Whats Buzzing in the Streets – Page 62

Roxie Roker

Roxie Roker was born on this date in 1929. She was an African American actress and children’s advocate.

She was born in Miami to Albert Roker, who had emigrated from the Bahamas, and Bessie Roker. Roxie Roker attended Howard University and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1952. While at Howard, she was an active member in the Howard Players and was featured in several productions. She was also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

After graduation, Roker moved to New York City and began working in an office while appearing in several off-Broadway plays. She became a full-time actress after joining the Negro Ensemble Company (NEC).At NEC, Roker appeared in the plays Ododo and Rosalee Pritchard. In 1974, she won an Obie Award and was also nominated for a Tony for her performance as Mattie Williams in The River Niger. She married a Russian Jewish TV producer, Syl Kravitz. The couple had one child, Lenny Kravitz, in 1964. In 1975, Roker was cast in TV show, The Jeffersons. Her character, Helen Willis, played the wife in the first interracial couple on prime time TV. After the Jeffersons ended in 1985, she returned to the stage, touring with Mary Martin and Carol Channing in Legends.

Her community work, including her service as a board member of the Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect, earned her two citations from the Los Angeles City Council. Roxie Roker died on December 2, 1995, from breast cancer.

Digital Underground Shock G

August 25th – Digital Underground founder Shock G was born Gregory E. Jacobs on this day in 1963 in Brooklyn, New York.

After relocating to Tampa, Florida from New York City, as a young teen, Shock G formed The Master Blasters, a sound system crew which consisted of three deejays and four MC’s.

The Master Blasters would perform before large crowds at Riverfront Park gatherings on Sunday afternoons.

Eventually Shock G’s reputation as a DJ caught the attention of Tony Stone, Program Director of Tampa’s WTMP radio, who gave the young Shock G a regular radio slot on the city’s top Black music radio station.

Shock G hosted a daily show on WTMP as Gregory Racker, making him the youngest radio host in Florida with a regular timeslot.

Later he would attend Hillsborough Community College where he studied music theory and piano.

It was at Hillsborough where he met the late Kenny Waters a.k.a. Kenny K.

The duo began performing as The Chill Factor and The Four Horsemen.

The two also would perform in several RnB bands around the US, with Shock G serving as the keyboardist.

In 1985, Shock G found his way to Oakland, California where he got a job in a music store.

It was here where Digital Underground was formed.

Along with Waters and Jimi Dright a.k.a. Chopmaster J they formed Digital Underground and released the single “Your Life’s A Cartoon” on Macola Records.

In 1989, Digital Underground signed with Tommy Boy Records and released the classic single “Doowutchylike”.

In 1990, the group’s debut album followed “Sex Packets”, which was almost a hip-hop reincarnation of P-Funk.

The group then put out their smash hit “The Humpty Dance”, which remains a hip-hop anthem until this very day.

“The Humpty Dance” saw Shock G take on the persona of Humpty Hump, an alter-ego that wore a Groucho Marx nose and glasses set with a comedic flare.

Shock G has taken on many artistic personas throughout his career like Rackadelic, MC Blowfish, Ice Michael Boston, The Computer Woman, ButtaFly and Peanut Hakeem.

Digital Underground by this point also consisted of DJ Fuze, Money-B, Schmoovy Schmoov, Ramone “Pee Wee” Gooden and a young Tupac Shakur serving as a roadie, dancer and occasional MC.

Shock G would release nine albums with Digital Underground and become one of the most creative producers in hip-hop history.

Over the years, Shock would collaborate with, or produce music for, the likes of George Clinton, Prince, KRS-One, Mac Mall, The Luniz, Murs as well as co-producing 2Pac’s debut album “2Pacalypse Now”.

Shock G also appeared in the film “Nothing But Trouble” with Digital Underground performing as the world’s first hip-hop band with 2Pac making his professional rapping debut on the song “Same Song”.

Shock G is considered, by many, as a one of the most original innovators in hip-hop history.

Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant was born on this date in 1978. He was an African American professional basketball player and has become an investor.

Kobe Bean Bryant was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the youngest of three children and the only son of former NBA player and former WNBA head coach Joe “Jellybean” Bryant and Pamela Cox Bryant. He is also the maternal nephew of John “Chubby” Cox. His parents named him after the famous beef of Kobe, Japan. He started playing basketball when he was 3 years old, and his grandfather would mail him videos of NBA games, which Bryant would study.

When Bryant was six, his father moved his family to Italy to play professional basketball. Bryant became accustomed to his new lifestyle and learned to speak Italian and Spanish fluently. During summers, Bryant would come back to the United States to play summer league basketball and he also learned to play soccer. In 1991, the Bryant family moved back to the United States. Bryant earned national recognition during a spectacular high school career at Lower Merion High School near Philadelphia.

As a freshman, he played for the varsity (junior and senior) basketball team. His father coached him his sophomore year of high school with Bryant playing all five positions. At Adidas ABCD camp, Bryant earned the 1995 senior MVP award, while playing alongside future NBA teammate Lamar Odom. He ended his career as Southeastern Pennsylvania’s all-time leading scorer at 2,883 points, surpassing both Wilt Chamberlain and Lionel Simmons, Lower Merion alumni. Bryant received several awards for his performance his senior year including being named Naismith High School Player of the Year, Gatorade Men’s National Basketball Player of the Year, a McDonald’s All-American, and a All-USA First Team player. In 1996, Bryant took singer and friend Brandy Norwood to his senior prom.

His SAT score of 1080 would have ensured his college basketball scholarship. Bryant made the decision to go directly into the NBA, only the sixth player in NBA history to do so. Bryant’s news was met with a lot of publicity at a time when prep-to-pro NBA players were not very common. Bryant said that had he decided to go to college after high school, he would have attended Duke University.

The first guard to ever be taken out of high school, Bryant was chosen as the 13th overall draft pick by the Charlotte Hornets in 1996. However, the Hornets’ head scout at the time agreed to trade their draft selection to the Lakers the day before the draft. The Lakers didn’t tell the Hornets whom to select until five minutes before the pick was made. On July 1, 1996, West traded his starting center, Vlade Divac, to the Hornets in exchange for Bryant’s draft rights. Since he was still 17 at the time of the draft, his parents had to cosign his contract with the Lakers until he was able to sign his own when he turned 18 before the season began.

Bryant is a shooting guard who can play small forward too. He is considered one of the most complete players in the NBA, has been selected to every All-NBA Team since 1999. He is a creative scorer, averaging 25.3 points per game for his career, along with 5.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.5 steals (as of the end of the 2009–2010 regular season). He shares the single-game NBA record for three pointers made with twelve and he a standout defender, having made the All-Defensive first or second team ten of the last eleven seasons.

In 1999, Bryant met 17-year-old Vanessa Laine while she was working as a background dancer on the Tha Eastsidaz music video “G’d Up”. Bryant was in the building working on his debut musical album, which was never released. The two began dating and became engaged just six months later in May 2000, while Laine was still a senior at Marina High School in Huntington Beach, California. They married on April 18, 2001, Bryant’s parents, his two sisters, longtime advisor and agent Arn Tellem, nor Bryant’s Laker teammates attended. Bryant’s parents were opposed to the marriage for a number of reasons. Reportedly Bryant’s parents had problems with him marrying so young, especially to a woman who was not African American. This disagreement resulted in an estrangement period, which ended when Bryant had his first daughter. The Bryants’ first child is Natalia Diamante Bryant. Vanessa Bryant suffered a miscarriage in the spring of 2005. Their second daughter is Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant.

In the summer of 2003, Bryant was arrested in connection with a sexual assault complaint filed by 19-year old hotel employee Katelyn Faber. Bryant had checked into The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera hotel in advance of undergoing knee surgery nearby. Faber accused Bryant of raping her in his hotel room the night before Bryant was to have the procedure. Bryant admitted an adulterous sexual encounter with his accuser, but denied her sexual assault allegation. In September 2004, prosecutors dropped the assault case after Faber refused to testify in the trial. Afterward, Bryant agreed to apologize to Faber for the incident, including his public mea culpa: “Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did.” Faber filed a separate civil lawsuit against Bryant, which the two sides ultimately settled with the specific terms of the settlement being undisclosed to the public.

Bryant is the official ambassador for After-School All-Stars (ASAS), an American non-profit organization that provides comprehensive after-school programs to children in 13 US cities. Bryant also started the Kobe Bryant China Fund, which will partner with the Soong Ching Ling Foundation, a charity backed by the Chinese government. The Kobe Bryant China Fund will raise money within China earmarked for education and health programs. Bryant has won five NBA World Championships with the Los Angeles Lakers: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2010. Bryant has been injured off and on since 2012 and is in his mid 30’s. He played until the end of the 2015/16 season with the Lakers. On April 13, 2016, Bryant played his final NBA game against the Utah Jazz, scoring a season-high 60 points

Dave Chappelle

David Khari Webber Chappelle (born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. After beginning his film career in 1993 as Ahchoo in Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood: Men in Tights, he landed supporting roles in box office hits including The Nutty Professor, Con Air, You’ve Got Mail, Blue Streak and Undercover Brother. His first lead role was in the 1998 comedy film Half Baked, which he co-wrote with Neal Brennan. Chappelle also starred in the ABC TV series Buddies. His comedy focuses on racism, relationship problems, social problems, politics, current events, and pop culture.

In 2003, Chappelle became more widely known for his sketch comedy television series, Chappelle’s Show, also co-written with Brennan, which ran until his retirement from the show two years later. After leaving the show, Chappelle returned to performing stand-up comedy across the U.S.

In 2016 he signed a $20 million-per-release comedy-special deal with Netflix, which has released four of his specials.

By 2006, Chappelle was called the “comic genius of America” by Esquire and, in 2013, “the best” by a Billboard writer. In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked him No. 9 in their “50 Best Stand Up Comics of All Time.” Chappelle was awarded an Emmy Award for his guest appearance on Saturday Night Live In 2017. He received a Grammy Award for his Netflix specials The Age of Spin & Deep in the Heart of Texas.

David Khari Webber Chappelle was born in Washington, D.C. on August 24, 1973, the youngest of three children. His father, William David Chappelle III, worked as a statistician before becoming a professor at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. His mother, Yvonne K Chappelle Seon (née Reed), is half white and was a professor at Howard University, Prince George’s Community College, and the University of Maryland. Seon also worked for Congo Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. She is also a Unitarian Universalist minister. Chappelle has a stepmother and a stepbrother. He is the great-grandson of Bishop William D. Chappelle, a former president of Allen University.

Chappelle grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, and attended Woodlin Elementary School. His parents were politically active, and family house visitors included Pete Seeger and Johnny Hartman. The latter predicted Chappelle would be a comedian and, around this time, Chappelle’s comic inspiration came from Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor. After his parents separated, Chappelle stayed in Washington with his mother while spending summers with his father in Ohio. In 1991, he graduated from Washington’s Duke Ellington School of the Arts, where he studied theatre arts.

Magic Johnson

Earvin Johnson Jr. grew up in Lansing, Michigan, with nine brothers and sisters. His father worked in a General Motors plant; his mother was a school custodian. Young Johnson sang on street corners with his buddies and played basketball. “Junior,” or “June Bug” as his neighbors called him, was on the court by 7:30 many mornings. Johnson’s basketball career began at Michigan State University, where he led his team to the N. C. A. A. Championship game victory and was named Most Valuable Player in the N. C. A. A. Final Four.

In 1979, made him available for the professional draft and was the first player picked by the Los Angeles Lakers. He was an All-Star as a rookie and helped guide the Lakers to their first championship since 1972. During the 1980s, Johnson orchestrated the now-famous Lakers offense known as “Showtime,” and the team became one of the best in the game. Over the course of his 12 N.B.A. seasons, Johnson left a trail of records that marked him as one of the best players in history. His quick smile and sociable personality made him a favorite among fans and advertisers.

On November 7, 1991, Johnson announced that he had tested positive for H.I.V. during a routine physical exam. He also announced that, he was retiring from the N.B.A. on the advice of his physician. He was still elected to the 1992-93 All-Star team and was a member of the 1992 U. S. Olympic Basketball “Dream Team.” He became part owner of the Lakers team and even stepped in as head coach for the last 16 games of the 1993-94 season. He also became very active in charitable causes, including the United States National AIDS Committee, the United Negro College Fund, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the American Heart Association and the Urban League. To improve the quality of life in inner-city neighborhoods, he built a chain of state-of-the-art multiplex movie theaters, the Magic Johnson Theaters. In 1996, Johnson stunned the world by returning to the N.B.A.

On January 29, 1996, he played his first N.B.A. game in five years. His return lit a fire under the slumping Lakers, and they won 29 of their last 40 games, earning the fourth seed in the Western Conference playoffs. After a first-round defeat, Johnson decided once again to retire. The following year, Johnson signed a deal with Twentieth TV to develop, produce, and host his own late-night talk show, “The Magic Hour.”

Married (to Cookie) with two children, Magic Johnson remains very busy in worldwide business and humanitarian causes.

Written by Dianne Washington

Bernie Mac

Bernard Jeffrey “Bernie” McCullough (October 5, 1957 – August 9, 2008), better known by his stage name Bernie Mac, was an American stand-up comedian, actor and voice artist. Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Mac gained popularity as a stand-up comedian. He joined comedians Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, and D. L. Hughley in The Original Kings of Comedy.

After briefly hosting the HBO show Midnight Mac, Mac appeared in several films in smaller roles. His most noted film role was as Frank Catton in the remake Ocean’s Eleven and the titular character of Mr. 3000. He was the star of The Bernie Mac Show, which ran from 2001 through 2006, earning him two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. Mac’s other films included starring roles in Booty Call, Friday, The Players Club, Head of State, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, Bad Santa, Guess Who, Pride, Soul Men, Transformers and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.

Mac suffered from sarcoidosis, a disease in which abnormal collections of chronic inflammatory cells (granulomas) form as nodules in multiple organs, particularly the lungs and lymph nodes. Lung scarring or infection may lead to respiratory failure and death. Mac had mentioned the condition was in remission in 2005. His death on August 9, 2008 was caused by complications from pneumonia.

Mac was born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough in Chicago, Illinois on October 5, 1957. He was raised on the city’s South Side by his single mother, Mary, who died of cancer when he was 16 years old in his sophomore year of high school.

He put on shows for neighborhood kids on the South Side. He attended Chicago Vocational Career Academy where Dick Butkus also earlier attended. Later, Mac moved to Tampa, Florida. During his 20s, he worked in a variety of jobs, including furniture mover and a UPS agent.

ernie Mac’s influences were from The Three Stooges and listening to stand-up comedians Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx. Mac started as a stand-up comedian in Chicago’s Cotton Club. After he won the Miller Lite Comedy Search at the age of 32, his popularity as a comedian began to grow. A performance on HBO’s Def Comedy Jam thrust him into the spotlight; after Martin Lawrence was unable to calm an increasingly hostile crowd, Mac went onstage and famously said, “I ain’t scared o’ you mothafuckas”, telling the audience that he “didn’t come here for no foolishness”. Mac’s comedy and fearlessness onstage cemented his reputation with fans and colleagues.

He opened for Dionne Warwick, Redd Foxx and Natalie Cole. He played a small role in 1994’s House Party 3 as Uncle Vester. He also had a short-lived talk show on HBO titled Midnight Mac. Later, Mac also acted in minor roles and got his big break as “Pastor Clever” in Ice Cube’s 1995 film Friday. Following that role, Mac had his first starring role as “Dollar Bill”, a silly, slick-talking club owner in The Players Club. Mac was able to break from the traditional “black comedy” genre, having roles in the 2001 remake of Ocean’s Eleven and becoming the new Bosley for the Charlie’s Angels sequel, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle. In 2003, he gave an impressive performance in a supporting role as the villain “Gin Slagel, The Store Dick” in Bad Santa. He also starred in Guess Who?, a comedic remake of the film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and made an appearance in the 2007 film Transformers as the car salesman “Bobby Bolivia”. In his later years, he hosted the reality television talent show Last Comic Standing. He also served as the voice of Zuba, Alex the Lion’s long lost father in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. He co-starred with Samuel L. Jackson in the 2008 musical comedy Soul Men as “Floyd Henderson”. His final film role was as “Jimmy Lunchbox,” a flamboyant children’s entertainer in the 2009 Disney film Old Dogs which was released a year after his death. He starred alongside John Travolta and Robin Williams in that particular film.

In 2001, the Fox network gave Mac his own semi-autobiographical sitcom called The Bernie Mac Show portraying a fictional version of himself. In the show, he suddenly becomes custodian of his sister’s three children after she enters rehab. It was a success, in part because it allowed Mac to stay true to his stand-up comedy roots, breaking the fourth wall to communicate his thoughts to the audience. The show contained many parodies of events in Bernie’s actual life. Bernie, who grew up on Chicago’s South Side, was a die-hard fan of the Chicago White Sox, and would often sneak a reference to his favorite team in his episodes, including enlisting then White Sox pitcher Jon Garland to make a guest cameo appearance. Bernie Mac’s “fourth wall” technique allowed him a moment of heartfelt sincerity during the sitcom’s 2005 season when, sitting in his customary easy chair and facing the audience before the start of an episode, Bernie unabashedly donned a White Sox jacket and cap, and congratulated his hometown Chicago White Sox and their staff members, on their recent World Series championship.

The show was not renewed after the 2005–2006 season. The series finale aired on April 14, 2006. However, the finale barely left a conclusion for the series, and no ending to the storyline of Bernie and Wanda trying to have a baby which had been abandoned a few episodes earlier. Among other awards, the show won an Emmy for “Outstanding Writing”, the Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting, and the Humanitas Prize for television writing that promotes human dignity. His character on The Bernie Mac Show was ranked #47 in TV Guide‍‍ ‘‍s list of the “50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time”.

In 2004, Bernie Mac starred as a retired baseball player in the film Mr. 3000. In the 2003 National League Championship Series, Mac sang “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at Wrigley Field with the Chicago Cubs leading the Florida Marlins in the series 3 games to 2 and in Game 6 by a 2–0 score at the time (it would soon be 3–0 in the bottom of the 7th). Instead of saying “root, root, root for the Cubbies” Mac said, “root, root, root for the champs!, champs!” The Cubs lost the game and the series, with some fans claiming that Mac helped jinx the Cubs. Mac later admitted that he had hated the North Side’s Cubs his whole life, being a die-hard fan of the South Side’s White Sox, and was seen during the White Sox’ 2005 World Series victory at U.S. Cellular Field.

Mac was number 72 on Comedy Central’s list of the 100 greatest standups of all time. On March 19, 2007, Mac told David Letterman on the CBS Late Show that he would retire from his 30-year career after he finished shooting the comedy film, The Whole Truth, Nothing but the Truth, So Help Me Mac. “I’m going to still do my producing, my films, but I want to enjoy my life a little bit”, Mac told Letterman. “I missed a lot of things, you know. I was a street performer for two years. I went into clubs in 1977 and was on the road 47 weeks out of the year.”

In 2008, Mac was admitted to the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois. After a week of unsuccessful medical treatment, Mac went into cardiac arrest and died during the early morning hours of August 9, from complications of pneumonia. In the final three years of his life, Mac publicly disclosed that he had suffered from sarcoidosis, a disease of unknown origin that causes inflammation in tissue. Sarcoidosis frequently attacked Mac’s lungs. Mac’s public funeral was held a week after his death at the House of Hope Church with nearly 7,000 people in attendance. Notable mourners at Mac’s funeral were Chris Rock, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Samuel L. Jackson, Ashton Kutcher, Don Cheadle, the cast members from his eponymous series and his Kings of Comedy fellows D. L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and Steve Harvey.

The first two of Mac’s posthumous films Soul Men and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa were released three months after his death. Mac’s third and final posthumous film, Old Dogs, was released a year after his death. The 2008 Bud Billiken Parade, which was held in Chicago at the time of Mac’s death, was also dedicated to his memory. On the day of Mac’s funeral, his hometown’s local television station WCIU-TV aired an exclusive television special, A Tribute to Bernie Mac, and had interviews with his former colleagues including Camille Winbush, Chris Rock, Joe Torry and some of his family members and close friends.

Patti Austin

Patti Austin (born 10 August 1950) is an American R&B, pop and jazz singer.

Austin was born in Harlem, New York to Gordon, a jazz trombonist, and Edna Austin and was raised in Bay Shore on Long Island. Quincy Jones and Dinah Washington have referred to themselves as her godparents.

She made her debut at the Apollo Theater at age four and had a contract with RCA Records when she was five years old.

By the late 1960s, Austin was a session musician and commercial jingle singer. She appeared on numerous albums by other artists and was known as “Queen of The Jingles,” appearing on advertisements for Burger King, Almay make-up, Avon, KFC, McDonalds, Meow Mix, Impulse, Stouffers, Maxwell House and the United States Army.

Austin recorded with Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons on “Our Day Will Come” and “Swearin’ To God” and sang lead and background vocals on many contemporary jazz instrumentalists’ records in the 1970s.

Austin sang lead vocal on the title single of Yutaka Yokokura’s 1978 debut album, “Love Light” (Toshiba-EMI Music Japan.) The album received an American release in 1981 on Alfa Records, with the title single reaching #81 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Austin sang “It’s the Falling in Love” with Michael Jackson on his 1979 album Off The Wall.

Austin charted 20 R&B songs between 1969 and 1991, but her most prolific hit-making period came in the 1980s. Signed to Jones’s Qwest Records, she had success on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 1981 with the number one hit “Do You Love Me?” / “The Genie” from the album Every Home Should Have One. The album also produced her biggest mainstream hit, “Baby, Come to Me,” a duet with James Ingram. The song initially peaked at number 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1982. After being featured in a prominent storyline on the soap opera General Hospital, the song re-entered the pop chart in October and went to number one in February 1983. The single was certified gold by the RIAA.

Austin teamed up again with Ingram for “How Do You Keep The Music Playing” from the soundtrack of the film Best Friends. That year, Austin’s single, “It’s Gonna Be Special,” was featured on the soundtrack for the Olivia Newton-John/John Travolta film Two of a Kind. Though the film was not a major success for the Grease stars, the soundtrack went platinum. Austin’s single, produced by Quincy Jones, became one of her most successful. “It’s Gonna Be Special” peaked at #5 on the dance charts, #15 on the R&B charts and charted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1984.[citation needed] The song also appeared on Austin’s self-titled album of that year. A follow-up single, “Rhythm of the Street,” remixed by John “Jellybean” Benitez, narrowly missed Billboard’s Dance Top Ten chart, though it peaked higher on Hi-NRG charts. The two songs were featured on a double-A-side 12″ single. For “Rhythm of the Street” Austin shot her first music video.

Austin’s 1985 album, Gettin’ Away With Murder, was her third album in as many years. It produced two more hit singles, “Honey For The Bees” (#24 R&B and #6 Dance) and “The Heat of Heat.” The album used producers Russ Titelman, Tommy LiPuma, Monte Moir (of “The Time”) and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Billy Joel (Austin sang background on his “Just The Way You Are”), Dan Hartman, friends Luther Vandross and Jocelyn Brown and Chaka Khan were among the background vocalists on the project. Songwriters included Randy Goodrum, Michael Bolton and Jam & Lewis.

Also in 1985, Austin sang lead vocals on a collaboration with her producer, Narada Michael Walden, and the single, “Gimme, Gimme, Gimme”, hit the top 40 of the R&B charts.

Austin appeared with Jeff Bridges and Joan Allen in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1988 comedy-drama film, Tucker: The Man and his Dream.

Also in 1988, Austin released The Real Me, a collection of standards which garnered the first of several Top 10 showings on the jazz albums chart. The Real Me was chiefly produced by David Pack, lead singer of the pop group Ambrosia, though Austin served as a co-producer and executive producer on the project. Other duet partners included George Benson (“Moody’s Mood for Love” and “Keep Your Dreams Alive”) and Luther Vandross (“I’m Gonna Miss You In The Morning”).

In 1991, Austin recorded a duet with Johnny Mathis, “You Who Brought Me Love,” which received critical acclaim. That same year, she was invited to be a guest on a Mathis television special.

Austin scored a top five dance hit with the single, “Reach,” from her 1994 CD, That Secret Place (GRP Records). Austin was scheduled to be on onboard United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, but because her mother suffered a strokes days before her flight she cancelled it for a earlier one.

In 2003, Austin collaborated with legendary Asian artist Frances Yip from Hong Kong in “Papillon III” in the rotunda of San Francisco City Hall to benefit the Jade Ribbon Campaign of Stanford University. A companion CD/DVD was released, featuring Austin and Yip’s duets of many classic Chinese numbers sung in Mandarin and directed and arranged by music director Carlton Liu.

Austin led a new group of Raelettes for the 2006 Ray Charles posthumous album Ray Sings, Basie Swings. Also featured were veteran session singer Valerie Pinkston and members of the group Perry.

During a 2007 interview, Austin spoke of reluctantly attending as a teenager one of Judy Garland’s last concerts and how the experience helped focus her career. “She ripped my heart out. I wanted to interpret a lyric like that, to present who I was at the moment through the lyric.”

In 2007, Austin participated in the Avo Session Basel with a program dedicated to Ella Fitzgerald.

At the 50th annual Grammy Awards in 2008, Austin’s album Avant Gershwin won for best jazz vocal. The album was recorded mostly live with The WDR Big Band in Germany. The nomination was her ninth in that category.

Austin was co-producer and one of over 70 artists singing on “We Are the World: 25 for Haiti,” a charity single to aid victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

In 2011, Austin released Sound Advice, an album consisting mostly of covers. Songs included re-works of Bob Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody;” Brenda Russell’s “A Little Bit Of Love;” a lesser known Jacksons tune, “Give It Up,” as a tribute to Michael Jackson; Bill Withers’ “Lean On Me,” which she first sang at a milestone birthday for Quincy Jones; Don McLean’s “Vincent;” and “My Way.” The album also included “The Grace Of God,” written by Austin after she watched an episode of the “Oprah Winfrey Show” which featured a facially scarred woman.

Austin co-wrote and sings in the “L.O.V.E. – Let One Voice Emerge” video, a non-partisan voter participation campaign.

Austin appeared in the Academy Award-winning documentary film 20 Feet from Stardom, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released on 21 June 2013.

Written by Dianne Washington

Alex Haley

Alex Haley was born on this date in 1921. He was an African American author, whose books helped popularize the study of Black history and genealogy.

Born in Ithaca, New York, Haley was educated at Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College and at Elizabeth City Teachers College. He served in the United States Coast Guard, where he worked as a journalist. After retiring, Haley moved to New York City to pursue a writing career. As a journalist Haley was impacting. In 1962 he interviewed trumpeter Miles Davis for Playboy magazine. Soon after, he interviewed Malcolm X, with whom he later collaborated to write The Autobiography of Malcolm X in 1965. The book had a strong influence on black nationalists. It also received praise from critics and was widely read in colleges and universities.

Haley then began to research and write what would become his best-known work, Roots: The Saga of an American Family. The book, a mixture of fact and fiction, chronicles Haley’s ancestral history and the methods he used to trace his lineage to a West African village. To write the work, Haley invented certain unknown details of his family history. The series of character portraits that he created caused many Americans to become interested in genealogy. Haley received special citations from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award committees for Roots.

Roots was translated into 26 languages and made into a television miniseries in 1977. An estimated 130 million Americans viewed at least one episode of the eight-part series. Alex Haley died in 1992.

Written by Dianne Washington

Gabby Douglas

On this date in 2012, 16-year-old Gabrielle Douglas of the United States became the first African American to win the gold medal in the Artistic Gymnastics Women’s Individual All-Around final.

From Virginia Beach, VA, Douglas accomplished her feet on Day 6 of the London 2012 Olympic games at North Greenwich Arena in London, England.

Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas (born December 31, 1995) is an American artistic gymnast. She was a member of the United States women’s national gymnastics team, dubbed the Fierce Five by the media, at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where she won gold medals in the individual all-around and team competitions. She was also a member of the gold-winning American team at the 2011 and the 2015 World Championships, and the all-around silver medalist at the 2015 World Championships. She was part of the Final Five at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she won gold in the team competition.

Douglas is the first African American or the first of African descent of any nationality in Olympic history to become the individual all-around champion, and the first U.S. gymnast to win gold in both the individual all-around and team competitions at the same Olympics. She and Simone Biles are the only two American all-around champions to win multiple gold medals in a single Olympic Games. Douglas is the first female reigning Olympic all-around champion to return to the World Championships and medal in the all-around since Elena Davydova in 1981. Gabby Douglas was also the 2016 AT&T American Cup all-around champion.

As a public figure, Douglas’ gymnastics successes have led to her life story adaptation in the 2014 Lifetime biopic film, The Gabby Douglas Story,as well as the acquisition of her own reality television series, Douglas Family Gold. Douglas has also written a book about her life and what it takes to be an Olympic Gold Medalist by determination and perseverance.

Gabrielle Douglas was born in Newport News, Virginia and grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia, to parents Timothy Douglas and Natalie Hawkins-Douglas. She has three older siblings: two sisters, Joyelle and Arielle, and one brother, Johnathan. She began training in gymnastics at age six when her older sister convinced their mother to enroll her in gymnastics classes. In October 2002, Douglas began her training at Gymstrada.

At the age of eight, Douglas won the Level 4 all-around gymnastics title at the 2004 Virginia State Championships.

At 14, Gabby moved to Des Moines, Iowa, to train full-time with coach Liang Chow. Because her family had to stay in Virginia while her siblings finished school, Gabby lived with Travis and Missy Parton and their four daughters, one of them also trained at Chow’s gym.

Douglas is a Christian; she said, “I believe in God. He is the secret of my success. He gives people talent”, and “… I love sharing about my faith. God has given me this amazing God-given talent, so I’m going to go out and glorify His name.” Douglas has also stated in her biography that in the past her “family practiced some of the Jewish traditions”, including attending a Conservative Jewish synagogue, keeping kosher, and celebrating Hanukah.

Written by Dianne Washington

Ray, Goodman and Brown

My guys, The Moments, aka Ray, Goodman and Brown, boy the times we had!! Make no mistake they killed it, made some of the most memorable and classic music ever, they made our house parties memorable till this day! Missing you Harry and Al.

The original members of the Moments were Mark Greene, Eric Olfus Sr., Richard Gross (often incorrectly listed as “Richard Horsley”) and John Morgan. The Moments formed in Washington, D.C. during the mid-1960s. In 1965, at Washington D.C.’s Howard University, the Mizell Brothers and Freddie Perren (along with schoolmate Toby Jackson) founded Hog Records and signed the harmony group as the Moments. The Moments recorded “Baby I Want You” and “Pray For Me” for Hog. The lineup consisted of Olfus, Gross and Morgan.

Mark Greene joined after the single’s release. The group then signed with the newly established Stang Records label, set up by Sylvia Robinson at All Platinum Studios in Englewood, New Jersey with her husband Joe. The group had its first hit almost immediately late in 1968 with “Not On The Outside”, which reached #13 on the R&B chart and #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 (with Greene on lead vocal). Robinson then hired a management firm headed by radio stars Frankie Crocker, Herb Hamlett and Eddie O’Jay. The trio began promoting the Moments and booking them for live events in major cities. When Hamlett moved to WCMF in Rochester, New York, he booked the Moments exclusively.

Their first Stang album release pictured William “Billy” Brown, Al Goodman and Morgan on the cover, although various members’ voices appeared on different tracks recorded between 1968 and 1969. There also appear to be female voices; although never confirmed, it is believed that Sylvia Robinson (herself a professional singer) supplied some of those parts, along with Stang artist Lezli Valentine and studio vocalist Rhetta Young. When members left (or were replaced) it was less costly to re-cut only the lead vocal (which, in the case of the Moments’ earliest studio productions, makes it difficult to determine who is backing the lead voice). Before three of the original members of the Moments left All Platinum, they recorded their breakthrough song “Love On A Two Way Street” (which reached #1 on the R&B chart and #3 on the pop chart in the spring of 1970). It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.[2] All Platinum also released a single recorded by Mark Greene entitled “My Confession of Love”, with the flip side “I’m So Lost”, on the Stang label. The B-side track appeared on the first Moments album (with Billy Brown’s replacement lead vocal) in 1969, and was released as a single later that year with moderate chart success. The group also released “My Confession of Love” under the name “Black Satin”, with Crocker speaking the lyrics.

The group quickly scaled down to a trio after one live appearance at the Apollo Theater as a quartet (some sources credit Greene, Gross—aka Richie Horsley and Morgan or sometimes Greene, Horsley and Johnny Moore as the trio lineup). Greene, Olfus and Gross left All Platinum together in 1969, replaced by baritone Goodman and new lead tenor/baritone singer William “Billy” Brown while Morgan stayed on. Gross was incorrectly credited as Richie Horsley on legal documents, liner notes, websites, articles and in books about the Moments. Brown had previously been a member of The Broadways, who had recorded on the MGM label. Goodman (after a couple of performances with The Corvettes and The Vipers) was hired by Joe Robinson as a studio-production creative assistant, singer and songwriter. On records, he played the substitute role of Mickey (in Mickey & Sylvia, of whom Sylvia Robinson was formerly one-half).

After three of the four original members of the Moments had left All Platinum, Billy Brown rerecorded a new lead-vocal track of “Love On A Two Way Street”. The song had originally been recorded by Stang artist Lezli Valentine, but failed to chart; the Moments’ version (produced by Sylvia Robinson) was originally included as a filler cut on their first LP (released in 1969) entitled Not On The Outside…But On The Inside, Strong! Early in 1970 it was remixed, issued as a single and reached the #1 R&B spot for five weeks. The first album also contained a Moments version of another Lezli Valentine song entitled “I Won’t Do Anything”, with Brown on lead vocals; it became the flip side of the hit single.

In 1971 Bert Keyes encouraged Greene, Gross and Olfus to sign with Volt Records, a subsidiary of Stax. Keyes had worked with the group at All Platinum Records as a producer, arranger and session keyboardist in the studio’s house band (later leaving the label because of disputes with the Robinsons). The group signed with the Volt/Stax label as The Leaders, recording in New York City. The Leaders
had four members: Greene, Gross, Olfus and Donald Spriggs. They were managed by songwriter Myrna March, and Keyes produced several of the songs they recorded for Volt.

Between the first album’s release and the Moments’ #1 hit, Morgan was briefly replaced by Sylvia Robinson’s brother-in-law Johnny Moore (not to be confused with the Drifters’ singer). He appeared with Goodman and Brown on the cover of the group’s 1970 second album; however, Moore was absent from a live appearance. Since the Moments were now considered a headline attraction, he was fired; Goodman and Brown worked as a duo until new arrival Harry Ray rounded out the trio. This lineup became Sylvia Robinson’s favorite, and the one most heavily promoted by All Platinum.[citation needed] Ray sang lead while Brown recovered from vocal overuse, and was the lead voice on many of the Moments’ subsequent hits including the follow-up “If I Didn’t Care” (#7 R&B, #44 pop, 1970), “Sexy Mama” (#3 R&B, #17 pop, 1973) and “Look At Me (I’m In Love)” (#1 R&B, #39 pop, 1975).

After Brown recovered, they shared lead vocal duties; occasionally Goodman took a turn, and served as spokesman for the group. Their album, entitled A Moment with the Moments, showed Goodman, Brown and Johnny Moore on the cover and was hastily released while Brown was still recovering. The release numbers ran out of sequence in their hurry to support the single “If I Didn’t Care” in 1970. This was the first Moments lead vocal for Ray, and the only track on which Ray appeared. Another remix of “Love On A Two Way Street” was included, but the rest of the album consisted of tracks recorded before Brown’s illness (mainly B-sides from earlier singles). Moore was gone from the group by the time the album reached the charts. After Brown’s voice returned, Stang began releasing singles from the On Top album, with Ray and Brown dividing lead vocals. Ray also recorded a duet with Sylvia Robinson, “Sho Nuff Boogie” (credited as Sylvia and the Moments), in 1973.

The Moments were co-credited with labelmates The Whatnauts on their hit “Girls (Part 1)”; it reached #25 on the U.S. R&B charts and became one of their biggest international successes, reaching #3 on the UK Singles Chart in 1975. Ray and Goodman were strongly involved in writing and producing much of the Moments’ material from the mid-1970s, as well as producing and writing for The Whatnauts and All-Platinum’s other artists.[who?]

By 1979, the group had had a total of 27 R&B chart hits and decided to leave Stang, signing with the larger Polydor Records label. A legal dispute arose, barring them from using “The Moments” on their new label, so they renamed the group with their last names: Ray, Goodman & Brown.

The first single under their new name, “Special Lady,” became one of their biggest hits, reaching #1 on the R&B chart and #5 on the pop chart in early 1980. The B-side featured “Déjà Vu”, with lyrics by Bob Natiello and music by Lou Toby. They followed up with more hits, including “Inside Of You” (#14 R&B, 1980). In 1982, following the release of their fourth (and final) Polydor album, Ray left to pursue a solo career and was replaced by Kevin “Ray” Owens, a backing vocalist for Luther Vandross. Ray re-joined Sylvia and Joe Robinson at their new venture (Sugar Hill Records), but after one album and a minor hit, “Sweet Baby,” he rejoined Goodman and Brown in 1983 for their comeback on EMI with the ballad “Take It To the Limit” (which put them back on the R&B charts at #8 in 1987). In 1991, Harold “Eban” Brown, former vocalist for The Delfonics, became the lead vocalist for Ray, Goodman & Brown. He stayed for two and a half years before joining The Manhattans and became lead vocalist for The Stylistics in 2000.

Ray suffered a fatal stroke in 1992 and was again replaced in the group by Kevin “Ray” Owens. Occasionally solo artist Greg Willis joined Ray, Goodman and Brown in performances (and later on records), but never became a full-time member. Vocalist Wade “Silky” Elliott also did a stint, before signing a solo contract with CBS Records during the 1990s and temporarily joining Blue Magic. With Owens’ return, the trio continued to perform and tour as Ray, Goodman & Brown. They released two albums in 2002 and 2003: one with new material, and the other featuring re-workings of soul songs by other male vocal groups. These albums reunited them with former All-Platinum producer George Kerr. In one of their public appearances, they teamed with Gerald Alston to perform The Manhattans’ hit “Kiss And Say Goodbye”. They sang backup vocals for Alicia Keys song “You Don’t Know My Name,” which was a #1 soul/R&B song in 2003. As of 2008 Owens, Goodman and Brown continued to record together and tour (sometimes with vocalist Larry “Ice” Winfree), performing hits from both the Moments and Ray, Goodman and Brown.

On July 26, 2010 Goodman died at the age of 67. In 2012, Harold “Eban” Brown rejoined remaining original member Billy Brown to re-record The Moments Greatest Hits – Volume 1. It was released in April 2014 on the Universal Music Group label – featuring the vocals of Harold “Eban” Brown and Billy Brown only. As of 2014, Winfree was officially welcomed into the group as the replacement for Goodman, with Owens and Brown, bringing the group back to its regular trio status.

Written by Dianne Washington