Verne Troyer, the actor best known for playing Mini-Me in the Austin Powers franchise, has died at the age of 49. The actor’s team confirmed the sad news with a statement on his Facebook account.Verne was taken to the hospital last week and was treated for possible alcohol poisoning. He has struggled with alcoholism for several years. R.I.P. Verne Troyer. Posted By Persist
LV, YOU DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH YOU ARE MISSED. CONTINUE CROONING IN THE COSMOS UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON.
Luther Ronzoni Vandross, Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Throughout his career, Vandross was an in-demand background vocalist for several different artists including Judy Collins, Chaka Khan, Bette Midler, Diana Ross, David Bowie, Janet Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Ben E. King, and Donna Summer. He later became a lead singer of the group Change, which released its gold-certified debut album, The Glow of Love, in 1980 on Warner Bros. Records. After Vandross left the group, he was signed to Epic Records as a solo artist and released his debut solo album, Never Too Much, in 1981.
His hit songs include “Never Too Much”, “Here and Now”, “Any Love”, “Power of Love/Love Power”, “I Can Make It Better” and “For You to Love”. Many of his songs were covers of original music by other artists such as “If This World Were Mine” (duet with Cheryl Lynn), “Since I Lost My Baby”, “Superstar” and “Always and Forever”. Duets such as “The Closer I Get to You” with Beyoncé, “Endless Love” with Mariah Carey and “The Best Things in Life Are Free” with Janet Jackson were all hit songs in his career.
During his career, Vandross sold over 35 million records worldwide,[1] and received eight Grammy Awards[2] including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four different times. He won a total of four Grammy Awards in 2004 including the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for a song recorded not long before his death, “Dance with My Father”.
Luther Ronzoni Vandross was born on April 20, 1951 at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, New York City, United States. He was the fourth child and second son of Mary Ida Vandross and Luther Vandross, Sr.
Vandross was raised on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the NYCHA Alfred E. Smith Houses public housing development. His father was a crooner and his mother, a nurse, was singing gospel. At the age of three, having his own phonograph, he taught himself to play the piano by ear. His family moved to the Bronx when he was thirteen. His sisters, Patricia “Pat” and Ann began taking Vandross to the Apollo Theater and to a theater in Brooklyn to see Dionne Warwick or Aretha Franklin. Pat Vandross sang with the vocal group The Crests, which had a number two hit in 1958/59 with “16 Candles”, although she left the group before the song was recorded.
Vandross’ father died of diabetes when Vandross was eight years old. In high school, Vandross performed in a group, Shades of Jade, that once played at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. He was also a member of a theater workshop, “Listen My Brother”, which released the singles “Only Love Can Make a Better World” and “Listen My Brother”. He also appeared in the second and fifth episodes of Sesame Street in November 1969.
Vandross attended Western Michigan University for a year before dropping out to continue pursuing a career in music.
His next hit credit was on an album by Roberta Flack in 1972.
Vandross founded the first-ever Patti LaBelle fan club.
Vandross sang on Delores Hall’s Hall-Mark album (1973). He sang with her on the song “Who’s Gonna Make It Easier for Me”, which he wrote, and he contributed another song, “In This Lonely Hour”. Having co-written “Fascination” (1974) for David Bowie’s Young Americans (1975), he went on to tour with him as a back-up vocalist in September 1974.[citation needed] Vandross wrote “Everybody Rejoice” for the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz and appeared as a choir member in the movie.
Vandross also sang backing vocals for artists including Roberta Flack, Chaka Khan, Ben E. King, Bette Midler, Diana Ross, Carly Simon, Barbra Streisand, and Donna Summer, and for the bands Chic and Todd Rundgren’s Utopia.
Vandross sang on Delores Hall’s Hall-Mark album (1973). He sang with her on the song “Who’s Gonna Make It Easier for Me”, which he wrote, and he contributed another song, “In This Lonely Hour”. Having co-written “Fascination” (1974) for David Bowie’s Young Americans (1975), he went on to tour with him as a back-up vocalist in September 1974. Vandross wrote “Everybody Rejoice” for the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz and appeared as a choir member in the movie.
Vandross also sang backing vocals for artists including Roberta Flack, Chaka Khan, Ben E. King, Bette Midler, Diana Ross, Carly Simon, Barbra Streisand, and Donna Summer, and for the bands Chic and Todd Rundgren’s Utopia
Before his solo breakthrough, Vandross was part of a singing quintet in the late ’70s named Luther, consisting of former Shades of Jade members Anthony Hinton and Diane Sumler, as well as Theresa V. Reed, and Christine Wiltshire, signed to Cotillion Records. Although the singles “It’s Good for the Soul”, “Funky Music (Is a Part of Me)”, and “The Second Time Around” were relatively successful, their two albums, the self-titled Luther (1976) and This Close to You (1977), didn’t sell enough to make the charts. Vandross bought back the rights to those albums after Cotillion dropped the group, preventing their later re-release.
Vandross also wrote and sang commercial jingles during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and continued his successful career as a popular session singer during the late 1970s.
In 1978, Vandross sang lead vocals for a disco band called Greg Diamond’s Bionic Boogie on the song titled “Hot Butterfly”.[citation needed] Also in 1978, he appeared on Quincy Jones’s Sounds…and Stuff Like That!!, most notably on the song “I’m Gonna Miss You In The Morning” along with Patti Austin. Luther also sang with the band Soirée and was the lead vocalist on the track “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”; he also contributed background vocals to the album along with Jocelyn Brown and Sharon Redd, each of whom also saw solo success. Additionally, he sang the lead vocals on the group Mascara’s LP title song “See You in L.A.” released in 1979. Vandross also appeared on the group Charme’s 1979 album Let It In, most notably on a remake of Toto’s hit single “Georgy Porgy”.
Vandross impressed Bowie and was invited to arrange vocals and sing background vocals for the album. Bowie’s US tour also featured Vandross as the opening act. His vocal talent was recognized and session credits with Chaka Khan, Ringo Starr, Barbra Streisand, Donna Summer and others prompted Cotillion records to sign him. His albums Luther and This Close To You (1976) both flopped, partly due to the disco backing as opposed to allowing Vandross to express his romantic, soul style. He drifted back to session work for Quincy Jones, Patti Austin, Gwen Guthrie, Chic, and Sister Sledge.
Composing advertising jingles also financed this work. His performance with the group Change on 1980’s The Glow Of Love earned him two UK Top 20 hits in Glow Of Love and Searching. This led to a solo career with Epic/CBS Records. Never Too Much earned him an R&B number 1, while singles, including duets with Cheryl Lynn (If This World Were Mine) and Dionne Warwick (How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye), strengthened his popularity. Then came Stop To Love (1986) and There’s Nothing Better Than Love (1987). Later releases included Here And Now (1989), Power Of Love/Love Power and Don’t Want To Be A Fool (1991).
In 1992 Vandross collaborated with Janet Jackson, BBD, and Ralph Tresvant on The Best Things In Life Are Free. Endless Love, a duet with Mariah Carey, reached UK number 3 in September 1994. Vandross has won countless awards and he has worked with Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and Whitney Houston. Grammy-winner Luther Vandross had a stroke in April 2003.
Vandross suffered from diabetes and hypertension, both of which may have been brought on by family genetics as well as lifestyle and nutrition. He had just finished the final vocals for the album Dance with My Father when on April 16, 2003, he suffered a severe stroke at his home in New York City. The stroke left him in a coma for nearly two months, during which time he also had to fight both meningitis and pneumonia (which required a tracheotomy). The stroke also left Vandross with difficulty speaking and singing, as well as confined to a wheelchair.
On February 8, 2004, at the Grammy Awards held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Vandross appeared in a pre-taped video segment to accept his Song of the Year Award for “Dance with My Father”. In addition to thanking his fans for their support throughout his illness and recovery, he said, “When I say goodbye it’s never for long, because I believe in the power of love” (Vandross sang the last six words). His mother, Mary (1922–2008), accepted the award in person on his behalf. Following a May 6, 2004 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, he was never seen in public again. Vandross died on July 1, 2005, at the JFK Medical Center in Edison, New Jersey, at the age of 54.
After two days of viewing at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel, his funeral was held at Riverside Church in New York City on July 8, 2005. Cissy Houston, founding member of The Sweet Inspirations and mother of Whitney Houston, delivered a heartfelt rendition of “Deep River” at the funeral service. Vandross was buried at the George Washington Memorial Park in Paramus, New Jersey. He was survived by his mother, Mary Ida Vandross, who died in 2008. Vandross’s estate left an undisclosed major gift to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Written by Dianne Washington
It’s been a year since your effervescent essence left this Earthly plain Cuba, but the memories of fun times will always linger on eternally in my heart and mind my friend. SIP and continue singing in the Heavens.
Cuba Gooding Sr. (April 27, 1944 – April 20, 2017) was an American singer and actor. He was the most successful lead singer of the soul group The Main Ingredient, replacing former lead singer Donald McPherson who died unexpectedly of leukemia in 1971. According to Billboard, as the lead vocalist he scored five top 10 hits most notably, “Everybody Plays the Fool” (1972), peaking at No. 2 for three weeks, and peaking at No. 3 on Billboard′s all-genre Hot 100 list. “Just Don’t Want to Be Lonely” (1974), “Happiness Is Just Around the Bend” and “Rolling Down a Mountainside” were also top 10 hits on Billboard charts. He also recorded as a solo artist with hits of his own.
Written by Dianne Washington
Barbara Bush Dead at 92, She was sick for some time and was hospitalized and requested not to be resuscitated if she needed any medical assistance. Mrs.Bush passed away in Texas of congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She is survived by her husband of 73 years, President George H.W. Bush; five children and their spouses; 17 grandchildren; seven great grandchildren; and her brother, Scott Pierce. She was preceded in death by her second child, Pauline Robinson “Robin” Bush, and her siblings Martha Rafferty and James R. Pierce
Aliaume Damala Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), better known as Akon, is an American singer, songwriter, businessman, record producer and actor of Senegalese descent. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of “Locked Up”, the first single from his debut album Trouble.
He has since founded two successful record labels, Konvict Muzik and Kon Live Distribution. His second album, Konvicted received three nominations for the Grammy Awards in two categories, Best Contemporary R&B Album for Konvicted album and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for “Smack That” and “I Wanna Love You”.
He is the first solo artist to hold both the number one and two spots simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 charts twice. Akon has had four songs certified as 3× platinum, three songs certified as 2× platinum, more than ten songs certified as 1× platinum and more than ten songs certified as gold in digital sales. Akon has sung songs in other languages including Tamil, Hindi, and Spanish. He was listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the #1 selling artist for master ringtones in the world.
Akon often provides vocals as a featured artist and is currently credited with over 300 guest appearances and more than 35 Billboard Hot 100 songs. He has worked with numerous performers such as Michael Jackson, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Whitney Houston, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and Gwen Stefani. He has had five Grammy Awards nominations and has produced songs for artists such as Lady Gaga, Colby O’Donis, Kardinal Offishall, Leona Lewis, and T-Pain.
Forbes ranked Akon 80th (Power Rank) in Forbes Celebrity 100 in 2010 and 5th in 40 Most Powerful Celebrities in Africa list, in 2011. Billboard ranked Akon No. 6 on the list of Top Digital Songs Artists of the decade.
Akon was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and spent much of his childhood in the West African country Senegal, which he describes as his “hometown”. The child of a dancer mother and a percussionist father, Mor Thiam, Akon learned to play five instruments, including drums, guitar and djembe. At age 7, he moved with his family to Union City, New Jersey, splitting his time between the United States and Senegal until settling in Newark, New Jersey. Growing up in New Jersey, Akon had difficulties getting along with other children. When he and his older brother reached high school, his parents left them on their own in Jersey City and moved the rest of the family to Atlanta, Georgia.
In regards to his birth date, Akon is very protective of it, which is the reason many media outlets have reported incorrect dates. However, legal documents released by The Smoking Gun list his date of birth as April 16, 1973.
Akon’s alleged three years in jail saw him begin to recognize his music abilities and develop an appreciation for his musical background. Music mogul Devyne Stephens, president of Upfront Megatainment first heard about Akon when the rapper Lil’ Zane brought him along to Stephens’ rehearsal hall, a place that at the time saw talents such as Usher and TLC being developed. The relationship between Stephens and Akon began as a friendship and mentorship, with the young artist regularly stopping by to ask for advice, but when Akon lost his deal with Elektra, Stephens signed him to his production company and began grooming him professionally. The songs Akon recorded with Stephens were brought to the attention of Universal’s imprint SRC Records. In an interview with HitQuarters SRC A&R Jerome Foster said, “What caught my attention right away was “Lonely”, and I said, ‘this kid is official – this is a huge record.” Foster and SRC CEO Steve Rifkind immediately boarded a private plane to Atlanta to meet the young artist. Akon knew of Foster’s work as producer Knobody and so there was a mutual respect for one another and the pair hit it off.
Akon increased his exposure further by collaborating with overseas artists, including New Zealand’s rapper Savage (“Moonshine” from album of the same name) and hip-hop producer P-Money (“Keep on Callin'” from Magic City), performing choruses as a featured vocalist.
Akon’s solo debut album, Trouble was released on June 29, 2004. It spawned the singles “Locked Up” and “Lonely”, “Belly Dancer (Bananza)”, “Pot Of Gold”, and “Ghetto”. “Locked Up” reached 8th position in the U.S. and 5th in the UK. “Ghetto” became a radio hit when it was remixed by DJ Green Lantern to include verses from rappers 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. The album is a hybrid of Akon’s silky, West African-styled vocals mixed with East Coast and Southern beats. Most of Akon’s songs begin with the sound of the clank of a jail cell’s door with him uttering the word “Konvict”.
In 2005, he released the single “Lonely” (which samples Bobby Vinton’s “Mr. Lonely”). The song reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100, and topped the charts in Australia, the UK and Germany. His album also climbed to number one in the UK in April 2005. When music channel The Box had a top ten weekly chart, which was calculated by the amount of video requests, Akon’s “Lonely” became the longest running single on the top of the chart, spanning over fifteen weeks. Akon then released another single featuring with a New Zealand rapper, Savage with the single Moonshine, which had become a success in both New Zealand and Australia, becoming number one in the New Zealand charts. In 2005, He made his first critically acclaimed guest appearance on Young Jeezy’s debut album, Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101, with the song “Soul Survivor”. In December the same year his manager, Robert Montanez was killed in a shooting after a dispute in New Jersey.
In 2006, Akon and Young Jeezy suggested plans for a collaborative album.
Akon started his new record label Kon Live Distribution under Interscope Records. His second album, Konvicted was released in November 2006 and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 286,000 copies in its first week. After only six weeks, Konvicted sold more than one million records in the U.S. The album was certified platinum after seven weeks, and after sixteen weeks it was certified double platinum. It stayed in the top twenty of the Billboard 200 for 28 consecutive weeks and peaked at number two on four different occasions. On November 20, 2007, the RIAA certified the album ‘triple platinum’ with 3 million units sold in the US.
Akon also started a project Akon Lighting Africa in 2014 which provides electricity in 15 countries of Africa.
Akon is Muslim. Akon claims that he has six children with three different women in an interview with Blender, all of whom he has great relationships with. He says he wishes to keep his family protected from the public eye.
He also has his own charity for underprivileged children in Africa called Konfidence Foundation. Akon owns a diamond mine in South Africa and denies the existence of blood diamonds (also known as “conflict diamonds”) saying, “I don’t believe in conflict diamonds. That’s just a movie. Think about it. Nobody thought or cared about conflict diamonds until ‘Blood Diamond’ was released.” However, he has since stated that he does accept that blood diamonds exist, and that he is partial-owner of an African mine that is dedicated to avoiding use of blood diamonds while also donating profits to local communities.
Akon appeared on the ITV2 show The Hot Desk. He stated on the show that he is a fan of English Premier League club Chelsea F.C.
Akon made his acting debut appearing alongside an ensemble cast in the 2012 Nigerian-American film Black November. In 2014, he starred alongside Hayden Christensen and Adrien Brody in the action movie, American Heist, directed by Sarik Andreasyan.
Written by Dianne Washington
It’s probably been years, or even decades, since many have heard of classic comedy duo Willie Tyler and Lester, But the ventriloquist act is still at it.
Willie Tyler (born September 8, 1940) is an American ventriloquist, comedian and actor. Most of the time, he is credited as Willie Tyler and Lester or Willie Tyler & Lester. He has appeared in many television commercials, sitcoms, and movies. He got his first big break in 1972 on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.
Tyler was born in Red Level, Alabama, and raised in South East Detroit, Michigan. He attended Detroit’s Northeastern High School in the late 1950s. He is the father of Tarince Tyler and actor Cory Tyler.
Tyler has had guest roles in The Parent ‘Hood, Pacific Blue, What’s Happening Now!!, The White Shadow and The Jeffersons, as well as serving as host of the Saturday morning children’s anthology series ABC Weekend Specials throughout the early 1980s. He appeared in the 1978 film Coming Home. In addition, he has appeared in television commercials in the 1980s for McDonald’s, Toyota, and Hires Root Beer.
He appeared as himself in the 2004 BET Comedy Awards, Frank McKlusky, C.I., For Da Love of Money, In the House, the 4th Annual Black Gold Awards, The 1st Annual Soul Train Music Awards, Motown Returns to the Apollo, Lou Rawls Parade of Stars, Powerhouse, The White Shadow, American Bandstand, Vegetable Soup, The Flip Wilson Show, The Statler Brothers Show, The Hollywood Palace, Match Game and Family Feud. On September 18, 2006, Tyler was the first ventriloquist to appear on the Late Show with David Letterman’s Ventriloquist Week.
Willie Tyler and Lester’s long ride has been distinguished by three different Lesters: small, medium and large. The dummy Tyler had as a boy was small, followed at age 16 by a medium-size Lester. When Tyler began working with Motown, he got a larger puppet, better to play to the balconies.
That’s the dummy he’s used ever since.
“I’ve had the same doll for 40 years,” he says. “His style has changed. He had big hair. He has shorter hair now. His style of clothing is new. Some people ask me why don’t I give him gray hair. Mickey Mouse doesn’t have gray hair.”
Written by Dianne Washington
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARTY MARTIN!!
Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence (born April 16, 1965) is a German-born American stand-up comedian, actor, producer, writer, and voice actor. Lawrence came to fame during the 1990s, establishing a Hollywood career as a leading actor, most notably in the television sitcom Martin and the films House Party, Boomerang, Bad Boys, Wild Hogs, Nothing to Lose, Blue Streak, Life, Big Momma’s House, and A Thin Line Between Love & Hate.
The fourth of six children, Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence was born on April 16, 1965 in Frankfurt, West Germany, to African American parents who were serving in the U.S. military in West Germany at the time of Martin’s birth. Lawrence was named after civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and U.S. President John F. Kennedy. His parents divorced when he was eight years old and Lawrence rarely saw his estranged father, who worked as a police officer. His mother, Chlora (née Bailey), began working several jobs to support her family.
During his teen years, Lawrence excelled at boxing. Lawrence lived in Queens, New York, and Landover, Maryland, and he attended: Thomas G. Pullen School of Creative and Performing Arts (Landover, Maryland); Fairmont Heights High School (Fairmont Heights, Maryland); Eleanor Roosevelt High School (Greenbelt, Maryland); and Friendly High School in Fort Washington, Maryland, becoming a Mid-Atlantic Golden Gloves boxing contender. He seriously considered a professional career until he suffered a broken eye that prompted him to reconsider.
Lawrence ended up moving to New York City and found his way to the legendary The Improv. Shortly after appearing at The Improv, Lawrence won a performance spot on Star Search. He did well on the show and made it to the final round, but did not win. However, executives at Columbia Pictures Television saw Martin’s performance and offered him the role of Maurice in What’s Happening Now!!; this was his first acting job. Upon cancellation of that show, Lawrence found bit parts in various films and television series. His breakthrough role was as Cee in Do the Right Thing. Other roles followed in films such as the House Party series, Talkin’ Dirty After Dark, and the Eddie Murphy vehicle Boomerang. During this period, entertainment mogul Russell Simmons selected him to host the groundbreaking series Def Comedy Jam on HBO. Def Comedy Jam gave many comedians (including Chris Tucker, Dave Chappelle, Mike Epps, Bernie Mac and Cedric the Entertainer) mainstream exposure.
During his stint with Def Comedy Jam, Lawrence appeared in his own hit series, Martin, which aired on Fox TV. The show ran from 1992 to 1997 and was an enormous success. Martin was the flagship of Fox’s Thursday-night line-up, which drew millions of viewers away from NBC’s “Must See TV” line-up. He hosted Saturday Night Live on February 19, 1994, where he made crude remarks about women’s genitalia and personal hygiene; the monologue was completely edited out of NBC reruns and syndicated versions, and Lawrence was banned from the show for life. Martin’s ratings continued to skyrocket so much that Fox became more of a contender against NBC and came closer to being considered among the top television networks.
After Martin ended its run in 1997, Lawrence found work in comedy films. He often starred as the second lead opposite actors including Eddie Murphy, Danny DeVito, and Tim Robbins. Many of his films were blockbusters at the box office, including Nothing to Lose, Life, Blue Streak, and Big Momma’s House. He also starred in critical- and box-office failures, including Black Knight and National Security. Regardless, his salary steadily increased to over $10 million per film role. He continues to work in film, with such films as Big Momma’s House 2, which opened at No. 1 at North American box office and grossed almost $28 million its first weekend, and Wild Hogs (2007), in which he played a bored suburbanite seeking adventure on the open road in a biker comedy alongside John Travolta, Tim Allen and William H. Macy.
In 2006, Lawrence appeared on Inside the Actors Studio, during which Lawrence briefly brought back to life some of the characters he’d portrayed on Martin.
In 2008, Lawrence starred in Disney’s College Road Trip co-starring with Raven-Symoné. It was his first G-rated film, but not his first appearance in a children’s film: he supplied a voice for Open Season (2006) opposite Ashton Kutcher.
At the 2009 BET Awards he appeared in a spoof movie trailer with Jamie Foxx for a fictional movie, The Skank Robbers, that featured their respective television characters Sheneneh Jenkins and Ugly Wanda. In 2010, Fox announced that it was producing a film based on the sketch, featuring Foxx, Lawrence, and actress Halle Berry.
In 2011, Lawrence reprised his role as FBI agent Malcolm Turner in Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son, the third film in the Big Momma’s House series.
In January 2013, it was announced that Lawrence and Kelsey Grammer are considering pairing up to star in a comedy for Lionsgate TV. The series will likely follow the same production model as Charlie Sheen’s Anger Management, which is also produced by Lionsgate TV. That show was recently given a hardy back-90 pickup following its initial 10-episode order. In March 2013, it was announced that television producers/writers Robert L. Boyett and Robert Horn are on board, writing and executive producing. They have worked on the popular hit sitcoms Family Matters, Perfect Strangers, Full House, and Designing Women. Partners, pairs the two actors as Chicago lawyers from “vastly different backgrounds who unexpectedly meet in court on the worst day of their lives,” according to a network description. David A. Arnold has been tapped to write. Arnold has written for television shows including: Raising Whitley, Meet the Browns, The Rickey Smiley Show and more. Edi Patterson has been cast as a regular and will play Verushka, a busty, sexy Russian woman who co-owns the massage shop next door. Danièle Watts will play the daughter of Lawrence’s character. The show premiered August 4, 2014 and lasted one season.
In August 2014, Martin Lawrence confirmed, on Conan O’Brien, that Bad Boys 3 is almost done being written.
Lawrence was engaged to actress Lark Voorhies in 1993. He married Miss Virginia USA, Patricia Southall in 1995. Lawrence and Southall have one child together, daughter Jasmine Page (born January 15, 1996). They divorced in 1997. In 1997, Lawrence began a relationship with Shamicka Gibbs. They married on July 10, 2010, at Lawrence’s Beverly Hills home. Actors Eddie Murphy and Denzel Washington were among the 120 wedding guests; R&B singer Shanice serenaded the couple with the Minnie Riperton classic “Lovin’ You.” Lawrence and Gibbs have two daughters: Iyanna Faith (born November 9, 2000) and Amara Trinity (born August 20, 2002). Lawrence filed for divorce from Gibbs on April 25, 2012, citing irreconcilable differences and asking for joint legal and physical custody of the children.
Lawrence owns a farm near Purcellville, Virginia. For many years, he owned a large mansion in the exclusive Beverly Park community, but sold it in June 2012 following his divorce. His oldest daughter Jasmin is currently a freshman at Duke University.
WRITTEN BY Dianne Washington
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr.; April 16, 1947) is an American retired professional basketball player who played 20 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers. During his career as a center, Abdul-Jabbar was a record six-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), a record 19-time NBA All-Star, a 15-time All-NBA selection, and an 11-time NBA All-Defensive Team member. A member of six NBA championship teams as a player and two as an assistant coach, Abdul-Jabbar twice was voted NBA Finals MVP. In 1996, he was honored as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. NBA coach Pat Riley and players Isiah Thomas and Julius Erving have called him the greatest basketball player of all time.
After winning 71 consecutive basketball games on his high school team in New York City, Alcindor was recruited by Jerry Norman, the assistant coach of UCLA, where he played for coach John Wooden on three consecutive national championship basketball teams and was a record three-time MVP of the NCAA Tournament. Drafted by the one-season-old Bucks franchise in the 1969 NBA draft with the first overall pick, Alcindor spent six seasons in Milwaukee. After winning his first NBA championship at age 24 in 1971, he took the Muslim name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Using his trademark “skyhook” shot, he established himself as one of the league’s top scorers. In 1975, he was traded to the Lakers, with whom he played the last 14 seasons of his career and won five additional NBA championships. Abdul-Jabbar’s contributions were a key component in the “Showtime” era of Lakers basketball. Over his 20-year NBA career his team succeeded in making the playoffs 18 times and past the 1st round in 14 of them; his team reached the NBA Finals 10 times.
At the time of his retirement in 1989, Abdul-Jabbar was the NBA’s all-time leader in points scored (38,387), games played (1,560), minutes played (57,446), field goals made (15,837), field goal attempts (28,307), blocked shots (3,189), defensive rebounds (9,394), career wins (1,074), and personal fouls (4,657). He remains the all-time leader in points scored and career wins. He is ranked third all-time in both rebounds and blocks. In 2007, ESPN voted him the greatest center of all time, in 2008, they named him the “greatest player in college basketball history”, and in 2016, they named him the second best player in NBA history (behind Michael Jordan). Abdul-Jabbar has also been an actor, a basketball coach, and a best-selling author. In 2012, he was selected by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be a U.S. global cultural ambassador. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. was born in New York City, the only child of Cora Lillian, a department store price checker, and Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Sr., a transit police officer and jazz musician. He was unusually large and tall from a young age. At birth he weighed 12 lb 11 oz (5.75 kg) and was 22 1⁄2 inches (57 cm) long, and by age 9 he was already 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) tall. By the eighth grade (age 13–14) he had grown to 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) tall and could already slam dunk a basketball on a regulation 10 ft (3.0 m) hoop. He would eventually reach his full height of 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) when he entered the NBA at age 22.
From an early age, Lew Alcindor began his record-breaking basketball accomplishments. In high school, he led coach Jack Donahue’s Power Memorial Academy team to three straight New York City Catholic championships, a 71-game winning streak, and a 79–2 overall record. This earned him a nickname—”The tower from Power”. His 2,067 total points were a New York City high school record. The team won the national high school boys basketball championship when Alcindor was in 11th grade and was runner-up his senior year.
Written by Dianne Washington
The U.S., U.K. and France launched targeted missile strikes on Syria in retaliation for an apparent chemical attack by the regime of Bashar al-Assad on a rebel town. President Donald Trump said the missile strikes were focused on chemical weapons sites and he made clear that the U.S. is prepared to sustain the strikes until Syria stops using those weapons.
Hmm…. is this because he’s being investigated?
I guess the United States will be at war.
Albert Leornes “Al” Greene (born April 13, 1946), often known as The Reverend Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter and record producer, best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including “Take Me to the River”, “Tired of Being Alone”, “I’m Still in Love with You”, “Love and Happiness” and his signature song, “Let’s Stay Together”. Inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, Green was referred to on the museum’s site as being “one of the most gifted purveyors of soul music”. He has also been referred to as “The Last of the Great Soul Singers”. Green was included in the Rolling Stone list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, ranking at No. 65.
Al Green was born Albert Leornes Greene on April 13, 1946, in Forrest City, Arkansas. The sixth of ten children born to Cora Lee and Robert G. Greene, Jr., a sharecropper, Al began performing with his brothers in a group called the Greene Brothers at around the age of ten. The Greene family relocated to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the late 1950s. Al was kicked out of the family home while in his teens, after his religiously devout father caught him listening to Jackie Wilson.
“I also listened to Mahalia Jackson, all the great gospel singers. But the most important music to me was those hip-shakin’ boys: Wilson Pickett and Elvis Presley. I just loved Elvis Presley. Whatever he got, I went out and bought.”
In high school, Al formed a vocal group called Al Greene & the Creations. Two of the group’s members, Curtis Rodgers and Palmer James, formed an independent label called Hot Line Music Journal. In 1968, having changed their name to Al Greene & the Soul Mates, they recorded the song “Back Up Train”, releasing it on Hot Line Music. The song was a hit on the R&B charts. However, the group’s subsequent follow-ups failed to chart, as did their debut album, Back Up Train. While performing with the Soul Mates, Green came into contact with Memphis record producer Willie Mitchell, who hired him in 1969 to be a vocalist for a Texas show with Mitchell’s band. Following the performance, Mitchell asked Green to sign with his Hi Records label.
Having noted that Green had been trying to sing like Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett and James Brown, Mitchell became his vocal mentor, coaching him into finding his own voice. Before releasing his first album with Hi, Green removed the final “e” from his name. Subsequently, he released Green Is Blues, which was a moderate success. His follow-up album, Al Green Gets Next to You, featured the hit R&B cover of the Temptations’ “I Can’t Get Next to You”, recorded in a slow blues-oriented version. The album also featured his first significant hit, “Tired of Being Alone”, which sold half a million copies and was certified gold, becoming the first of seven consecutive gold singles Green would record in the next couple of years.
Green’s next album, Let’s Stay Together, solidified his place in soul music. The title track was his biggest hit to date, reaching number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts. The album became his first to be certified gold. His follow-up, I’m Still in Love with You went platinum with the help of the singles “Look What You Done for Me” and the title track, both of which went to the top ten on the Hot 100. His next album, Call Me, released in 1973, produced three top ten singles: “You Ought to Be with Me”, “Call Me (Come Back Home)” and “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)”. Green’s album Livin’ for You, released at the end of 1973, was his last album to be certified gold.
In addition to these hit singles, Green also had radio hits with songs such as “Love and Happiness”, his cover of the Bee Gees’ “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart”, “Simply Beautiful”, “What a Wonderful Thing Love Is” and “Take Me to the River”, later covered successfully by new wave band Talking Heads and blues artist Syl Johnson. Green continued to record successful R&B hits in the next several years including “Livin’ for You”, “Let’s Get Married”, “Sha-La-La (Makes Me Happy)”, “L-O-V-E (Love)” and “Full of Fire”. By the time Green released the album, The Belle Album in 1977, however, Green’s record sales had plummeted, partially due to Green’s own personal issues during this time and his desire to become a minister. His last Hi Records album, Truth n’ Time, was released in 1978 and failed to become a success. Two years later, he left Hi for Myrrh Records and recorded only gospel music for the next decade and a half.
Green’s first gospel album, The Lord Will Make a Way, was released in 1980. The title song from the album would later win Green his first of eight Grammy Awards in the Best Soul Gospel Performance category. In 1982, Green co-starred with Patti LaBelle in the Broadway play, “Your Arms Too Short to Box with God”. His 1985 gospel album, He Is the Light reunited Green with Willie Mitchell while his 1987 follow-up, Soul Survivor, featured the minor hit, “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright”, which reached number 22 on the R&B chart, his first top 40 R&B hit since “I Feel Good” in 1978.
Green returned to secular music in 1988 recording “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” with Annie Lennox. Featured on the soundtrack to the movie, Scrooged, the song became Green’s first top 10 pop hit since 1974. Green had a hit in 1989 with “The Message is Love” with producer Arthur Baker. Two years later, he recorded the theme song to the short-lived show Good Sports. In 1993, he signed with RCA and with Baker again as producer, released the album, Don’t Look Back. Green received his ninth Grammy award for his collaboration with Lyle Lovett for their duet of “Funny How Time Slips Away”. Green’s 1995 album, Your Heart’s In Good Hands, was released around the time that Green was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The one single released from the album, “Keep On Pushing Love”, was described as “invoking the original, sparse sound of his [Green’s] early classics.”
In 2000, Green released his autobiography, Take Me to the River. Two years later, he earned the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and recorded a hit R&B duet with Ann Nesby on the song, “Put It On Paper”. Green again reunited with Willie Mitchell in 2003 for the album, I Can’t Stop. A year later, Green re-recorded his previous song, “Simply Beautiful”, with Queen Latifah on the latter’s album, The Dana Owens Album. In 2005, Green and Mitchell collaborated on Everything’s OK. His 2008 album, Lay It Down, was produced by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and James Poyser. It became his first album to reach the top ten since the early 1970s. The album featured a minor R&B hit with the ballad, “Stay with Me (By the Sea)”, featuring John Legend and also featuring duets with Anthony Hamilton and Corinne Bailey Rae. During an interview for promotion of the album, Green admitted that he would have liked to duet with Marvin Gaye: “In those days, people didn’t sing together like they do now,” he said. In 2009, Green recorded “People Get Ready” with Heather Headley on the album, Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration. In 2010, Green performed “Let’s Stay Together” on Later… with Jools Holland.
On October 18, 1974, shortly after Al Green Explores Your Mind was released, Mary Woodson White, a girlfriend of Green’s, assaulted him before committing suicide at his Memphis home. Although she was already married, White reportedly became upset when Green refused to marry her. At some point during the evening, White doused Green with a pan of boiling grits while he was bathing, causing severe burns on Green’s back, stomach and arms. She then found his .38 and killed herself. In her purse, police found a note declaring her intentions and her reasons.
Green cited the incident with White as a wake-up call to change his life. He became an ordained pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis in 1976. Continuing to record R&B, Green saw his sales start to slip and drew mixed reviews from critics. In 1979, Green injured himself falling off the stage while performing in Cincinnati and interpreted this as a message from God. He then concentrated his energies towards pastoring his church and gospel singing. His first gospel album was The Lord Will Make a Way. From 1981 to 1989 Green recorded a series of gospel albums, garnering eight “soul gospel performance” Grammy Awards in that period. In 1985, he reunited with Willie Mitchell along with Angelo Earl for He Is the Light, his first album for A&M Records. In 1984, director Robert Mugge released a documentary film, Gospel According to Al Green, including interviews about his life and footage from his church.
In June 1977, Green married Shirley Kyles. They had three daughters together, Alva, Rubi and Kora. The marriage lasted until January 1983. Shirley later alleged that Green had been subjecting her to domestic violence throughout their marriage.
Green is a member of the Prince Hall Masons, the African-American wing of Freemasonry, at the Thirty-Third Degree.
Green resides and preaches in Memphis, Tennessee near Graceland.[26]
Green’s sister Maxine disappeared in September, 2013 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Written by Dianne Washington