Chaka Khan
Chaka is looking fabulous after a 60 pound weight loss. The singer says she fasted and adopted a high protein diet after being diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure. After the weight loss, fans began tweeting that she bears a strong resemblace to Nicki Minaj…Chaka lightheartedly agrees.
Friends, family and fans of legendary soul singer Bobby Womack can breathe a sigh of relief. He is cancer free after undergoing surgery for colon cancer. Womack had been given a dire prognosis and has battled drug abuse and diabetes throughout his career. He is released a highly-anticipated new album in June. Huffington Post reports:
We are stunned at the sudden passing of Whitney Houston who was found unresponsive while taking a bath on Sat Feb 11 2012. We are praying for Whitney’s family and friends. Thank you Whitney for sharing your beautiful voice. Your songs will forever be etched in my heart. Rest in eternal peace!
In 1974, at the age of 19, Rev Al Sharpton (President of National Youth Movement Inc) appeared on Soul Train to present an award to his idol James Brown.
Don Cortez Cornelius was born and raised in Chicago IL. Don, a former Chicago policeman, began his career in radio as a news announcer and deejay at WVON in Chicago in the 1960s. In 1970, he created a live dance show, Soul Train along with a friend, Clinton Ghent. Soul Train was one of the longest running syndicated shows in history. Teenagers jam packed the small studio at WCIU tv after school. Soon after Soul Train moved to Los Angeles and became ‘the hippest trip in America.’
It as said that Don had been suffering from serious health problems lately. We appreciate Don’s contributions to the music culture. He will certainly be missed.
“As always…and in parting…we wish you Love…Peace…and Soooouuuuul!”
Sadly, Etta James has passed away from a long battle with leukemia in Riverside CA. While we will miss you Ms James, we know that you are no longer in pain and suffering. We thank you for your awesome contributions to R&B music. There would have been a huge void had it not been for you. We miss you and love you. May you rest in eternal peace!
Accordiing to Wikipedia: Lillian Gordy Carter (August 15, 1898 – October 30, 1983) was the mother of former President of the United States, Jimmy Carter. Carter was born Bessie Lillian Gordy to James Jackson Gordy (1863–1948) and Mary Ida Nicholson (1871–1951) in Richland, Georgia in 1898. (She is actually a biological half 1st-cousin of Berry Gordy Sr, the father of Berry Gordy Jr who founded Motown records). She volunteered to serve as a nurse with the U.S. Army in 1917 but the program was cancelled. Instead, she worked for the US Post Office at Richland before moving to Plains in 1920 where she was accepted as a trainee at the Wise Sanatorium before completing her nursing degree at the Grady Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Atlanta, Georgia in 1923. Lillian’s family initially disapproved of her choice of a career in nursing, but she continued her training and became very successful, earning the respect of both the black and white communities. “Miss Lillian,” as she was often known, allowed black people to enter her home through the front door, rather than through the back door as was the social norm, and would often have them in her living room for casual conversation just as she would a white neighbor. These conversations would even continue after her husband Earl was to arrive home expecting the guests to depart.
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Two of the most popular and socially significant singing groups in music history celebrate their 50th anniversaries in 2011. Both the Supremes and the Temptations signed their recording contracts with Motown in 1961, launching careers that changed not only the sound and style of pop but smashed racial and cultural barriers in America and around the world. Continue Reading…
Esther Gordy Edwards...Michael Jackson...Stevie Wonder
Motown legends remember Esther Gordy Edwards, who died Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011.
Berry Gordy Jr. and the Gordy family
“Esther Gordy Edwards was a top Motown executive, businesswoman, civil and political leader, who received numerous awards, commendations and accolades. She was the most educated in our family and was the go-to person for wisdom in business.
“Whatever she did, it was with the highest standards, professionalism and an attention to detail that was legendary. She always came out a hero. Esther wasn’t concerned with being popular. She was dedicated to making us all better—the Gordy family and the Motown family.
“Esther turned the so-called trash left behind after I sold the company in 1988 into a phenomenal world-class monument where Hitsville started—the Motown Museum.
“She preserved Motown memorabilia before it was memorabilia, collecting our history long before we knew we were making it. She nurtured and held it together through the years, protecting the Motown legacy for generations to come—which is only one of the reasons people all over the world will remember and celebrate Esther Gordy Edwards.
“Despite my sorrow, I will proudly continue to honor and celebrate her. She will always be my big sister and she will forever live in my heart.”
Stevie Wonder
“I’m taken back by the loss of Esther Gordy Edwards. She meant so much to me as a human being—she embodied the idea of never giving up. She was ever determined in everything she did, she was full of energy and her spirit will continue live on. She loved the idea of what we were creating in Motown.
“She believed in me—when I was 14 years old and many other people didn’t or could only see what they could at the time, she championed me being in Motown. I shared with her many of my songs first before anyone else. She was like another mother to me, she was an extension of that same kind of motherly love.
“I’m in Washington, D.C., right now celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King and Esther, who was also a friend of Coretta Scott King, without question will be celebrated here this week and weekend, and her spirit will continue live on.
“When we lose someone, we often think ‘they don’t make people like this anymore.’ It is my hope that younger generations and the world will know of her spirit and her pride in world culture.”
DETROIT FREE PRESS
