David that they needed someone to sing tenor in their group. Ruffin showed interest in joining the group to Otis Williams whom he lived very close to in Detroit. In January 1964, Ruffin became a member of the Temptations after founding member Elbridge “Al” Bryant was fired from the group (Ruffin’s first recording session with the group was January 9, 1964). Though both David and his brother Jimmy were considered, David was given an edge over Jimmy thanks to his performance skills, which David displayed when he joined the Temptations on-stage during the New Year’s Eve party in 1963.

The bespectacled Ruffin initially sang backgrounds, while the role of lead singer mostly alternated between Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams. He did sing a few lead parts both on stage and in the studio during his first year with the group, but his leads on these studio tracks would not be released for over a year, as they were considered not good enough to showcase Ruffin’s vocals. Smokey Robinson, who produced and co-wrote most of the Temptations’ material at this point, saw Ruffin during this period as a “sleeping giant” in the group with a unique voice that was, “mellow,” yet, “gruff.”Robinson thought that if he could write just the perfect song for Ruffin’s voice, then he could have a smash hit. The song was to be something that Ruffin could “belt out” yet something that was also “melodic and sweet”. That song, “My Girl”, was recorded in November 1964 and released a month later, became the group’s first number-one single in 1965. “My Girl” became the Temptations’ signature song and elevated Ruffin to the role of lead singer and front man.

The follow-ups to “My Girl” were also extremely successful singles, including the Ruffin-led hits “It’s Growing” (1965), “Since I Lost My Baby” (1965), “My Baby” (1965), “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” (1966), “Beauty Is Only Skin Deep” (1966), “(I Know) I’m Losing You” (1966), “All I Need” (1967), “(Loneliness Made Me Realize) It’s You That I Need” (1967), “I Wish It Would Rain” (1967), and “I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)” (1968). Ruffin also shared lead vocals on the 1967 hit single “You’re My Everything” with Eddie Kendricks. The tall, 6’3″, Ruffin’s passionate and dramatic performances endeared him to the Temptations’ audiences and fans. According to Otis Williams, Ruffin (playfully nicknamed “Ruff” by the group) was initially a natural comedian and a hard-working singer when he first joined the group. Ruffin’s most notable non-vocal contribution to the Temptations was the masterminding of their trademark four-headed microphone stand.

By 1967, however, ego problems with Ruffin became an issue for the group. He became addicted to cocaine and began missing rehearsals and performances. Refusing to travel with the other Temptations, Ruffin and his then-girlfriend Tammi Terrell traveled in a custom limo (with the image of his trademark black rimmed glasses painted on the door). After the Supremes had their name changed to Diana Ross & the Supremes in early 1967, Ruffin felt that he should become the focal point of the Temptations, just as Diana Ross was for her group and began demanding that the group name be changed to David Ruffin & the Temptations. This led to a number of disagreements between Ruffin and the group’s de facto leader, Otis Williams. In addition to the group’s problems with Ruffin’s ego, he began inquiring into the Temptations’ financial records, demanding an accounting of the group’s money. This caused friction between Ruffin and Gordy.

In June 1968, the Temptations agreed that Ruffin had finally crossed the line when he missed a June 22 Cleveland, Ohio date with the Temptations to instead attend a performance by his new girlfriend, Barbara Gail Martin (Dean Martin’s daughter). Ruffin was fired on June 27 and replaced with Dennis Edwards, a former member of The Contours who had been a friend of Ruffin and the group as a whole beforehand. Though Ruffin himself personally encouraged Edwards to take his place, Ruffin began turning up unannounced at Temptations’ concerts during Edwards’ first few dates with the group. When the group started to perform a Ruffin-era song such as “My Girl” or “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg”, Ruffin would suddenly walk on to the stage, take the microphone from Edwards’ hands, and steal the show, embarrassing the group but entertaining the fans. According to Edwards, the adulation and Ruffin’s pleas convinced the other four Temptations to give Ruffin a second chance, but when he arrived late to what was to be his return show with the group in Gaithersburg, Maryland, The Temptations decided to keep Edwards and drop considerations of rehiring Ruffin.

In October 1968, Ruffin filed suit against Motown Records, seeking a release from the label and an accounting of his money. Motown counter-sued to keep the singer from leaving the label and eventually the case was settled. The settlement required Ruffin to remain with Motown to finish out his initial contract (Ruffin joined Motown as a solo artist and always had a separate contract from the other Temptations, which some felt caused a lot of the in-fighting within the group).

Ruffin’s first solo single was a song originally intended for the Temptations, “My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)”. The single from the album entitled My Whole World Ended was released in 1969 followed soon by the album Feelin’ Good. The single reached the US Pop & R&B “Top Ten.” A third album, titled David, was recorded in 1970-71, but was shelved by Motown and did not see a commercial release until 2004; his next official release for Motown did not arrive until 1973, when David Ruffin was released. His final Top Ten hit was 1975’s “Walk Away from Love”, produced by Van McCoy, which reached number nine on the Pop chart. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in February 1976. Other notable recordings from Ruffin’s solo career include “I Lost Everything I’ve Ever Loved” (1969); the gospel-inflected “I’m So Glad I Fell For You” (1970); “Blood Donors Needed (Give All You Can)” (1973); “Common Man” (1973) (which was sampled on the 2001 Jay-Z song “Never Change”); “No Matter Where” (1974); “Who I Am” (1975); “Statue of a Fool” (1975); and cover versions of the Jackson Five’s “I Want You Back”, “Rainy Night in Georgia” popularized by Brook Benton (both recorded for the shelved 1970 album); and Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes’ “I Miss You”, featuring Eddie Kendrick (1973).

In 1970 Ruffin recorded an album with his brother Jimmy, I am My Brother’s Keeper, for which they had minor hits with “When My Love Hand (Comes Tumbling Down)” and “Your Love Was Worth Waiting For”. While his solo career initially showed promise, Ruffin reportedly went into decline in part because of his cocaine addiction and the lack of support from Motown.

After leaving Motown in 1977, Ruffin recorded for Warner Bros. Records releasing the albums So Soon We Change (1979) and Gentleman Ruffin (1980), and later signed with RCA Records, accompanied by former Temptations band-mate Eddie Kendrick, who chose to rekindle their friendship when Kendrick himself started experiencing problems with the Temptations.

In 1982, Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks re-joined the Temptations for the recording of their album Reunion and the tour to promote the album. Reunion included the R&B hit “Standing on the Top” with Rick James. The reunion tour, however, was short lived as Ruffin started to miss shows due to his cocaine addiction, leading the group to be fined thousands of dollars. Otis Williams fired Ruffin for the second and final time from the group along with Kendricks (whose voice was weakened due to heavy chain smoking) by Christmas 1982. Ruffin started touring with Kendrick (who dropped the “s” from his last name at this time) as a duo act in 1985.

In 1982, Ruffin was sentenced to six months in a low-security prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, for failing to pay taxes during the mid-1970s. On May 19, 1986, he pleaded no contest to a charge of receiving and concealing stolen property worth less than $100 (a Colt .32-caliber handgun) and was fined $50 plus $100 in court costs. Charges of assault and battery and receiving stolen property worth more than $100 were dropped.A 1987 cocaine arrest landed him in jail for repeated parole violations.

In 1985, longtime Temptations fans Hall & Oates teamed up with Ruffin and Kendrick to perform at the re-opening of the Apollo Theater in New York. Their performance was released as a relatively successful live album and single. The four singers also sang a medley of Temptations hits at Live Aid on July 13, 1985. John Oates later wrote a minor hit single for Ruffin and Kendrick, but the two duos fell out, allegedly due to Daryl Hall’s objections to Ruffin’s heavy drug use. After being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1989, with the other Temptations, Ruffin, Kendrick and Dennis Edwards began touring and recording as “Ruffin/Kendrick/Edwards: Former Leads of The Temptations”. On August 17, 2013 in Cleveland, Ohio The Official R&B Music Hall of Fame inducted David Ruffin as a solo artist and also a member of The Temptations. His family was on hand for this great honor.

Ruffin was married twice. His first marriage was to Sandra Ruffin in 1961 with whom he had three daughters, Cheryl, Nedra and Kimberly. In 1976, Ruffin married Joy Hamilton. He also had one son he named David Ruffin Junior with his former girlfriend Genna Sapia, who–after his death–would add “Ruffin” to her last name in tribute to their long-term relationship, as well as to the fact that they had a son together. The two lived as husband and wife, but were never legally married.

Ruffin also had a well publicized relationship with Motown label mate and Marvin Gaye duet partner, singer Tammi Terrell.

After a successful month-long tour of England with Kendrick and Edwards, Ruffin died on June 1, 1991, in a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, hospital of “an adverse reaction to drugs” – namely cocaine. Although the cause of death was ruled an accident, Ruffin’s family and friends suspected foul play, claiming that a money belt containing the proceeds from the tour ($300,000) was missing from his body. He had just finished recording the single “Hurt the One You Love” for Motorcity Records.

In The Temptations television miniseries, Ruffin’s beaten body is depicted as being thrown from a moving car in front of a hospital, where he dies. Also stated in the mini-series was that his body remained unclaimed in a morgue for a week after his death. As a result, Ruffin’s estate filed suit against NBC and other major players involved in the making of the series, claiming defamation. According to the plaintiffs in the case, Ruffin was actually taken to the hospital by a limousine and was escorted to the waiting area by his driver, who informed the attendants of his identity. The Ruffin children further state that his body was claimed by one of them within a few days after his death. (Ruffin’s estate lost the lawsuit; the ruling against them was upheld on appeal.)

Ruffin had many admirers among his fellow artists, mainly for the emotive power he brought to every song he sang. “Nobody could sing like David Ruffin,” said his close friend and colleague Martha Reeves (of Martha and the Vandellas fame). His contemporary, label-mate, and long-time acquaintance Marvin Gaye was particularly impressed with the virility of Ruffin’s voice. Gaye said Ruffin’s work “made me remember that when a lot of women listen to music, they want to feel the power of a real man.”

Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates, one of Ruffin’s biggest fans, said, “His voice had a certain glorious anguish that spoke to people on many emotional levels”. Ruffin himself said, “I don’t know what kind of voice I have, I really don’t”…it’s just about “the feeling I get for the song.”

The raspy-voiced Rod Stewart fell in love with Ruffin’s voice after he heard “I Wish It Would Rain”. “It jumped out of the speakers and ravished my soul,” Stewart exclaimed. Stewart would later become friends with Ruffin. “His voice was so powerful — like a foghorn on the Queen Mary,” Stewart told Rolling Stone magazine.

For all of his nearly forty years in the music business, much of it with modest success, Ruffin is remembered almost exclusively for his relatively brief stint in the Temptations. The cover art of his last album Gentleman Ruffin was the inspiration on the art of rapper Wiz Khalifa’s mixtape Kush and Orange Juice.

The Three Stooges


The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best known for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures that have been regularly airing on television since 1958. Their hallmark was physical farce and slapstick. Six stooges appeared over the act’s run (with only three active at any given time): Moe Howard and Larry Fine were mainstays throughout the ensemble’s nearly fifty-year run and the pivotal “third Stooge” was played by (in order of appearance) Shemp Howard, Curly Howard, Shemp Howard again, Joe Besser, and Curly Joe DeRita.

The act began in the early 1920s as part of a vaudeville comedy act billed as “Ted Healy and His Stooges”, consisting originally of Healy and Moe Howard. Over time, they were joined by Moe’s brother Shemp Howard, and then Larry Fine. The four appeared in one feature film, Soup to Nuts, before Shemp left to pursue a solo career. He was replaced by his younger brother, Jerome “Curly” Howard, in 1932. Two years later, after appearing in several movies, the trio left Healy and signed on to appear in their own short-subject comedies for Columbia Pictures, now billed as “The Three Stooges”. From 1934 to 1946, Moe, Larry and Curly produced over 90 short films for Columbia. It was during this period that the three were at their peak popularity.

Curly suffered a debilitating stroke in May 1946, and Shemp returned, reconstituting the original lineup, until his death of a heart attack on November 22, 1955. Film actor Joe Palma was used as a stand-in to complete four Shemp-era shorts under contract (the maneuver thereafter became known as the “fake Shemp”). Columbia contract player Joe Besser joined as the third Stooge for two years (1956–57), departing in 1958 to nurse his ailing wife after Columbia terminated its shorts division. The studio then released all the shorts via Screen Gems, Columbia’s television studio and distribution unit. Screen Gems then syndicated the shorts to television, whereupon the Stooges became one of the most popular comedy acts of the early 1960s.

Comic actor Joe DeRita became “Curly Joe” in 1958, replacing Besser for a new series of full-length theatrical films. With intense television exposure, the act regained momentum throughout the 1960s as popular kids’ fare, until Fine’s paralyzing stroke in January 1970. Fine died in 1975 after a further series of strokes. Attempts were made to revive the Stooges with longtime supporting actor Emil Sitka in Fine’s role in 1970, and again in 1975, but this attempt was cut short by Moe Howard’s death on May 4, 1975.

Written by Dianne Washington

Shabba Ranks

Shabba Ranks (born Rexton Rawlston Fernando Gordon; January 17, 1966) is a Jamaican dancehall musician. He was one of the most popular dancehall artists of his generation and one of the first Jamaican deejays to gain worldwide acceptance, and recognition for his ‘slack’ lyrical expressions and content, when “ridin’ di riddim”, his gravel toned, rough-sounding voice made him instantly recognised worldwide.

Ranks was born in Sturgetown, St. Ann, Jamaica. He gained his fame mainly by toasting (or rapping) rather than singing, like some of his dancehall contemporaries in Jamaica. A protégé of deejay Josey Wales, he arrived on the international stage in the late 1980s, along with a number of fellow Jamaicans including reggae singers Cocoa Tea and Crystal. Ranks also worked with Chuck Berry and American rappers KRS-One and Chubb Rock.

He secured a recording contract with Epic Records in 1991. Having released five albums for a major label, Ranks remains one of the most prolific dancehall artists to break into the mainstream.

The stylistic origins of the genre reggaeton may be traced back to the 1990 song “Dem bow”, from Ranks’ album Just Reality. Produced by Bobby “Digital” Dixon, the Dem Bow riddim became so popular in Puerto Rican freestyle sessions that early Puerto Rican reggaeton was simply known as “Dembow”. The Dem Bow riddim is an integral and inseparable part of reggaeton, so much so that it has become its defining characteristic.

His biggest hit single outside of Jamaica was the reggae fusion smash “Mr. Loverman” (memorable for bringing the cry “Shabba!” to the music world). Other tracks include “Respect”, “Pirates Anthem”, “Trailer Load A Girls”, “Wicked inna Bed”, “Caan Dun”, and “Ting A Ling”.

In 1993, Ranks scored another hit in the Addams Family Values soundtrack to which he contributed a rap/reggae version of the Sly and the Family Stone hit “Family Affair”. His third album for Epic, A Mi Shabba, was released in 1995, however it fared less well. He was eventually dropped by the label in 1996. However, he won two Grammy Awards for previous work, and Epic went on to release a ‘Greatest Hits’ album, entitled Shabba Ranks and Friends in 1999.

Today, Ranks lives in New York City. Ranks made a partial comeback in 2007 when he appeared on a song called “Clear The Air” by Busta Rhymes, which also featured Akon.

Shabba released a single on Big Ship’s Pepper Riddim called “None A Dem”, in April 2011. In 2012, Shabba was featured on Tech N9ne’s EP E.B.A.H. on the track “Boy Toy”.

In 2013, Shabba was also mentioned in A$AP Ferg’s song “Shabba,” and has a cameo near the end of the music video. He was featured in the remix alongside Migos and Busta Rhymes on November 23, 2013.

In August 2013 he was reportedly working on a new album.

Written by Dianne Washington