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RIP The G-dfather of Soul James Brown |
| December 25th, 2006 under Obits. [ Comments: none ]
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James Brown, the dynamic Godfather of Soul” who was one of the biggest influences on American music in the last 50 years, has died. He was 73.Brown died at 1:45 a.m. Monday after being taken to Emory Crawford Hospital in Atlanta with pneumonia, according to his agent, Frank Copsidas of Intrigue Music. However, authorities have not yet stated the official cause of death. Brown’s “Say It Loud -I’m Black And I’m Proud,” energized a generation during the Civil Rights Era. With a raspy voice and revolutionary rhythms, Brown’s stage antics — which included dancing on his toes, sliding across the stage and calling for his cape after falling to his knees, inspired performers such as Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger and others. Songs such as David Bowie’s “Fame,” Prince’s “Kiss,” George Clinton’s “Atomic Dog” and Sly and the Family Stone’s “Sing a Simple Song” were clearly based on Brown’s rhythms and vocal style. “James presented obviously the best grooves,” rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy once told The Associated Press. “To this day, there has been no one near as funky. No one’s coming even close.” His hit singles include such classics as “Out of Sight,” “(Get Up I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine,” “I Got You (I Feel Good).” “I clearly remember we were calling ourselves ‘Colored,’ and after the song, we were calling ourselves black,” Brown told AP in a 2003 interview. “The song showed even people to that day that lyrics and music and a song can change society.” He won a Grammy award for lifetime achievement in 1992, as well as Grammys in 1965 for “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” (best R&B recording) and for “Living In America” in 1987 (best R&B vocal performance, male.) He was one of the initial artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, along with Presley, Chuck Berry and other founding fathers. He triumphed despite an often unhappy personal life. Brown, who lived in Beech Island near the Georgia line, spent more than two years in a South Carolina prison for aggravated assault and failing to stop for a police officer. After his release on in 1991, Brown said he wanted to “try to straighten out” rock music. From the 1950s, when Brown had his first R&B hit, “Please, Please, Please” in 1956, through the mid-1970s, Brown went on a frenzy of cross-country tours, concerts and new songs. He earned the nickname “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business.” Brown’s work has been replayed by the Fat Boys, Ice-T, Public Enemy and a host of other rappers. “The music out there is only as good as my last record,” Brown joked in a 1989 interview with Rolling Stone magazine. “Disco is James Brown, hip-hop is James Brown, rap is James Brown; you know what I’m saying? You hear all the rappers, 90 percent of their music is me,” he told the AP in 2003. Born in poverty in Barnwell, S.C., in 1933, he was abandoned as a 4-year-old to the care of relatives and friends and grew up on the streets of Augusta, Ga., in an “ill-repute area,” as he once called it. There he learned to the tricks of his trade. “I wanted to be somebody,” Brown said. By the eighth grade in 1949, Brown had served 3 1/2 years in Alto Reform School near Toccoa, Ga., for breaking into cars. While there, he met Bobby Byrd, whose family took Brown into their home. Byrd also took Brown into his group, the Gospel Starlighters. Soon they changed their name to the Famous Flames and their style to hard R&B. In January 1956, King Records of Cincinnati signed the group, and four months later “Please, Please, Please” was in the R&B Top Ten. While most of Brown’s life was glitz and glitter, he was plagued with charges of abusing drugs and alcohol and of hitting his third wife, Adrienne. In September 1988, Brown, high on PCP and carrying a shotgun, entered an insurance seminar next to his Augusta office. Police said he asked seminar participants if they were using his private restroom. Police chased Brown for a half-hour from Augusta into South Carolina and back to Georgia. The chase ended when police shot out the tires of his truck. Brown received a six-year prison sentence. He spent 15 months in a South Carolina prison and 10 months in a work release program before being paroled in February 1991. In 2003, the South Carolina parole board granted him a pardon for his crimes in that state. Soon after his release, Brown was on stage again with an audience that included millions of cable television viewers nationwide who watched the three-hour, pay-per-view concert at Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles. Adrienne Brown died in 1996 in Los Angeles at age 47. She took PCP and several prescription drugs while she had a bad heart and was weak from cosmetic surgery two days earlier, the coroner said. More recently, he married his fourth wife, Tomi Raye Hynie, one of his backup singers. The couple had a son, James Jr.Two years later, Brown spent a week in a private Columbia hospital, recovering from what his agent said was dependency on painkillers. Brown’s attorney, Albert “Buddy” Dallas, said singer was exhausted from six years of road shows.
BET (Thanks Becca)
What sad news to wake up to on Christmas. He will be missed, but his music will always live on.
BTW you can read a much more detailed obit at The Atlanta Journal Constitution.
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RIP Mike Evans |
| December 22nd, 2006 under Obits. [ Comments: none ]
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 Actor Mike Evans, best known as Lionel Jefferson in the TV comedy series "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons," has died. He was 57. Evans died of throat cancer Dec. 14 at his mother’s home in Twentynine Palms, said his niece, Chrystal Evans. Evans, along with Eric Monte, also created and wrote for "Good Times," one of the first TV comedy series that featured a primarily black cast. Michael Jonas Evans was born Nov. 3, 1949, in Salisbury, North Carolina. His father, Theodore Evans Sr., was a dentist while his mother, Annie Sue Evans, was a school teacher. The family moved to Los Angeles when Evans was a child. He studied acting at Los Angeles City College before getting the role of Lionel Jefferson in the 1970s situation comedy "All in the Family." Evans kept the role of Lionel when "The Jeffersons" launched in 1975. The hit show was a spinoff featuring bigoted Archie Bunker’s black neighbours in Queens who "move on up to the East Side" of Manhattan. Evans was replaced by Damon Evans (no relation) for four years, then he returned to the series from 1979 to 1981. He also acted in the 1976 TV miniseries "Rich Man, Poor Man" and made guest appearances on the TV series "Love, American Style" and "The Streets of San Francisco." His last role was in a 2000 episode of "Walker, Texas Ranger." In recent years he had invested in real estate in Southern California.
Jam! (story) and Sitcoms Online (photo)
I didn’t know he created Good Times and that is why he left The Jefferson. That is still one of my favorite shows.
Updated with the correct Lionel…thank you to the person who pointed that out. I have to admit I assumed because Mother Jefferson was in the photo that I had the right Lionel Jefferson. I was never able to tell the difference between the two Lionels and also the two Darrens.
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RIP Peter Boyle |
| December 13th, 2006 under Obits. [ Comments: none ]
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 ET breaks news that "Everybody Loves Raymond" star PETER BOYLE died Tuesday night after a long battle with heart disease and multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow. He was 71. Multiple myeloma patients must often undergo a painful bone marrow transplant to combat the disease. Boyle passed away in the care of New York Presbyterian Hospital. The Emmy Award-winning actor is survived by his wife, LORAINE and daughters LUCY and AMY. Boyle’s many feature films include ‘Monster’s Ball,’ ‘Young Frankenstein,’ ‘Taxi Driver,’ ‘While You Were Sleeping’ and ‘Dr. Dolittle.’ He can most recently be seen in the holiday flim ‘The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause’ with TIM ALLEN and MARTIN SHORT.
Entertainment Tonight
Everybody loves you Peter Boyle!
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RIP Michael Gilden |
| December 11th, 2006 under Obits. [ Comments: none ]
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 MICHAEL GILDEN — the actor who most recently starred as PAULEY PERRETTE’s love interest on the CBS drama "NCIS" — died on Tuesday, December 5, at his home in Los Angeles, California. He had also appeared on "Charmed," "Family Law" and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," as well as feature films including ‘Pulp Fiction’ and ‘Star Wars: Episode VI – Return Of The Jedi.’ Gilden was married to another successful acting little person, MEREDITH EATON-GILDEN, who’s been WILLIAM SHATNER’s love interest on "Boston Legal." The 44-year-old actor was buried Sunday during a private service in Mission Hills, California.
Entertainment Tonight
So sad.
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In honor of John Lennon… |
| December 8th, 2006 under Obits. [ Comments: none ]
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Imagine if he lived…
What if he wasn’t gunned down 26 years ago today? Where would music be? What would he have written? What would he have sung? What would he have done? A musical genius taken away from us way too soon.
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