RIP Vesta Williams

Was shocked to hear during one of my OUT on the Hill sessions on Friday that singer Vesta Williams was found dead in a California hotel room on Thursday.  She was scheduled to be part of the DIVAS Simply Singing performance next month.

I had the pleasure of meeting Vesta and having a long conversation with her during my airline days in which I discovered we had in common our parents being in the radio biz.  

She was one sweet lady.and girlfriend could sing, too.  She had six Top 10 Billboard R&B chart singles in the 1980's and 1990's.  Some of her hit songs peeps might recognize are 'Sweet Sweet Love', 'Special', and 'Congratulations'.

Unfortunately she'll no longer be around to do that any more.    Rest in peace, Vesta.

Aaliyah's Been Gone Ten Years

Today was the shocking day we got the word that Aaliyah and 8 other people in her entourage were killed in a 2001 plane crash in the Bahamas hours after filming the Rock The Boat video.

Hard to believe that was ten years ago.  

Aaliyah's name means in Arabic 'the highest, most exalted one, the best', and did she live up to it and then some. 

Aaliyah Dana Haughton was 22 years old and things were blowing up for her.   The Grammy nominated music career was putting her on the edge of superstardom.  She filmed Romeo Must Die in 2000, had a part in Queen of the Damned and was signed to do two others.   With her striking beauty she was beginning to get modeling work. She had already filmed part of her role in The Matrix Reloaded and was also tapped to do a role in The Matrix Revolutions.   As busy as she was with her various careers she still graduated at the top of her high school class.

And then she was gone.

I make the argument that had it not been for her untimely death, Beyonce and Rihanna wouldn't have had the giant void that they were filled because they would have spent the 2K's in Aaliyah's considerably growing shadow.   The role in the movie Honey that went to Jessica Alba was originally Aaliyah's and the Sparkle remake that she was to star in was canceled.

But sadly, we'll never know just how big a star she would have become..  You marvel at the fact that she accomplished in 22 years what some people take several lifetimes to do.  She was a remarkable young woman and our lives here on this planet are poorer with her not being a part of them.  



  
Rest in peace, Aaliyah.   You are still missed by your fans.

Missing You, Gerald Levert

Today would have been the 45th birthday of Grammy award winning R&B singer Gerald Edward Levert, who was born on this day in 1966 in Canton, Ohio and died November 10, 2006.

For you younglings who are saying "who's he?",  Gerald along with his late brother Sean and friend Marc Gordon founded the award winning R&B group LeVert in 1984.  Four of LeVert's seven albums, I Get Hot in 1985, Bloodline in 1986, The Big Throwdown in 1987, and Just Coolin in 1988 went platinum.

Translation, the group had it goin' on.

So did Gerald.  He went solo in 1991 with the Private Line album that hit Number 1 on the R&B chart and did some memorable duets with his father, O'Jays lead singer Eddie Levert.    Gerald was also part of the supergroup LSG formed by himself, Keith Sweat and Johnny Gill.   Their debut album Levert-Sweat-Gill sold two million copies when it was released in 1997.

Gerald wrote and produced songs for artists such as the O'Jays, Stephanie Mills, Barry White and James Ingram just to name a few and was part of the 1994 Black Men United collaboration of 40 African American male artists with the song You Will Know, that was featured in the movie Jason's Lyric and in the movie soundtrack. 



Gerald is still missed by his family and fans, and even more so by those of us who love real music.

 

20th Anniversary Of Rodney King Beating

March 3 was the twentieth anniversary of the Rodney King beatdown by the LA po-po's that triggered the series of events that led the the 1992 LA Riots.



It also served notice to police forces everywhere that as the Rockwell song foreshadowed, somebody is always watching you.    Even with video cameras everywhere and cell phones being equipped with them, it still hasn't stopped some police officers from behaving badly even with it in the back of their minds that cameras may be rolling.

But it's just another one of those 'time flies' moments

Phil Donahue Show Featuring Grae Phillips

The Phil Donahue show was a groundbreaking talk show in the late 1980s-early 1990's that discussed topics in a reasoned, thoughtful manner.    Phil was the Emmy Award winning king of daytime television before Oprah, who at the time was just branching out from a morning talk shop on a local Chicago television station in 1986.

Here's a clip from a Donahue show with illusionist Grae Phillips.   Note the haters that called in

Flavor Flav Opens Fried Chicken Restaurant

Just when you thought that Flavor Flav couldn't outdo himself in being a walking cartoon character, now comes the news about Flav's latest business venture. 

A fried chicken chain.

The first of the Flav's Fried Chicken restaurants opened up in Clinton, Iowa on Monday.

 

Before y'all roll you eyes like I did when I first heard about this story and thought, 'There he goes again feeding stereotypes', Flav actually has a culinary degree he earned in 1978 and managed restaurants before finding music stardom as a founding member of Public Enemy.  

The Flav's Fried Chicken menu includes Flav’s specially seasoned fried chicken recipe, ribs, greens, and macaroni and cheese.

"I'm not scared to go against the colonel taste wise," Flav said. "Business wise, he's got me, because he's been here longer. But I'm about to catch up to the colonel."

Yeah, boyee!    I can see the commercial for this chicken joint already.

 FFC, coming to a 'hood near you.
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