Whats Buzzing in the Streets – Page 8

Teena Marie

Mary Christine Brockert (March 5, 1956 – December 26, 2010), known professionally as Teena Marie, was an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, composer, and producer. She was known by her childhood nickname Tina before taking the stage name Teena Marie and later acquired the nickname Lady T, given to her by her collaborator and friend Rick James.

She was known for her distinctive soprano vocals, which caused many listeners to believe she was black. Her success in R&B and soul music, and loyalty to these genres earned her the title Ivory Queen of Soul. She played rhythm guitar, keyboards, and congas. Teena Marie was a four-time Grammy Award nominee.

In 2004, while Teena Marie was sleeping in a hotel room, a large picture frame fell and struck her on the head. The blow caused a serious concussion that resulted in momentary seizures for the rest of her life.

On the afternoon of December 26, 2010, Teena Marie was found dead by her daughter, Alia Rose, in her Pasadena home. On December 30, 2010, an autopsy was performed by the coroner of Los Angeles County, who found no signs of apparent trauma or a discernible cause of death and concluded she had died from natural causes. She had suffered a generalized tonic–clonic seizure a month before.

A memorial service was held at Forest Lawn Cemetery on January 10, 2011. Among those in attendance were Stevie Wonder, Deniece Williams, Smokey Robinson, Queen Latifah, LisaRaye, Sinbad, Tichina Arnold, Shanice Wilson, and Berry Gordy, Jr.

Written by Dianne Washington

Tim Reid

Tim Reid (born December 19, 1944) is an American actor, comedian and film director best known for his roles in prime-time American television programs, such as Venus Flytrap on WKRP in Cincinnati (1978–82), Marcel “Downtown” Brown on Simon & Simon (1983–87), Ray Campbell on Sister, Sister (1994–99) and William Barnett on That ’70s Show (2004–06). Reid starred in a CBS series, Frank’s Place, as a professor who inherits a Louisiana restaurant. Reid is the founder and president of Legacy Media Institute, a non-profit organization “dedicated to bringing together leading professionals in the film and television industry, outstanding actors, and young men and women who wish to pursue a career in the entertainment media”

Timothy Lee Reid was born in Norfolk, Virginia, and raised in the Crestwood area of Chesapeake, Virginia, formerly Norfolk County, Virginia. He is the son of William Lee and Augustine (née Wilkins) Reid. He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration at Norfolk State College in 1968. Reid also became a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

After graduation, he was hired by Dupont Corporation, where he worked for three years. Reid’s entertainment career also began in 1968. He and insurance salesman Tom Dreesen met at a Junior Chamber of Commerce meeting near Chicago. They were “put together to promote an anti-drug program in the local schools” and, prompted by a comment from a child, decided to form a comedy team. The team, later named “Tim and Tom,” was the first interracial comedy duo.

Reid started on the short-lived The Richard Pryor Show. Reid starred as DJ “Venus Flytrap” on the hit sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, in what is perhaps his best-known TV role. Reid starred as Lieutenant Marcel Proust “Downtown” Brown (episodes 43-127) on the detective series Simon & Simon. In 1988, Reid won an award from Viewers for Quality Television Awards as “Best Actor in a Quality Comedy Series” in Frank’s Place. In 1988, the same role earned him an Image Award for “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.”

In 1966, Reid married Rita Ann Sykes; they divorced on May 9, 1980. They have two children: Timothy II (born 1968) and Tori Reid (born 1971). On December 4, 1982, he married actress Daphne Maxwell Reid. Reid appeared in the initial movie version of Stephen King’s epic horror novel It. He made an appearance in three first-season episodes of Highlander: The Series. He had a starring role in the series Sister, Sister as Ray Campbell for the entire six-season run. On April 13, 2009, Reid appeared on the short-lived series Roommates as Mr. Daniels. Reid had a recurring role on That ’70s Show as William Barnett.

Reid has directed various television programs and the film Once Upon a Time…When We Were Colored is based on a novel by Clifton L. Taulbert. He directed and adapted a children’s TV show called Bobobobs, which aired in the late 1980s. Reid is the creator of Stop the Madness, an after-school special video in the fight against drugs recorded on December 11, 1985.

Tim and Daphne Maxwell Reid built New Millennium Studios in 1997. Located in Petersburg, Virginia, the 57.4-acre site with its 14,850-square-foot sound studio was the only Black-owned film studio in the United States since the 1930s and also one of the largest independent film studios outside of Hollywood. New Millennium Studios was used in dozens of movie and television productions, including scenes from the 2001 film “Hearts in Atlantis,” of the Stephen King novel; parts of 2000’s “The Contender,” and elements of Steven Spielberg’s 2012 film, “Lincoln,” were all shot there. The Reid’s also produced feature films of their own. In 2008, he and Tom Dreesen wrote a book about those years called Tim & Tom: An American Comedy in Black and White.

Reid was named to the board of directors of the American Civil War Center in July 2011 at Tredegar Iron Works. On May 10, 2014, Reid received a VCU honorary doctorate for his outstanding and distinguished contributions. He delivered a commencement speech during the ceremony. During the 1980s and 1990s, Reid served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute. Due to “a lack of incentives in the state” to bring film production to Virginia, the Reid’s sold the property in March 2015 for $1.475 million to Four Square Property Management LLC, a company formed by Four Square Industrial Constructors based in Chester, Virginia.

Written by Dianne Washington

Jennifer Beals

Jennifer Beals was born on December 19, 1963. She is a Black actress and photographer.

Beals was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, in the Bronzseville community. She’s the daughter of Jeanne Anderson, an elementary school teacher, and Alfred Beals, who owned grocery stores. Beals’ father was Black, and her mother was Irish. She has two brothers, Bobby and Gregory. Her father died when Beals was nine years old. Beals says her biracial heritage affected her. She “always lived sort of on the outside,” with an idea “of being the other in society.” She got her first job at 13 at an ice cream store, using her height to convince her boss she was 16. Her mother remarried in 1981 to Edward Cohen.

She was inspired to become an actress by two episodes: working on a high school production of Fiddler on the Roof and seeing Balm in Gilead with Joan Allen while volunteer-ushering at the Steppenwolf Theatre. Beals graduated from Francis W. Parker School and participated in Goodman Theatre Young People’s Drama Workshop. She graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in American Literature in 1987.

She deferred a term so she could film Flashdance. While at Yale, Beals was a resident of Morse College. Beals had a minor role in the 1980 film My Bodyguard. She was nominated for a Golden Globe, and the film received an Academy Award for Best Song. After graduation, Beals resumed acting, playing in the boxing film Split Decisions. She was in 1989’s Vampire’s Kiss. In 1992, she appeared in 2000 Malibu Road. In 1995, Beals and Denzel Washington co-starred in Devil in a Blue Dress. That same year, she appeared in two segments of the four-story anthology Four Rooms, one of which was directed by her then-husband, Alexandre Rockwell.

In 2003, she played in the film adaptation of Runaway Jury and 2006’s The Grudge 2. In 2004, Beals made a brief cameo in the final episode of Frasier. In 2007, she appeared in the small TV drama My Name Is Sarah. Beals starred in The L Word. She also appeared alongside Tim Roth in Lie to Me. Beals was in The Chicago Code. In 2010, Beals reunited with Denzel Washington in the post-apocalyptic action drama The Book of Eli.

In 2013, Beals was in the drama pilot Westside; in 2014, Beals was in Proof, and Beals played in the Full Out movie about Ariana Berlin. In 2017, the actress played in the film version of Before I Fall. On February 27, 2017, Beals played the series Taken, a prequel to the Taken film series. In 2018, Beals was cast in the Swamp Thing series. In 2019, she played the role of Karen in the romance movie After. In December 2019, Beals reprised her role as Bette Porter in The L Word: Generation Q. In 2021, Beals appeared in the series premiere of The Book of Boba Fett.

Beals is a practicing Buddhist. She married Alexandre Rockwell in 1986 and divorced him in 1996. In 1998, she married Ken Dixon, a Canadian entrepreneur. On October 18, 2005, Beals gave birth to their daughter. Dixon also has two children from a previous marriage. She has been a vocal advocate for gay rights. In October 2012, she received the Human Rights Campaign’s Ally For Equality Award for supporting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. She also practices kung-fu, sanshou, and kickboxing and is a triathlete.

She has shown her work as a photographer under Dixon’s married name. In 1989, she spent some time in Haiti photographing the elections. She published a book about her time on The L Word featuring her photographs. In 2010, Beals served as the Grand Marshal of the McDonald’s Thanksgiving Parade in Chicago. She spoke of the two charities important to her: the Matthew Shepard Foundation and The Pablove Foundation.

Written by Dianne Washington

Angie Stone

Angela Laverne Brown (born December 18, 1961) known professionally as Angie Stone, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. She rose to fame in the late 1970s as member of the hip hop trio The Sequence. In the early 1990s, she became a member of the R&B trio Vertical Hold. Stone would later release her solo debut Black Diamond (1999) on Arista Records, which was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America and spawned the single “No More Rain (In This Cloud)”.

After transitioning to J Records, she released her second album, Mahogany Soul (2001), which included the hit single “Wish I Didn’t Miss You”; followed by the albums Stone Love (2004) and The Art of Love & War (2007), her first number-one album on the US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

Stone ventured into acting in the 2000s, making her film debut in the 2002 comedy film The Hot Chick, and her stage debut in 2003, in the role of Big Mama Morton in the Broadway musical Chicago. She has since appeared in supporting roles in films and television series as well as several musical productions, including VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club and TV One’s R&B Divas, and movies such as The Fighting Temptations (2003), Pastor Brown (2009) and School Gyrls (2010).

Stone has been nominated for three Grammy Awards and has won two Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards. In 2021, she received the Soul Music Icon Award at the Black Music Honors.

Stone was born in Columbia, South Carolina, where she began singing gospel music at First Nazareth Baptist Church, under the leadership of Reverend Blakely N. Scott. Her father, a member of a local gospel quartet, took Stone to see performances by gospel artists such as the Singing Angels and the Gospel Keynotes.

In the late 1970s, when Stone was 16, she formed the rap trio The Sequence, a female hip-hop act, also consisting of Cheryl “The Pearl” Cook and Gwendolyn “Blondie” Chisolm. They were the second rap group signed to the Sugar Hill Records after auditioning for manager Sylvia Robinson backstage at a Sugar Hill Gang concert in South Carolina. In 1980, The Sequence scored a hit with their single “Funk You Up”, which reached number 15 on the US Top Black Singles chart. The trio enjoyed a series of rap hits as the first female rap group during the early years of hip hop. Singles such as “Monster Jam” featuring rapper Spoonie Gee and “Funky Sound (Tear the Roof Off)” kept the band touring, with Robinson acting as their mentor. The group faded into obscurity as hip hop changed from its original party sound to a grittier street art form and the trio eventually disbanded in 1985.

Stone has two children. Stone’s daughter, Diamond, was born in 1984 and is from her marriage to Rodney Stone (also known as Lil’ Rodney C!, from the hip-hop group Funky Four Plus One). Diamond contributed background vocals to Stone’s 2007 song “Baby”. Diamond gave birth to Stone’s grandson in 2008 and another grandchild in July 2012.

During the 1990s, Stone was in a relationship with neo soul singer D’Angelo. They have a son named Michael D’Angelo Archer II. He was born in 1998.

Stone lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her son, Michael and her daughter, Diamond.

In March 2015, it was reported that Stone had been arrested for assaulting her 30-year-old daughter.

Stone was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 1999 and, along with comedian-actor Anthony Anderson, was part of the F.A.C.E Diabetes (Fearless African Americans Connected and Empowered) program sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company, which helps African Americans understand their risk for the disease and how to control it. Stone said that both her mother and her mother’s sister were diabetic.

Written by Dianne Washington

Ossie Davis

Raiford Chatman “Ossie” Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an American actor, director, writer, and activist. He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death. He and his wife were named to the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame; were awarded the National Medal of Arts and were recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1994.

Davis’s credits as a film director include Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970), Black Girl (1972), and Gordon’s War (1973). As a screen actor, Davis appeared in such films as Do the Right Thing (1989), Grumpy Old Men (1993), The Client (1994), Dr. Dolittle (1998), and Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)

Raiford Chatman Davis (his birth name) was the oldest of five children born to Laura Cooper and Kince Davis in Cogden, GA. He picked up his nickname; others mistook his mother’s articulation of his initials, “R.C” as “Ossie.” He is the older brother of research scientist William C. Davis. He headed for Howard University, where he studied under drama critic Alain LeRoy Locke. Davis began his career as a writer and an actor with the Rose McClendon Players in Harlem in 1939.

In 1946, Davis made his Broadway debut in “Jeb,” winning rave reviews. He went on to perform in many Broadway productions, including “Anna Lucasta,” “The Wisteria Trees,” “Green Pastures,” “Jamaica, Ballad for Bimshire,” “The Zulu and the Zayda,” and the stage version of “I’m Not Rappaport.”

Davis and Ruby Dee were married in 1948 and are the parents of three children. They published their joint autobiography, “With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together.” Davis and Dee, partners and performers, stage and screen collaborators, and political activists, enjoyed a long and luminous career in entertainment. They had over 50 years of collaboration on various creative, charitable, political, and social projects.

Davis’ first movie role was in “No Way Out” in 1950, followed by a Broadway role in “No Time for Sergeants” and “Raisin in the Sun,” a ground-breaking 1950s play about the personal and painful consequences of housing discrimination for a black family, which he reprised in a film version. He also starred in “The Joe Louis Story” in 1953.

In 1961, Davis wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed “Purlie Victorious.” He wrote and directed many films, including “Cotton Comes to Harlem” (1970) and “Countdown at Kusini” (co-produced with his wife, 1976), the first American feature film to be shot entirely in Africa by Black professionals. Other Davis credits include “Do the Right Thing” (1989), “Jungle Fever” (1991), and “Malcolm X” (1994).

Davis also appeared in the film “Dr. Doolittle” with Eddie Murphy; “Get on the Bus” for Spike Lee; “Angry Men” for Showtime Network; and on the CBS television series “Promised Land.”

Davis received many honors and citations, including the Hall of Fame Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement in 1989; the Theater Hall of Fame in 1994; the U.S. National Medal for the Arts in 1995; the New York Urban League Frederick Douglass Award; the NAACP Image Award and more. He and his wife were joint Kennedy Center honorees in December. They were cited not only for their “theatrical and film achievement” but because they opened “many a door previously shut tight to African American artists and planted the seed for the flowering of America’s multicultural humanity.”

Davis is the author of three children’s books, including “Escape to Freedom,” which was honored by the American Library Association and the Jane Adams Children’s Book Award; “Langston”; and “Just Like Martin.”

Davis and Dee were eloquent voices and fund-raisers for American Civil Rights issues from the HUAC hearings of the McCarthy era in the 1950s. They were blacklisted because of their activities, and well into the 1980s and ’90s, Davis continued as a spokesman for numerous causes of equality.

Ossie Davis was found dead on February 4, 2005, in his hotel room in Miami Beach, FL, at the age of 87; he was making a film called “Retirement.”

Written by Dianne Washington

Frankie Crocker

Frankie “Hollywood” Crocker (December 18, 1937 – October 21, 2000) was an American disc jockey who helped grow WBLS, the black music radio station in New York.

According to popeducation.org, Crocker began his career in Buffalo at the AM Soul powerhouse WUFO (also the home to future greats Gerry Bledsoe, Eddie O’Jay, Herb Hamlett, Gary Byrd and Chucky T) before moving to Manhattan, where he first worked for Soul station WWRL and later top-40 WMCA in 1969. He then worked for WBLS as program director, taking that station to the top of the ratings during the late 1970s and pioneering the radio format now known as urban contemporary. He sometimes called himself the Chief Rocker, and he was as well known for his boastful on-air patter as for his off-air flamboyance.

When Studio 54 was at the height of its popularity, Crocker once rode in through the front entrance on a white stallion.[4] In the studio, before he left for the day, Crocker would light a candle and invite female listeners to enjoy a candlelight bath with him. He signed off the air each night to the tune “Moody’s Mood For Love” by vocalese crooner King Pleasure. Crocker, a native of Buffalo, coined the phrase “urban contemporary” in the 1970s, a label for the eclectic mix of songs that he played.

He’d been the program director at WWRL and felt held back by what he considered to be the narrow perspective of the station. He quit and was twice re-hired by the station management; “He knew how to attract attention,” the chairman of Inner City Broadcasting, Hal Jackson was the owner of WBLS and once said, “We called him Hollywood.”

By 1979 he was shuttling between the west and east coast, with programming duties at KUTE in L.A. which featured R&B before a format change instituted there and on the east coast at WBLS which he called “Disco and More”, relying on his expertise at “finding the music”. Speaking to Radio Report magazine, an industry periodical, Crocker said, “There is nothing I won’t play if I hear it and like it and feel it will go for my market”.

WBLS-FM broke Blondie, Madonna, Shannon, D Train, all Arthur Baker records, The System, Colonel Abrams, Alicia Myers and supermodel Grace Jones. He made, “Love is the Message” by MFSB NYC’s unofficial anthem on the radio. WBLS airplay made “Ain’t No Stoppin Us Now” by McFadden and Whitehead a favorite cookout, church, wedding and graduation song. “The Magnificent Seven” by the Clash became a hot song in the Black Community. He gave America exposure to an obscure genre called “Reggae” and a little-known Jamaican rocker named Bob Marley. Fatback Band frontman Bill Curtis credited Crocker with breaking the group in New York.

Crocker was the master of ceremonies of shows at the Apollo Theater in Harlem and was one of the first VJs on VH-1, the cable music video channel, in addition to hosting the TV series Solid Gold and NBC’s Friday Night Videos. As an actor, Crocker appeared in five films, including Cleopatra Jones (1973), Five on the Black Hand Side (1973), and Darktown Strutters (Get Down and Boogie) (1975).

He is credited with introducing as many as 30 new artists to the mainstream, including Manu Dibango’s “Soul Makossa” to American audiences. While both Gary Byrd and Herb Hamlett were influenced by Crocker, it is only Hamlett who always attributes his success to his mentor in Buffalo, Frankie Crocker.

Frankie Crocker was inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2000 and the New York State Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2005.

Crocker was indicted as a result of a 1976 payola investigation; the charges were later dismissed.[13] After he was charged, the radio station dropped him, and Crocker moved to L.A. and returned to school.

After the payola charges were dismissed, he returned to New York radio in 1979 as DJ and Program Director on WBLS-FM, at the end of the disco era. Crocker’s career in radio ended by 1985. He moved to MTV as a VJ on the VH-1 cable channel.

In October 2000, Crocker went into a Miami area hospital for several weeks. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and kept the illness a secret from his friends and even from his mother. He died on October 21, 2000. His friend and former boss Bob Law, a onetime program director of WWRL, said of Crocker, “He encompassed all of the urban sophistication. He appreciated the culture, the whole urban experience, and he wove it together. That’s missing now, even in black radio”.

Written by Dianne Washington

Jamie Foxx

Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He received acclaim for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the film Ray (2004), winning the Academy Award, BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. That same year, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the crime film Collateral.

Foxx gained his career breakthrough as a featured player in the sketch comedy show In Living Color until the show’s end in 1994. Following this success, he was given his own sitcom The Jamie Foxx Show, in which he starred, co-created and produced from 1996 to 2001. He gained prominence for his film roles in Booty Call (1997), Ali (2001), Jarhead (2005), Dreamgirls (2006), Miami Vice (2006), Horrible Bosses (2011), Django Unchained (2012), Annie (2014), Baby Driver (2017), and Soul (2020). He played the supervillain Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). For playing Walter McMillian in Just Mercy (2019) he received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.

As a musician, Foxx earned two number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, with his features on the singles “Slow Jamz” by Twista alongside Kanye West, and “Gold Digger” by Kanye West. His single “Blame It” won him the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Four of his five studio albums have charted in the top ten of the U.S. Billboard 200: Unpredictable (2005), which topped the chart, Intuition (2008), Best Night of My Life (2010), and Hollywood: A Story of a Dozen Roses (2015). Since 2017, Foxx has served as the host and executive producer of the Fox game show Beat Shazam. In 2021, he wrote his autobiography Act Like You Got Some Sense.

Born in Terrell, Texas, Foxx is the son of Darrell Bishop (renamed Shahid Abdula following his conversion to Islam), who sometimes worked as a stockbroker, and Louise Annette Talley Dixon. Shortly after his birth, Foxx was adopted and raised by his mother’s adoptive parents, Esther Marie (Nelson), a domestic worker and nursery operator, and Mark Talley, a yard worker. He has had little contact with his birth parents, who were not part of his upbringing. He was raised in the black quarter of Terrell, which at the time was a racially segregated community. He has often acknowledged his grandmother’s influence as one of the greatest reasons for his success.

Foxx began playing the piano when he was five years old. He had a strict Baptist upbringing and as a teenager was a part-time pianist and choir leader in Terrell’s New Hope Baptist Church. His natural talent for telling jokes was already in evidence as a third grader, when his teacher used him as a reward: if the class behaved well, Foxx would tell them jokes. He attended Terrell High School, where he received top grades and played basketball and football (as quarterback). His ambition was to play for the Dallas Cowboys, and he was the first player in the school’s history to pass for more than 1,000 yards. He also sang in a band called Leather and Lace. After high school, Foxx received a scholarship to United States International University, where he studied musical and performing arts composition.

Written by Dianne Washington

Frankie Beverly

Frankie Beverly (born Howard Beverly, December 9, 1946) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, and producer, known primarily for his recordings with the soul and funk band Maze. Beverly formed Maze, originally called Raw Soul, in his hometown of Philadelphia in 1970. After a relocation to San Francisco and an introduction to Marvin Gaye, Maze went on to release nine gold albums and create a large and devoted following. Beverly is the band’s writer, producer and lead singer. He is known for his distinctive smooth baritone voice and charismatic stage presence.

Beverly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, and started out singing gospel music as a schoolboy in a local church. He was raised in the East Germantown section of the city and was a graduate of the now defunct Germantown High School.

As a teenager he formed The Blenders, a short-lived a cappella, doo-wop group that were influenced by The Dells, The Moonglows, and The Del Vikings. After that outfit dissolved, he founded The Butlers (subsequently Frankie Beverly and the Butlers), which would be the first group he recorded with in 1963. In 1967, he cut “If That’s What You Wanted”, which became a Northern soul standard. As time passed, they caught the attention of the record producer Kenny Gamble, who eventually released recordings by the group.

It turned out that music performed by The Butlers did not fit into the “Philly Sound”[citation needed], and after some heavy touring, the group relocated to California. The unit was re-christened as Raw Soul and caught the attention of a sister-in-law to Marvin Gaye. Gaye featured them as an opening act at his shows, and also convinced Beverly to change the band’s name to Maze.

The group’s popularity was enhanced considerably in the UK by DJs Greg Edwards and Robbie Vincent in the late 1970s and early 1980s when they performed live at London’s Lyceum Ballroom for broadcast on Capital Radio. They are best known there for their UK No. 57 hit single, “Joy and Pain”.

In 2019, Beverly’s hit single with Maze “Before I Let Go” was covered by American singer Beyoncé as a bonus track on her fifth live album Homecoming: The Live Album. Beverly told Billboard that the cover was “one of the high points of (his) life… in a class of its own” and made him “feel bigger than ever! I feel like I have a huge smash out there.”

Beverly’s onstage attire (all-white custom designed and made, casual clothing, including slacks, long-sleeved shirt, and a baseball cap) has become his signature dress style over the years. It has become tradition for the audience to wear all white to the concerts in honor of the group.

His son, Anthony, who has toured as a drummer with Maze, organized a tribute album to his father called ‘Silky Soul Music…an All-Star Tribute to Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly’ in 2009, founding the record label Brantera, as an homage to the work of Maze. Mary J. Blige, Kenneth Brian Edmonds (Babyface) and Mint Condition were among the artists taking part on the album.

Written by Dianne Washington

Redd Foxx

John Elroy Sanford (December 9, 1922 – October 11, 1991), better known by his stage name Redd Foxx, was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Foxx gained success with his raunchy nightclub act before and during the civil rights movement. Known as the “King of the Party Records”, he performed on more than 50 records in his lifetime. He portrayed Fred G. Sanford on the television show Sanford and Son and starred in The Redd Foxx Show and The Royal Family. His film projects included All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960), Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970), Norman… Is That You? (1976) and Harlem Nights (1989).

In 2004, Foxx ranked 24th in Comedy Central Presents: 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time. Foxx not only influenced many comedians but was often portrayed in popular culture as well, mainly as a result of his catchphrases, body language and facial expressions exhibited on Sanford and Son. During the show’s six-year run, Foxx won a Golden Globe Award and received an additional three nominations, along with three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Foxx was posthumously given a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame in 1992.

John Elroy Sanford was born on December 9, 1922, in St. Louis, Missouri, and raised in Chicago’s South Side. His father, Fred “Freddie” Sanford, was from Hickman, Kentucky and served during World War I in the 823rd company of U.S. Transportation Corps. His father worked as an electrician and auto mechanic but left his family sometime after 1930. He was raised by his half-Seminole mother, Mary Hughes, from Ellisville, Mississippi, his grandmother and his minister. Foxx attended DuSable High School in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood with future Chicago mayor Harold Washington. Foxx had two older brothers, Fred Jr. who provided the name for his character on Sanford and Son and Leonard who died shortly after his birth in 1921. On July 27, 1939, Foxx performed on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour radio show as part of the Jump Swinging Six.

In the 1940s, he befriended Malcolm Little, later known as Malcolm X, a fellow dishwasher at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem. Both men had reddish hair, so Sanford was called “Chicago Red” after his hometown and Malcolm was known as “Detroit Red”. In Malcolm’s autobiography, Foxx is referred to as “the funniest dishwasher on this earth”. During World War II, Foxx dodged the draft by eating half a bar of soap before his physical, a trick that resulted in heart palpitations. On September 30, 1946, Foxx recorded five songs for the Savoy label under the direction of Teddy Reig.

Foxx’s raunchy nightclub act proved successful. After performing on the East Coast, his big break came after singer Dinah Washington insisted that he come to Los Angeles, where Dootsie Williams of Dootone records caught his act at the Brass Rail nightclub. Foxx was one of the first black comics to play to white audiences on the Las Vegas Strip. He was signed to a long-term contract and released a series of comedy albums on half a dozen record labels that quickly became cult favorites.

Foxx achieved his most widespread fame starring in the television sitcom Sanford and Son, an adaptation of the BBC series Steptoe and Son. Foxx played the role of Fred G. Sanford (“Fred Sanford” was actually Foxx’s father’s and brother’s name), while co-star Demond Wilson played the role of his son Lamont. In this sitcom, Fred and Lamont were owners of a junk/salvage store in Watts, California, who dealt with many humorous situations. The series was notable for its racial humor and overt prejudices which helped redefine the genre of black situation comedy.

The series premiered on the NBC television network on January 14, 1972, and was broadcast for six seasons. In 1974, Foxx was sued for $10 million ($46.4 million in 2022) by Tandem Productions, producers of the show, for not showing up to start taping the new season. The final episode aired on March 25, 1977.

The show also had several running gags. When angry with Lamont, Fred would often say, “You big dummy!” or would often fake heart attacks by putting his hand on his chest and saying (usually while looking up at the sky), “It’s the big one, I’m coming to join ya honey/Elizabeth” (referring to his late wife). Fred would also complain about having “arthur-itis” to get out of working by showing Lamont his cramped hand. Foxx portrayed a character who was in his 60s, although in real life he was 48 when production began for Season 1.

In 1977, Foxx left Sanford and Son after six seasons to star in a short-lived ABC variety show, resulting in the cancellation of the NBC series. In 1980 he was back playing Fred G. Sanford in a short-lived revival/spin-off, Sanford. In 1986, he returned to television in the ABC series The Redd Foxx Show, which was canceled after 12 episodes due to low ratings. Foxx appeared as an Obi-Wan Kenobi-like character in the Star Wars special of the Donny & Marie show. In an homage to his show, he mentioned the planet Sanford, which has no sun.

In 1989, Foxx was featured in the film Harlem Nights, written, directed, produced and starring Eddie Murphy.

Foxx made a comeback with the short-lived series The Royal Family, in which he co-starred with Della Reese.

At some point in the late 1970s and/or early 1980s, Foxx had a business on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood where car owners could have their vehicles’ roofs “velvetized”—a process that added a fuzzy, velvety texture to the brougham vinyl tops of some cars of that period, especially those that were referred to at the time as “pimpmobiles”. It was called “Redd Foxx’s Car Velvetizing”.

Foxx used his starring role on Sanford and Son to help get jobs for acquaintances such as LaWanda Page, Slappy White, Gregory Sierra, Don Bexley, Beah Richards, Stymie Beard, Leroy Daniels, Ernest Mayhand and Pat Morita.

Wilson was asked whether he kept in touch with everybody from Sanford & Son, especially the series’ star himself, after the series was canceled: “No. I saw Redd Foxx once before he died, circa 1983, and I never saw him again. At the time I was playing tennis at the Malibu Racquet Club, and I was approached by some producers about doing a Redd Foxx 50th Anniversary Special. I hadn’t spoken to him since 1977, and I called the club where (Redd) was playing. And we met at Redd’s office, but he was less than affable. I told those guys it was a bad idea. I never had a cross word with him. People say I’m protective of Redd Foxx in my book (Second Banana, Wilson’s memoir of the “Sanford” years). I had no animosity toward Foxx [for quitting the show in 1977] because I had a million-dollar contract at CBS to do Baby… I’m Back!. My hurt was that he didn’t come to me about throwing the towel in—I found out in the hallway at NBC from a newscaster. I forgave him and I loved Redd, but I never forgot that. The love was there. You can watch any episode and see that.”

According to People magazine, “Foxx reportedly once earned $4 million in a single year, but depleted his fortune with a lavish lifestyle, exacerbated by what he called ‘very bad management.'” Contributing to his problems were his divorces. Foxx spent over $150,000 awaiting his divorce from his second wife Betty Jean which included monthly support payments of $10,000 following their separation in 1974. He also was ordered to pay $2,500 a month while awaiting divorce from third wife Joi after their separation in 1979, and then paid her a $300,000 divorce settlement in 1981.

In 1983, he filed for bankruptcy with proceedings continuing at least through 1989. The IRS filed tax liens against Redd Foxx’s property for income taxes he owed for the years 1983 to 1986 totaling $755,166.21. On November 28, 1989, the IRS seized his home in Las Vegas and seven vehicles (including a 1927 Model T, a 1975 Panther J72, a 1983 Zimmer, and a Vespa motor scooter) to pay the taxes which by then had grown to $996,630 (~$2.06 million in 2022), including penalties and interest. Agents also seized “$12,769 in cash and a dozen guns, including a semiautomatic pistol,” among some 300 items in total, reportedly leaving only Foxx’s bed. Foxx stated that the IRS “took my necklace and the ID bracelet off my wrist and the money out of my pocket … I was treated like I wasn’t human at all.” It has been reported that at the time of his death in 1991 Foxx owed more than $3.6 million in taxes.

Redd Foxx wed four times. His first marriage was to Evelyn Killebrew in 1948 and ended in divorce in 1951.

On July 5, 1956, Foxx married Betty Jean Harris, a showgirl and dancer, who was a colleague of LaWanda Page (later to be Foxx’s TV rival Aunt Esther on Sanford and Son). They met at a nightclub where they were appearing on the same bill. As per their agreement, Harris gave up her career in show business to become a full-time housewife. Foxx adopted Harris’s nine-year-old daughter Debraca, who assumed the surname “Foxx.” Harris handled most of Foxx’s business ventures such as Redd Foxx Enterprises, which included a chain of record stores in Los Angeles. The couple separated in 1974 due to Foxx’s infidelity. After 18 years of marriage, Foxx filed for divorce on the grounds of incompatibility in May 1974. He also obtained a restraining order that prevented Harris from “removing, hiding or secreting property” from their home in Las Vegas, and she had to return $110,000 that was removed from bank accounts. Foxx was absent from Debraca’s wedding in 1975.

Foxx married his third wife Joi Yun Chi Chung at the Thunderbird Hotel in Las Vegas on December 31, 1976. Foxx met Joi, who was 20 years his junior, when she was a cocktail waitress at the Las Vegas Hilton, shortly after her arrival from Korea. After Foxx filed for divorce in October 1979, she responded with her own divorce suit charging him with cruelty. During their divorce proceedings, Foxx told Jet magazine: “I’ve been married three times and I’m out.” He added: “I’d rather have kids because when I give up all this money on divorce, it should go to the children and not some guy.” Their divorce was finalized in 1981; Foxx paid a $300,000 divorce settlement.

In July 1991, Foxx wed Kaho Cho from Seoul, South Korea. They met at Bally’s Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Despite denouncing marriage after his third divorce, Foxx told Jet magazine that he married Cho because she stuck by him through his trials and tribulations with the IRS. “She saw me with a nickel. And hopefully, she will see me with a dollar. I’ll give her seventy-five cents of it,” he said. They were married at Little Church of the West in Las Vegas followed by a reception at the Hacienda Hotel.

On October 11, 1991, during a break from rehearsals for The Royal Family, Foxx suffered a heart attack on the set. According to Della Reese, Foxx was chatting with a reporter from Entertainment Tonight. The scene he was supposed to be in was not ready to shoot and Foxx and Reese were practicing. In fact, Foxx had no lines in the scene at all; he was whisked away from the interview by a producer (one whom Reese stated quarreled with Foxx about how he could teach him to be funny) that insisted on him being there.

Foxx did his scripted part of the scene (walking across the back of a chair) while being livid. However, he fell to the floor immediately after doing so. Reese said that nobody initially suspected anything was wrong. Foxx, after all, was famous for having Fred Sanford fake heart attacks on Sanford and Son and was particularly skilled at pratfalls. Reese went to the floor when Foxx did not immediately rise and heard him say “get my wife” twice. Reese called for paramedics. According to Joshua Rich at Entertainment Weekly: “It was an end so ironic that for a brief moment castmates figured Foxx–whose 1970s TV character often faked coronaries–was kidding when he grabbed a chair and fell to the floor.” Eddie Murphy, a producer on the show, credited him with being the most “naturally funny person” he’d known.

Foxx was temporarily resuscitated and taken to Queen of Angels Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. Four and a half hours after admission, he was pronounced dead. Foxx is buried at Palm Memorial Park (also known as Palm Eastern Cemetery) in Las Vegas. Foxx’s mother Mary Sanford Carson (1903–1993) outlived her son by two years. She had been lingering in and out of a coma for a few years before her death in 1993. She is buried beside him.

Written by Dianne Washington

Jay-Z

Jay-Z was born on December 04, 1969. He is a Black rapper, songwriter, record executive, businessman, and record producer.

Born Shawn Corey Carter in Brooklyn, New York, he was raised in Marcy Houses in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood. After their father, Adnis Reeves, abandoned the family, Jay-Z and his three siblings were raised by their mother, Gloria Carter. Reeves died in 2003. Jay-Z attended Eli Whitney High School in Brooklyn until it was closed. He then attended nearby George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School with rappers The Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes, followed by semesters at Trenton Central High School in Trenton, New Jersey, though he did not graduate.

According to his lyrics, he sold crack cocaine and was shot three times during this period. According to his mother, Jay-Z woke up his siblings at night by banging drum patterns on the kitchen table. She bought him a boombox for his birthday, sparking his interest in music, and he began freestyling and writing lyrics. Known as “Jazzy” around the neighborhood, he later adopted the stage name “Jay-Z” in homage to his mentor Jaz-O. Jay-Z can be briefly heard on several of Jaz-O’s early recordings in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including “HP Gets Busy,” “The Originators,” and “Hawaiian Sophie.” Jay-Z became embroiled in several battles with rapper LL Cool J in the early 1990s.

He first became known to a wide audience on the posse cut “Show and Prove” on the 1994 Big Daddy Kane album Daddy’s Home. Jay-Z has been referred to as Big Daddy Kane’s hype man during this period. However, Kane explains that he didn’t fill the traditional hype man role and was instead making cameo appearances on stage. “When I would leave the stage to change outfits, I would bring out Jay-Z and Positive K and let them freestyle until I came back to the stage.” The young Jay-Z appeared on a popular song by Big L, “Da Graveyard,” and on Mic Geronimo’s “Time to Build”, which also featured early appearances by DMX and Ja Rule in 1995.

His first official rap single was called “In My Lifetime,” for which he released a music video in 1995. An unreleased music video was also produced for the B-side “I Can’t Get with That.” After founding the record label, Roc-A-Fella Records in 1995, he released his debut studio album, Reasonable Doubt, in 1996. The album was released to solidify his standing in the music industry. On April 4, 2008, he married Beyoncé Knowles.

He has gone on to release many additional albums, including the acclaimed albums The Blueprint (2001), The Black Album (2003), American Gangster (2007), and 4:44 (2017). Jay-Z has also released the full-length collaborative albums Watch the Throne (2011) with Kanye West, and Everything Is Love (2018) with his wife Beyoncé respectively. Outside of his musical career, Jay-Z has also attained significant success and media attention for his career as a businessman. In 1999, he founded the clothing retailer Rocawear, and in 2003, he founded the luxury sports bar chain 40/40 Club. Both businesses have grown to become multi-million-dollar corporations, allowing him to fund the start-up for the entertainment company Roc Nation, founded in 2008.

In 2015, he acquired the tech company Aspiro and took charge of Tidal’s media streaming service. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential hip-hop artists in history and is often cited as one of the greatest rappers of all time. Jay-Z has sold over 50 million albums and 75 million singles sold worldwide. He has won over 23 Grammy Awards, the most by a rapper, and holds the record for the most number-one albums by a solo artist on the Billboard 200, with 14. He has been ranked by Billboard and fellow music publication Rolling Stone as one of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In 2017, he became the first rapper to be honored in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and 2018. In June 2019, Jay-Z officially became the first hip-hop billionaire, making him among the top wealthiest Blacks in America and the 2nd wealthiest American musician. In December 2020, Jay-Z launched a line of cannabis products called “Monogram.”

Written by Dianne Washington