2.8.12

November's Black History



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1st. NOVEMBER  

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT   VISUAL ARTS:
163: EDWARD M. BANNISTER (1828-1901)
1787  The African Free School, first free school in New York City opens.
1945  The first publication of Ebony Magazine by John Harold Johnson.  In 1942 he began The Negro Digest, modelled on Readers Digest, and thus launched the Johnson Publishing Company. His next venture was Ebony (1945), like Life a pictorial magazine but one focusing on African-Americans. Ebony undeniably promoted a middle-class life style and would receive it's share of criticism for its espousal of what some considered "white" values and its lack of militancy. (mn-ss)
1951  Ronald 'The Captain' Bell member with the group Kool & The Gang born in Youngstown, Ohio, USA. Now known by his Muslim name Amir Bayyan. This jazz group crossed over into the pop chart in 1973 and initiated a run of 19 Stateside Top 40 hits on their own De-Lite Label starting with Funky Stuff. (mn-cl)
1977  Carl Edward Richard Cort, 6'4"; 12.7 footballer, born Southwark, England. (bh-mn)
1981 Destiny's Child's LaTavia Roberson, born. Destiny's Child was formed in Houston, Texas, in 1990, when original members Beyoncé Knowles and LaTavia Roberson were just nine years old; Knowles' father, Matthew, set about developing an act based on their singing and rapping, under the name GirlTyme. Knowles's cousin Kelly Rowland joined two years after. Later Tina Knowles, Beyoncé's mother, took their name from a passage in the Book of Isaiah. They landed an appearance on Star Search (as a trio), where they performed a rap song. In 1993, LeToya Luckett joined the act. The quartet's lineup was finalized (for the time being), and they spent the next few years working their way up from the Houston club scene, eventually opening for popular R&B artists like SWV, Dru Hill, and Immature. In 1997, Destiny's Child was offered a recording contract by Columbia Records. (wickpedia)

2022 [Joe Tarsia] dies aged 88  in Philadelpha, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. b. 23rd September 1934, Philadelpha. The engineer for Philadelphia International Records. He started work at Philco electronics and later was taken on by Cameo Records as an engineer. He opened his own Sigma Sound studio in 1970s and helped form Philadelphia Int. Records.

2nd. NOVEMBER  

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT   VISUAL ARTS:
164: HENRY OSSAWA TANNER (1859 -1937)    
NYABINGHI ILLADAY (*see below) PAGE 1  
PCRL DJ:  LITTLE RICHIE BORN
1880  Black Invention: Eye Protector Glasses, patent by Powell Johnson.(sc)
1886  Black invention: Receptacle for Restoring and Preserving papers, Henry Brown. (sc)
1924  Nadia Cattouse, black actor born, Belize City, British Honduras (now Belize). She acted on the BBC's version of The Green Pastures, she remembers rehearsing in Notting Hill while the 1958 riots were taking place. Her career began in 1954 with roles in Halcyon Days and Runaway Slave. In the 1960s Nadia enjoyed international acclaim as a folk singer, and was-briefly-the first black woman presenter on BBC radio's Woman's Hour. (mn-sb)
1930  *Ras Tafari is crowned Haile Selassie I, King of Kings - Lord Of Lords - Conquering Lion of Judah. Haile Selassie was born in Harar Province, Ethiopia, July 23, 1894. He became emperor of Ethiopia today, his rein ended in 1974 when military leaders over through him. Salassie worked for economic and social reform, such as making  slavery punishable by law. He gave Ethiopia it's first written constitution in 1931. Ethiopia was attacked by fascist Italy in 1935 and Halie Salassie lived in exile in England until 1941. British forces liberated Ethiopia during World War II and restored him to the throne. Rebels seized the government on December 13th 1960 while he was in South America, but he regained his throne four days later. Haile Salassie was born Ras Tafari, he belonged to a dynasty that claimed to be the descendants of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. (dies August 27, 1975). (tr-jc-mn-txx)
1937  Earl 'Speedo' Carroll singer with Cadilacs/Coasters born. (mn-jt)
1952  Maxine Nightingale soul singer born in Wembley, London, England. Maxine gained great acclaim for her stage work in 'Hair',' Jesus Christ Superstar', and 'Godspell'. (mn)
1983  U.S. President signs a bill to establish a federal holiday in honour of the birthday of Martin Luther King. (The third Monday in January)
1997  Brenda Holloway the 60's Tamla-Motown recording star talks to PCRL's listeners though interviewer Bill Randle (The interview was broadcast in four episodes on the 'Basement Soul Show with Mickey Nold). Ref MD 925 (mn)
2005  Thousands of people have gathered to pay their respects at the funeral of US civil rights icon Rosa Parks, who died last week aged 92. Former US President Bill Clinton led the tributes at the ceremony in Detroit, Michigan, her home since 1957. Also among the mourners were civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, and the signer Aretha Franklin. Mrs Parks' refusal to give up her seat on an Alabama bus to a white man led to the end of legal segregation. Earlier this week, thousands filed past her coffin as she lay in state in Alabama and then Washington. 'Grace and dignity' Hundreds of politicians and other dignitaries, along with 2,000 members of the public, are attending the service in the 4,000-seat Greater Grace Temple church. Audience members held hands and sang the civil rights anthem We Shall Overcome, as family members filed past the open casket before it was closed. (bbc news)
2008 Lewis Hamilton wins the 'F1 World Motor racing' champion title at the age of 23 overtaking on the last bend of the race and 10 seconds from the end of the Grand Prix. He almost won it the previous year in his first season! He is the first and youngest black champion.

3rd. NOVEMBER   

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT VISUAL ARTS:    
165: EDMONIA LEWIS (1845-1890?)   
1896  Black Invention: portable weighing scales, J.H. Hunter.
1933  Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, Cabinet member, born. (tr-iokts)
1963  Ian Edward Wright, football player born. In 1991 Striker Ian Wright is purchased from Crystal Palace by Arsenal for £2.5 million. 1997 he receives a Carling N0.1 award after a week when he breaks the hat-trick record by scoring five goals in seven days, he also broke the 178 goals record. Club Honours: PL '98; FMC '91; FLC '93; FAC '93,'98. International Honours: E:31; B-3. (bh-mn)
1986  Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis saxophonist dies. Davis began to make his mark on the jazz scene in his home town when he worked at Clark Monroes's Uptown House in the late 30s. Despite this establishment's close ties with the emergence of bebop a few years later, Davis's tenor saxophone playing was rooted in the swing and blues, and early in his career he displayed a marked affinity with the tough school of Texas tenors. In the early 40s he worked with a number of big bands, including those of Cootie Williams, Lucky Millender and Andy Kirk. He also made several appearances with the Count Basie band which extended through the 60s and 70s. It was with Count Basie he made his biggest impact (mn-cl)02022
2022 Noel McKoy UK singer dies. b. Noel McKoy, 1960, Clapham, South London, England, United Kingdom. He and his 2 sisters were just called McKoy in the 1990s, they were guests on a PCRL Christmas show in 1992. His last work was as the British Collective with Jr. Giscombe, Leee John, Don-E & Omar. (mn)

4th. NOVEMBER   

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT:  VISUAL ARTS:  
166: HORACE PIPPIN (1888-1946)   
1879  Black Invention: Improvements In Refrigerating Apparatus, Thomas T.Sampson. (sc)
1953  Hulan Jack becomes the fist black Manhattan Borough President of New York.
1954  David Jahson, reggae artiste born Everald Pickergill, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies. Jahson embarked on his recording career with his debut, "For I", which peaked at number 7 on the JBC chart in Jamaica. His overnight success led to the release of a number of hits, including "Ruff Neck Soldier", "Give Thanks And Praise" and the melancholy "People Bawling". By 1977 he joined the line-up of the Well Pleased And Satisfied band who enjoyed a string of hits during their brief career, including "Black On Black", "West Man Rock", "News Carrier Dem A Warrior", "Barberman Bawling" and "Open The Gates". Following the band's demise, Jahson reactivated his solo career, working with brothers Ian and Roger Lewis of Inner Circle. The alliance led to Jahson's pivotal hit, "Natty Chase The Barber", which reiterated his acrimonious attitude towards hairdressers. The song inspired a series of barber-related tunes in the late 70s, including Doctor Alimantado riding the same rhythm for "I Killed The Barber". Jahson simultaneously accompanied the Inner Circle band on their promotional tour for Everything Is Great, where he is credited as percussionist. He remained with the band under the guise of Black Spy until Jacob Miller's untimely demise in March 1980, which led to the band's temporary dissolution. He settled in the UK throughout the 80s, initially recording with fellow expatriate Errol Dunkley. Jahson's sporadic releases include "True Believer", "She Loves The Rub A Dub", "Lips Of Wine", "Stop Your Gun Shooting" and "Zion Home". (mn-cl-music.us)
1958  Shirley Verrett, world renowned opera singer, makes her debut in New York City.
1992  Carol Moseley Braun is the first African American woman to be elected in the U.S. Senate. Born in 1947 the daughter of a Chicago police officer, Braun receives a law degree from the University of Chicago and worked at the US attorney's office, where she won the Special Achievement Award. In 1978 she was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, where she was voted Best Legislator each of the ten years she served. In 1988 she became the first African-American to hold high office in Cook County when she was elected Cook County Recorder of Deeds, an important stepping-stone to her senate race. (mn-ss-tr-iokts)
1999  Malcolm Marshall, West Indian fast bowling legend dies in his native Barbados from colon cancer. One of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, his death shocked and saddened the cricket world and fans who arranged from heads of state to labourers. In 81 test matches between 1978 and 1991, Marshall took 376 wickets at an average of 20.94 runs per wicket, that is lower than any of the other outstanding West Indian bowlers.  He was aged 41. (buried 13/11/99) (mn-jahb)
2008 Byron Lee dies. Legendary bandleader Byron Lee lost his battle with cancer. The soca icon died at the University Hospital of the West Indies at the age of 73. Lee, fondly referred to as 'The Dragon', had been fighting transitional cell cancer and was being treated in Miami, Florida. He was later diagnosed with bladder cancer two years ago and returned to Jamaica, by air ambulance, on Saturday, October 25, and was being treated at The Tony Thwaites Wing. "The family of The Honourable Byron Lee Sr, OJ, regretfully confirms that he passed away peacefully today," The Dragon's daughter, Julian Lee Samuels, told The Gleaner. "He fought a very brave battle with cancer and was in hospital surrounded by his family and close friends. He will be remembered not only as an excellent musician, but as a very kind, generous, humble and talented man who was always working to use music to unite persons of all ages, races and people from all walks of life." Lee is survived by his wife, Sheila, sons Byron Jr, Edward John, daughters Deanna, Judith, Julianne and Danielle as well as grandchildren Amelia, Alexander, Jessica, Victoria, Amanda, Jaden and Dylan. Prime Minister Bruce Golding said that Byron Lee had excelled not only as a musician, with his band Byron Lee and the Dragonaires, but was known to be one of the best promoters, label and studio owners, and can be credited for the explosion in popularity of Jamaica's music as far back as the 1960s. Olivia Grange, minister of information, culture, youth and sports, with responsibility for entertainment, said she was deeply saddened by the passing of Lee. People's National Party Spokesperson on Information and Culture, Lisa Hanna, expressed condolences and sympathies to Lee's family. "Jamaica has lost a loved and treasured icon of our cultural fabric whose larger-than-life talent pioneered Jamaican music to the four corners of the world," she said in a statement.  Order of Jamaica: Lee was known for hits such as Tiny Winey and was recently conferred with the Order of Jamaica during a special ceremony at the hospital last week. He was given the award by Governor General Sir Kenneth Hall and the prime minister. The Order of Jamaica is the nation's fourth-highest honour. Lee was awarded the Order of Distinction (Officer class) in 1982. That honour was upgraded to Commander class in 2007. Lee's career spans more than 50 years and he is credited with being one of the leading musicians to bring Jamaican music to the world. According to yahoomusic.com, when Bob Marley was a struggling young musician and a member of the little-known Wailers, Lee was perhaps the most well-known Jamaican bandleader in the world. Lee was 20 years old when he formed his band, the Dragonaires, in 1957, and has since travelled the world and assisted to popularise the carnival tradition in Jamaica through the annual Jamaica Carnival. - Bruce Golding (Jamaican Gleaner)

5th. NOVEMBER

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT:    VISUAL ARTS:  
167: MARVIN GRAY JOHNSON (1896-1934)   
1926  Negro History Week is initiated by Carter G. Woodson.
1931  Ike Turner born in Clarkdale, Mississippi, pianist/guitar player formed The Kings Of Rhythm in the late 40's. 'Rocket 88' in 1950 is named as the first 'Rock 'n' Roll' recording, credited as Jackie Brenston. Ike also formed part of the Ike & Tina Turner act. (mn)
1965  Paris Gray of the soul group Inner City born. (mn-jt-)
1956  Art Tatum, jazz pianist dies. Born October 13, 1909, learned to play formally and read music at an early age. Blind in one eye and partially sighted in the other, worked a soloist for many bands, including Adelaide Hall who took him on as her accompanist. The word genius is often used carelessly but, it is hard to think of a word more appropriate to describe Art Tatum. Read Art Tatum: A Guide To His Recorded Music, Arnold Laubich and Ray Spencer.  (mn-cl-jt)
1968  Shirley Chisholm is the first African American woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate. On this day she was elected, as a Democrat, to the US House of Representatives, where she served until 1982. In 1993 President Clinton appointed her ambassador to Jamaica. (mm-tr-iokts)
1969  Sister Allison, radio presenter/actress born, Allison Colleen Mason, London, England. (mn-cl)
2000  Haile Salassie's bones exhumed and re-buried at a new grave with full honours next to his wife. Haile Salassie was born Ras Tafari, he belonged to a dynasty that claimed to be the descendants of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. (died August 27, 1975 in suspicious circumstances). (mn)
2008 Baraka Obama is elected as the first Black President of the United States of America.

6th. NOVEMBER     

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT:  VISUAL ARTS:  
168: RICHMOND BARTH'E (1901-1989) 
In memory of William Wells Brown, novelist, abolitionist and dramatist (1815-1884). His autobiography sold 10,000 copies, a record.
1937  Eugene Pitt of soul group The Jive Five born. (mn-jt)
1973  Coleman Young becomes the first African American mayor of Detroit, Michigan, USA. He was also the city's longest serving Mayor (1973-1993). As a young man working in the auto industry, he was an organizer for the Congress of Industrial Workers. After serving as a USAAF bombardier in World War II, he became director of organization for the Wayne County AFL/CIO. His political career advanced rapidly, from delegate to the Michigan constitutional convention (1961) to state senator (1964-1973) and mayor. His principal goals as mayor were to improve Detroit's flagging economy, ease radical tensions, and combat crime. (mm-ss-tr-iokts)
1984  The Revd. Marvin Gaye Sr. was sentenced to five years in prison for the manslaughter of his own soul star son, Marvin Gaye. He was later found to have a tumour on his brain, that was then removed. (mn)

7th. NOVEMBER  

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT   VISUAL ARTS:  
169: JACOB LAWRENCE (1917-      )
1919  Ellen Stewart born. (tr-bl)
1938  Dee Clark soul singer born Delecta Clark in Blythville, Arcansas, USA. Dies foorm heart attack, December 7, 1990, Smyma, Georgia, USA. Clark had a wonderfully impassioned tenor voice and enjoyed a spate of rock 'n' roll hits in the late 50s and a lesser body of soul work in the 60s. Clark's entertainment career began in 1952 as a member of the Hambone Kids, who, with band leader Red Saunders, recorded a novelty number in which Clark's group patted a rhythm known as the Hambone. Clark later joined a vocal group, the Goldentones, who won first prize in a talent show at Chicago's Roberts Show Lounge. Noted disc jockey Herb "Kool Gent" Kent then took the group to Vee Jay Records, where they recorded as the Kool Gents. Clark's distinctive stylings soon engendered a solo contract and in 1958 he had a US hit with "Nobody But You" (R&B number 3 and pop Top 30). "Just Keep It Up" (R&B number 9 and pop Top 20) and "Hey Little Girl" (R&B number 2 and pop Top 20) proved equally popular the following year. The artist's major success came in 1962 with "Raindrops" (R&B number 3 and pop number 2). This plaintive offering, co-written by Clark and Phil Upchurch, eventually sold in excess of one million copies. Sadly, Clark was unable to repeat this feat, but continued on Chicago-based Constellation with a spate of moderate R&B hits, namely, "Crossfire Time" (1963), "Heartbreak" (1964), and "TCB" (1965). His career faded after Constellation went out of business in 1966. In the UK he had a sizeable hit in 1975 with "Ride A Wild Horse"; in the USA the record failed to chart. Clark died of a heart attack in 1990. (mn-music.nu)
1942  Johnny Rivers, soul man born John Ramistella, New York City, New York, USA.Johnny Rivers enjoyed a succession of pop hits in the 60s and 70s, initially by remaking earlier R&B songs and eventually with his own compositions. His singles were spirited creations, some recorded live in front of an enthusiastic, hip Los Angeles audience. (mn-cl)
1950  Alexa Candady, first female African-American neurosurgeon, is born in Lansing, Michigan. USA (tr-iokts)
1963  John Barnes, Football player born in Jamaica. Plays for Liverpool and previously Watford. League appearances: 233 with Watford; 179 with Liverpool. (tr)
1972  The Black Ace, blues guitarist, dies, Fort Worth, Texas, USA. (mn-rs)
1989  Douglas Wilder becomes the U.S.A.'s first black governor since reconstruction, when he wins the Virginia election.
1989  David Dinkins is the first African-American elected Mayor of New York City. He served his term amidst heightened racial tension in the city. Despite strong support from the African-American communities, he lost the election in 1993. (mn-ss)
2011 Smokin' Joe Frazier champion boxer dies. Total fights 37, wins 32, wins by KO 27. Born 12-1-44. Toward the end of September 2011, Frazier was diagnosed with liver cancer. Within a few weeks, the cancer metastasized. By November 2011, he was under hospice care, where he died on 7 November. Some of the most memorable moments in the 1976 boxing-themed feature film, Rocky — such as Rocky's carcass-punching scenes and Rocky running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, as part of his training regimen — are taken from Joe's real-life exploits, for which he received no credit. In March 2007, a Joe Frazier action figure was released as part of a range of toys based on the Rocky film franchise, developed by the American toy manufacturer, Jakks Pacific. wiki (mn-pilot)
2011 Dr. Conrad Murray is found guilty of negligence in the death of Michael Jackson and faces up-to 4 years in prison. (mn)

8th. NOVEMBER  

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT:   VISUAL ARTS:  
170: MARION PERKINS (1908-1961)
1878  Marshall Walter Taylor "Major Taylor", the world's fastest bicycle racer for 12 years, born in Indianapolis, In,. USA.
1919 Cy Grant, calipso singer born in Guyana (then British Guiana), Cy Grant has lived an extraordinarily varied life. He served as a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force during the second World War, was shot down and spent two years as a prisoner of war. After the war he qualified as a Barrister at Law, but went on to be an actor on stage and in film, as well as a singer in concert and cabaret. His was the first black face to be regularly seen on British Television, singing the news on television on the BBC TONIGHT programme. He has had his own series on radio and TV and his acting career is on record in BLACKGROUNDS, an Oral History Project housed at the Theatre Museum. He is the author of RING OF STEEL, pan sound and symbol (Macmillan 1999). He was the Chairman/cofounder of DRUM, the London based Black arts centre in the 70's and Director of CONCORD Multicultural Festivals in the 80's. He is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Surrey, Roehampton and a member of The Scientific & Medical Network. (cygrant.fsnet,co.uk)
1938  Crystal Bird Faucet of Pennsylvania is the first African American woman to be elected to state legislature. (tr-iokts)
1942  Gerald Alston singer with The Manhattans and later solo born today. Alston joined the band when George Smith died suddenly in 1971. (mn-jt)
1947  Minnie Ripperton soul singer born in Chicago, USA. Minnie sang in The Gems and as Andrea Davis prior to joining Rotary Connection. Then joined Stevie Wonder's backing group Wonderlove, later recorded solo. Best remembered for her hit record, Loving You. (Dies 12/7/79). (mn)
1956  A Man from the Sun - The BBC dramatized the lives of newly arrived Caribbean settlers. However, for the next forty years, in spite of the wealth of material available, British television put a wall of silence around the subject. (mn-sb)
1968  Kokomo Arnold, blues slide guitarist, dies in Chicago, Ill, USA. d. 8 November 1968, Chicago, Illinois, USA. "Kokomo" Arnold was a left-handed slide blues guitarist who learned the basics of his style from his cousin, James Wigges. After working in steel mills in Illinois and Pennsylvania he became a dedicated fisherman and moonshiner, who looked upon his musical success as an adjunct to "real life". Arnold developed an unorthodox method of playing guitar, based on a style that had originally been popular in a few states in the Deep South. He held the instrument flat, using a slide to create an eerie, ringing sound. Unlike the relaxed and often casual approach of many of his contemporaries, Arnold's was an urgent, aggressive style, and he achieved remarkable results with his unusual method of guitar playing and the curiously high-pitched, often unintelligible, singing that accompanied it. Interspersed in these wailings would be sudden bursts of vocal clarity that gave his statements great authority. He gained a reputation that followed him in his travels throughout the northern states in the years after the end of World War I.  (sr-music.us)
1974  Ivory Joe Hunter, singer/piano player dies,Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Although Hunter was a well-known figure in Texas through his radio shows, it was not until the 40s, when he moved to the west coast, that his career flourished. He established his own record companies, Ivory and Pacific, recording on the former with Johnny Moore's Three Blazers (the Exclusive licensed crossover hit "Blues At Sunrise"), while the latter provided the outlet for Hunter's first R&B chart-topper, "Pretty Mama Blues". Hunter continued his success with several singles recorded with sidemen from the Duke Ellington Orchestra before one of his most enduring compositions, "I Almost Lost My Mind", became a second R&B number 1 in 1950. (mn-jt-music.us)   
1983  James Booker, keyboard player, dies, New Orleans, USA. As an exceptionally talented child, Booker studied classical piano, but balanced his virtuosity with blues and boogie learned from Isidore "Tuts" Washington and Edward Frank. In his early teens he appeared on radio WMRY and formed a band he called Booker Boy And The Rhythmaires. He made his first record for Imperial in 1954, "Doin' The Hambone", and "Thinkin' 'Bout My Baby", produced by Dave Bartholomew, led to sessions for Fats Domino, Smiley Lewis and Lloyd Price, among others. Booker made just two more singles during the 50s, "Heavenly Angel" for Chess and "Open The Door" for Ace. In 1959 he enrolled at Southern University to study music. A year later, he signed to Peacock and had the only hit of his career, an organ instrumental called "Gonzo", which reached number 3 in the R&B charts. Further singles such as "Tubby" and "Big Nick" failed to achieve similar success. By this point, however, drugs had added to his psychological problems and his work became erratic. In 1970 he served time in Angola State Penitentiary for drug possession. His appearance at the 1975 Jazz Fest led to a recording contract for Island Records. Other records appeared sporadically but his deteriorating mental state and an inability to control his drug problem led to a fatal heart attack. His highly individual style can sometimes be heard in the work of Harry Connick Jnr., who was a student and friend of Booker's.  (mn-rs-music.us)
1984  Fela Anikulapo Kuti was convicted of smuggling and sentenced to five years imprisonment. (mn-jt)
1997  Imamu Mayfield wins IBF Cruiserweight World Champion Boxer title against Uriah Grant in Las Vagas. (mn-ring)
1997  Evander Holyfield retains WBA title and regains IBF World Championship titles against Michael Moorer in Las Vagas. (mn-ring)
2011 Heavy D (Dwight Mayers) 80/90's rapper dies. His hip-hop recording career began in 1987 with his group Heavy D & the Boyz and on his first album he released the hit single "The Overweight Lover's in the House." Another one of his breakthrough hits came in 1991 with a remake of the O'Jays' "Now That We Found Love." Heavy D's rapping was featured on Janet Jackson's 1990 hit "Alright." He rapped on Michael Jackson's 1991 hit "Jam," which he performed at last month's Michael Jackson tribute show in Cardiff, Wales. He also composed and performed the theme songs several television shows, including "In Living Color," "MADtv" and "The Tracy Morgan Show." His last CD, "Love Opus," was released this year. Heavy D also pursued an acting career, which included mostly roles on TV shows and movies. He played a courthouse guard in the Eddie Murphy film "Tower Heist,". (pilot/cnn)

9th. NOVEMBER  

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT    VISUAL ARTS:  
171: CHARLES WHITE (1918-1979)
1731  Benjamin Banneker was born on this date. He was a self-taught, Black astronomer and mathematician. From Ellicott, MD., at the age of 22, Benjamin Banneker created a working clock from wood after studying the watch of a friend. It took him two years to finish the clock, which kept accurate time in hours, minutes, and seconds until his death. Banneker became interested in astronomy through a local surveyor named George Ellicott, who loaned him astronomy books. (aareg)
1890  Palmer Hayden born. He was an African-American painter whose work was evident during the Harlem Renaissance. Born Peyton Cole Hedgeman, in Widewater, Virginia, he lived in Paris and New York when he was a young man. During his life, Palmer Hayden made many contributions. Like many artist, he got inspiration from the environment around him. The inspiration for The Janitor Who Paints came from one of Palmer's friends whose name was Cloyde Boykin. Boykin was a painter who had to become a janitor to support himself. Hayden once said, “I painted it because no one called Cloyde a painter; they called him a janitor.” Many people consider this painting to be an expression of the tough times Palmer was having.  (aareg)
1922 Dorothy Dandridge born. She was an African-American actress, singer, dancer, and entertainer.  Dorothy Jean Dandridge was from Cleveland, her mother was an aspiring actress named Ruby Dandridge. Ruby had walked out on Dorothy's father, moved into an apartment with a friend, (Geneva Williams) who became instrumental in teaching Dorothy and her sister singing, dancing and piano. They moved to Nashville and were signed with the National Baptist Convention to tour churches throughout the southern states. The Great Depression put a halt to progress and moved to Hollywood. The Dandridge Sisters, as they were know received an unaccredited cameo in the film The Big Broadcast of 1936. They played the Cotton Club where they were a hit and soon toured Europe. (aareg)
1969  Pepa, feminine pop rapper, from Jamaica; Bronx; Queens, and member of Salt & Pepa born Sandra Denton. In the mid-'80s, Herby Azor, a student at New York's Centre for Media Arts, changed rap history with a class project. Assigned to produce a record, he recruited two female friends who shared his part-time job as a Sears telephone sales rep. Their first rap, "Show stopper" sold 250,000 copies and launched the career of Salt-N-Pepa. Now known as Hurby Luv Bug, Azor became a top producer who helped Pepa release one gold and two platinum albums, a feat no other female rap act can achieve. (mn-jt-ms)
1978  SisqĂł, singer/rapper born. Originally a member of the very successful 1990s R&B group "Dru Hill". In 2000, though, SisqĂł finally achieved fame with his debut solo album, "Unleash the Dragon". "Thong Song" and its scandalous video on MTV propelled the album to the top of the charts, followed by another huge hit, "Incomplete."
1990   Alma Parks Brown, gospel singer, died in Washington, DC, USA. Age: 82

10th. NOVEMBER     

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT  VISUAL ARTS:   
172: CHARLES H. ALSTON (1907-1977)
1939  Hubert Laws, jazz musician born in Houston, Texas, USA. Hubert is the brother of Debra Laws, Ronnie Laws, and Eloise Laws. He originally studied piano, but his high-school band required a flute player so he learned this instrument instead. Over the years he's played with the Jazz Crusaders and Sergio Mendes. (mn-rt-jt)
1951  Hosea Richardson becomes first black jockey to ride in Florida.
1961  Andrew Hatcher is named associate press secretary to President John F. Kennedy. (tr-iokts)
1961  Junior soul singer born Norman Giscombe on this day in Clapham, London. He made a big impression on the UK 'Brit Funk' scene in 1982 with his debut single Mamma Used To Say (Top 10), more hits followed but he became more popular in the US than in the UK. (mn-rt)
1995  Nigeria's military government hangs nine political activist, causing a worldwide uproar. (tr-iokts)
2006 Gerald Levert dies aged 40 in Clevelnd, Ohio. (b. 13th July 1966, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.) He had suffered a heart attack in his home town of Cleveland, Ohio. He will, inevitably be remembered as the son of the O'Jays vocal group frontman, Eddie LeVert, however, Gerald was a respected vocalist in his own right. During the 1980's Gerald was the helmsman of the vocal ensemble LeVert, who scored a major Soul Music hit with the song 'Pop, Pop, Pop Goes My Heart'. The group also scored another major hit with the song 'Casanova'. Following his departure from the band, Gerald became a substantial Soul Star in his own right, achieving success with the songs, 'I'd Give Anything (To Fall In Love)' and 'Mr. Too Damn Good To You'. He also worked with Chris Rock on the song 'No Sex (In The Champagne Room)'. In 2004, Gerald released 'Do I Speak For The World', a social diatribe that saw a musical maturiy beyond his years. (soulwalking)

11th. NOVEMBER  

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT VISUAL ARTS:   
173: GERALDINE MCCULLOUGH (1922-     )
1920  Ennisteen Letitia Allen, born in Champaign, Illinois, USA. Raised by her grandmother in Toledo, Ohio, Allen was an exceptionally soulful big-band vocalist who excelled at both ballads and blues. (Dies August 10, 1992, New York, USA.) (mn-cl)
1927  Mose Allison, Jazz-blues pianist, born in Tippo, Mississippi, USA. Allison began piano lessons at the age of five, and played trumpet in high school, although he has featured the latter instrument less frequently in recent years. His music is a highly individual mix of blues and modern jazz, with influences on his cool, laconic singing and piano-playing ranging from Tampa Red and Sonny Boy "Rice Miller" Williamson to Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, and Thelonious Monk. He moved to New York in 1956 and worked mainly in jazz settings, playing with Stan Getz, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims and Gerry Mulligan, and recording for numerous companies. During the 60s, Allison's work was much in evidence as he became a major influence on the burgeoning R&B scene. Pete Townshend, one of his greatest fans, recorded Allison's "A Young Man's Blues" for the Who's Live At Leeds. Similarly, John Mayall was one of dozens who recorded his classic "Parchman Farm", and Georgie Fame featured many Allison songs in his heyday with the Blueflames (Fame's nasal and understated vocal was similar to Allison's). In the 80s, Allison saw a resurgence in his popularity after becoming a hero to the new, young audience hungry for his blend of modern jazz. In 1996, he collaborated with Fame, Van Morrison and Ben Sidran on his own tribute album, Tell Me Something: The Songs Of Mose Allison. Ultimately, however, his work is seen as hugely influential on other performers, and this has to a degree limited the profile afforded his own lengthy recording career. (mn-rs-music.us)
1928  LaVern Baker singer born Delores Williams, Chicago, USA. d.10/3/97.  Baker was a pioneering voice in the fusion of R&B and rock 'n' roll in the 50s. In 1947 she was discovered in a Chicago nightclub by bandleader Fletcher Henderson. Although still in her teens, the singer won a recording contract with the influential OKeh Records, where she was nicknamed "Little Miss Sharecropper" and "Bea Baker". Having toured extensively with the Todd Rhodes Orchestra, Baker secured a prestigious contract with Atlantic Records, with whom she enjoyed a fruitful relationship. "Tweedle Dee" reached both the US R&B and pop charts in 1955, selling in excess of one million copies, and the artist was awarded a second gold disc two years later for "Jim Dandy". In 1959, she enjoyed a number 6 pop hit with "I Cried A Tear" and throughout the decade Baker remained one of black music's leading performers. Although eclipsed by newer acts during the 60s, the singer enjoyed further success with "Saved", written and produced by Leiber And Stoller, and "See See Rider", both of which inspired subsequent versions, notably by the Band and the Animals. Baker's final chart entry came with "Think Twice", a 1966 duet with Jackie Wilson, as her "classic" R&B intonation grew increasingly out of step with the prevalent soul/Motown Records boom. After leaving Atlantic, Baker is probably best known for "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show". In the late 60s, while entertaining US troops in Vietnam, she became ill, and went to the Philippines to recuperate. She stayed there in self-imposed exile for 22 years, reviving her career at New York's Village Gate club in 1991. During the following year she undertook a short UK tour, but audience numbers were disappointing for the only female, along with Aretha Franklin, who had, at that time, been elected to the US Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. She replaced Ruth Brown in the Broadway musical Black And Blue in the early 90s, but ill health from diabetes, together with the amputation of both her legs, made her final years miserable. Baker had a stunning voice that with little effort could crack walls, and yet her ballad singing was wonderfully sensitive. (mn-music.us)
1928  Ernestine Anderson born. Raised in Seattle, Anderson has been singing professionally since her mid-teens. She worked extensively with R&B bands in the 40s, including those led by Russell Jacquet and Johnny Otis. A year with Lionel Hampton in the early 50s and a Scandinavian tour with bop trumpeter Rolf Ericson broadened her repertoire, but she remained well rooted in the blues. In later years Anderson developed her technique and range, her rich, molten sound being especially effective on the better contemporary pop songs. Despite spending long periods overseas (including several years' residence in England from 1965), her international appeal remained limited. Indeed, the spell in Europe adversely affected her career in her homeland; even a national magazine profile that described her as the "new Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald" did not help. A chance appearance at the 1976 Concord Summer Jazz Festival deservedly brought her to the attention of a new and wider audience, and since then she has performed and recorded extensively for the Concord label and she is now based chiefly on the west coast of America.  (tr-bl-music.us)
1930  Hail Selassie's coronation. Was Jamaica's Daily Gleaner's front page report. Jamaicans of the Garveyite persuasion began consulting their Bibles. Further study convinced them that Haile Selassie I was Christ returned as a king in glory to sit upon David's Throne, the Throne of Ethiopia, as foretold in the Book of Revelations. (mn-pride)
1936  Buddy Ace aka The Silver Fox Of Blues, born Jimmy L. Land, Jasper, Texas, USA, d. 24 December 1994. Ace was a R&B singer who brought a deep blues feeling to his music. He was raised in Baylor, Texas, and was recruited in 1956 by the owner of Duke/Peacock Records, Don Robey, to perform as a soundalike to Johnny Ace, his top recording artist. As Buddy Ace, the singer was signed to the Peacock label, but it was not until the late 60s that he had any chart success, with two fine singles on the Duke label, "Nothing In The World Can Hurt Me (Except You)" (number 25 R&B) and "Hold On (To This Old Fool)" (number 33 R&B). Ace also recorded for Jewel, Sunny, Specialty Records and EveJim; he recorded three albums for the latter in the early 90s, Root Doctor, Don't Hurt No More and Silver Fox. Until his death, Land continued to tour as Buddy Ace in the south and in northern inner-city clubs where his style of soul-blues remained popular. (mn-rs-music.us)
1943  Grover Washington Jr., born in Buffalo, NY, USA. Was given his first saxophone by his father and was playing professionally by the age of twelve. After forming a group at the age of fourteen and establishing himself on the local jazz circuit, he made his first recording on Charles Earland's Living Black (1970) (mn-cl-rt)
1984  Rev. Martin Luther King Sr., "Daddy King," dies. (tr-iokts)
1989  Civil Rights Memorial is dedicated in Montgomery, Al., USA.
1990  Ronnie Dyson soul singer dies. Born June 5, 1950 in Washington, D.C., USA. Dyson played a leading roll in the Broadway production of 'Hair', he perused his thespian ambitions in Salvation, a less infamous musical, from 1970. One of his songs (If you let me make love to you then) Why Can't I Touch You?, was a US Top 10 hit, while the singer reached the R&B chart with several subsequent singles. By 1993 he had his last chart entry with All Over your Face. (mn-cl)

12th. NOVEMBER   

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT  VISUAL ARTS:  
174: RICHARD H. HUNT (1935-       )
1909  Bukka White, Delta blues singer born. White learned guitar and piano in his teens, and hoboed from 1921, playing blues with artists such as George "Bullet" Williams. In the mid-30s White was a boxer and baseball pitcher. He recorded for Victor Records in 1930, a largely unissued session including spirituals and the first of his breakneck train imitations. Returning to Vocalion Records in 1937, he recorded his composition "Shake 'Em On Down" and was given the misspelt billing which he always disliked. By the time "Shake 'Em On Down" was a hit, White had been imprisoned in Parchman Farm for assault. There, he recorded two songs for the Library of Congress, and claimed to have had an easy time as a prison musician. However, when he recorded commercially again in 1940, he was clear that he had been traumatized by his experience. The result was a remarkable series of recordings obsessed with prison, trains, drink and death. The songs were poetic, complete and coherent, often with deep insights into their topics, their heavy vocal delivery perfectly complemented by fierce, percussive slide guitar. (d.26/2/1977) (mn-rs-music.us)
1922  Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority is organized by Mary Lou Allison and six other teachers. (tr-iokts)
1939  Ruby Nash Curtis, soul singer with Ruby and Romantics, born today in New York, USA. Group: Edward Roberts (first tenor), George Lee (second tenor), Ronald Mosley (baritone) and Leroy Fann (Born 9 November 1936, d. November 1973; bass) had been working as the Supremes prior to the arrival of Ruby Nash Curtis (Born 12 November 1939, New York City, New York, USA) in 1962. Curtis had met the group in Akron, Ohio, and took on the role as their lead singer. They subsequently secured a contract with the New York label Kapp and at the suggestion of the company, changed their name to Ruby And The Romantics. By the following year they had taken the evocative "Our Day Will Come" to the top of the US pop chart, earning them a gold disc. Over the next 12 months the group enjoyed a further six hits including the original version of "Hey There Lonely Boy" which, with a change of gender, was later revived by Eddie Holman. After three years at Kapp, the group signed to the ABC Records label. In 1965 "Does He Really Care For Me', the Romantics" last chart entry, preceded a wholesale line-up change. Ruby brought in a new backing group; Richard Pryor, Vincent McLeod, Robert Lewis, Ronald Jackson and Bill Evans, but in 1968 the forthright Curtis replaced this version with Denise Lewis and Cheryl Thomas.  (mn-music.us)
1941  Madame Lillian Evanti, opera singer, founds the National Negro Opera Company. Born August 12, 1890 in Washington, D.C., Madame Lillian Evanti made her opera debut in France.
1944  Booker T. Jones singer/songwriter/organ/producer with Booker T. & The M.G.'s born in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. The group became the house band for Stax Records recording countless hit records for Otis Redding/Sam & Dave/William Bell/Carla Thomas and many more. (mn)
1945  Errol Brown singer with Hot Chocolate born. The group enjoyed chart success in Europe during th mid-70s, thanks to hits like, You Sexy Thing (recently revived in the film The Full Monty) and Disco Queen, also social-political songs like the anti-racism Brother Louie which was No.1 in 1973. Most of the founding members was from the Caribbean and Trinidad. (mn-jt-Dp)
1948  Donald Johnson drummer with Taste Of Honey, born. There debut disco smash Boogie Oogie Oogie sold more than a million copies, and the quartet album sold more than 3 million in 1978 and they won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist that year. But alas the group faded away. (mn-jt)
1978  Tevin Campbell, soul singer born in Waxahachie, Texas, USA. Somewhat of a Renaissance man (boy), church choirboy Tevin Campbell actually begun his professional career on television, in Wally and the Valentines. Quincy Jones introduced him to the world on his Back on the Block album, on which Tevin sang the title track and No.1 single 'Tomorrow (Better You, Better Me.') (mn-cl-cf)
1984 Omarion, singer with BK2 born Omari Ismael Grandbery in Inglewood, California, USA. This Los Angeles, California, USA-based boy band comprises Omarion (Born Omari Ishmael Grandbery, 12 November 1985, Los Angeles, California, USA), Raz-B (Born De'mario Monte Thornton, 13 June 1985, Cleveland, Ohio, USA), Lil Fizz (Born Druex Pierre Fredericks, 26 November 1985, Los Angeles, California, USA) and J-Boog (Born Jarell Damonte Houston, 11 August 1985, Los Angeles, California, USA). The clean-cut quartet broke into the US pop charts in early 2002 with the infectious "Uh Huh", a steamy dance track in marked contrast to the usual anodyne material favoured by boy bands. The single was helped by a stylish Hype Williams video. The quartet had first made their mark on the teenage market the previous summer, opening for Lil Bow Wow on his US tour. They had been discovered a few months previously at an Epic Records showcase for new talent. Their debut album only briefly repeated the success of "Uh Huh", with stand-out tracks including "Gots Ta Be" and "Understanding". Nevertheless, B2K debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 in March. The quartet enjoyed further success at the end of the year, when their collaboration with P. Diddy, "Bump, Bump, Bump", broke into the upper regions of the US singles chart. The single completed the climb to the number 1 position in January 2003.  (mn-music.us)

13th. NOVEMBER       

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT VISUAL ARTS:   
175: E. SIMMS CAMPBELL (1908-1971)
1913  Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, pioneering Surgeon, becomes a member of the American College of Surgeons. In 1894 Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performs the world's first successful open heart surgery without anaesthesia, the patient lives for 20 years. The most prominent African-American in medicine for many years, Williams was born in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. He worked as a barber before he graduated from Chicago Medical Collage in 1893. He organised Provident Hospital in Chicago in 1891. He was surgeon-in-chief at Freemen's Hospital in Washington, D.C., (1893-1898). (mn-ss)
1936 Joan Hooley UK actor/writer born. She apeared in 'Danger Man', 'Emergancy Ward 10', 'Desmonds' & 'Eastenders', she also wrote for Desmonds. (mn)
1940  Baby Washington, soul singer born  Justine Washington, Bamberg, South Carolina, USA. Washington's (aka Jeanette Washington) tremendously moving voice, earthy but sophisticated, perfectly epitomized uptown soul. Yet unlike her southern counterparts she has never experienced great crossover recognition, although once cited by Dusty Springfield as her all-time favourite singer. Washington was raised in Harlem, singing first in a vocal group, the Hearts, in 1956 and becoming a solo artist the following year. She built a career with 16 chart entries during a decade and a half, most of them during the 60s, recording in New York first for Donald Shaw's Neptune label and then for Juggy Murray's Sue label. She established herself as a major soul singer recording "The Time" (US R&B Top 30) and "The Bells" (US R&B Top 20), both in 1959, and "Nobody Cares" (US R&B Top 20) in 1961. Moving to Sue Records in 1962, Washington hit the US national Top 40 with the sublime "That's How Heartaches Are Made" (1963) and the US R&B Top 10 with "Only Those In Love" (1965). Washington revived her career in the early 70s, recording in Philadelphia a duet with Don Gardner, a revival of the Marvelettes' "Forever", (number 30 R&B), a solo release "I've Got To Break Away" (number 73 R&B), and a well-received album. The coming of disco in the mid-70s effectively killed her career, as it did those of many soul artists. (mn-music.us)
1940  U.S. Supreme Court rules in 'Hansberry  vs. Lee' that African Americans cannot be barred from white neighbourhoods. (tr-iokts)
1944  Timmy Thomas soul singer/songwriter/keyboards player born in Evansville, Indiana, USA. An accomplished singer-songwriter and keyboard player, Thomas first attracted attention for his work as an accompanist with jazz musicians Donald Byrd and Cannonball Adderley. He then embarked on a spell as a session musician, most notably with the Memphis-based Goldwax label, before his solo career blossomed in 1972 with "Why Can't We Live Together?' (US number 3/UK Top 20). His simple, Booker T. Jones-like organ style came to the fore as a hypnotic pulse punctuates an understated, but heartfelt plea. This rhythmic song was later tastefully covered by the sophisticated British vocalist, Sade in 1984. Thomas" immediate releases continued in this vein, but he was unable to repeat that initial success. He nonetheless enjoyed a run of minor R&B hits, culminating in "Gotta Give A Little Love' (Ten Years After)", a US Top 30 soul entry in 1984. (mn-music.us)
1951  Janet Collins is first African American woman to dance at the Metropolitan Opera House, in Verdi's 'Aida' (tr-bl)

14th. NOVEMBER    

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT    VISUAL ARTS: GNPAP BOOK ENDS  
176: GORDON ROGER PARKS (1912-)
1944  Scherrie Payne, The sister of soul singer Freda Payne, Scherrie forsook her teaching position at Detroit's Grayling Observatory to join the Glass House. This short-lived band enjoyed a series of minor US hits, the most notable of which was "Crumbs Off The Table", a US R&B Top 10 entry in 1969. Several unsuccessful solo singles followed upon the unit's demise, but Payne achieved a higher profile upon replacing Jean Terrell in the Supremes. She remained with the trio between 1974 and 1976, contributing to High Energy and Mary, Scherrie And Susaye (both 1976). After the break-up of the Supremes, she made one unsuccessful album with fellow ex-Supreme Susaye Green, in 1979, before resuming her own career with "Incredible". "Testify", a duet with Philip Ingram, reached the lower R&B chart during 1987. (mn-cl-music.us)
1952  First British Chart Published. Nat King Cole was the only Black entrant.(mn-jt)
1954  Alexander O'Neil soul singer born today in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. O'Neal was one of the best-known soul crooners of the late 80s. In 1978, he joined Flyte Tyme with future producers Jimmy Jam And Terry Lewis. The group (as Time) became the backing band for Prince, although O'Neal was soon dismissed for insubordination. During the early 80s, he began a solo career as a vocalist, making his first recordings with Jam and Lewis producing in 1984. The resulting album was issued by the local Tabu label, and contained R&B hits with "A Broken Heart Can Mend", "Innocent" (a duet with Cherrelle) and "If You Were Here Tonight". The latter reached the UK Top 20 in 1986, after Cherrelle's "Saturday Love" (which featured O'Neal) had been an even bigger success there. His career was interrupted by treatment for drug and alcohol addiction, but O'Neal broke through to the mainstream US audience in 1987/8 with his second album and the singles "Fake", "Criticize" and "Never Knew Love Like This", another collaboration with Cherrelle.  (mn-music.us)
1954 Dr. Condoleezaa Rice born in Birmingham, Alabama, US National Security Advisor she earned her bachelor's degree in political science, cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Denver in 1974; her master's from the University of Notre Dame in 1975; and her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver in 1981. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been awarded honorary doctorates from Morehouse College in 1991, the University of Alabama in 1994, the University of Notre Dame in 1995, the National Defence University in 2002, the Mississippi College School of Law in 2003, the University of Louisville and Michigan State University in 2004. She resides in Washington, D.C. (us-guv)
1975  Cuban troops save the MPLA government in Angola by defeating an invading South African army. Several Jamaican 45s - including the Revolutionaries' MPLA and Angola - express solidarity with liberation struggles in southern Africa. (mn-sb/pd-tr)
1996  Michael Jackson singer marries nurse Debbie Rowe. After she has two children he divorces her in 1999. (mn-tx)
1997  Jimmy Cliff internationally acclaimed singer/songwriter was awarded a honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of the West Indies, this is the third honour that has been bestowed on him by his country. (tr-gleaner)

15th. NOVEMBER     

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT:    PRIZE FIGHTERS:                       
177: JOE LEASHEY/BILL RICHMOND & YOUNG RICHMOND          
1825  Sarah Jane Woodson feminist is born in Chillicothe, Ohio, USA. (tr-iokts)
1881  Black Invention: The Swinging Chair, Payton Johnson. (sc)
1887  Black Invention: Railway telegraph, Granville T. Woods, known as the 'Black Edison', patents this allowing messages sent without the use of Morse Code.
1898  Black Invention: Oil Cup, Elijah McCoy. (sc)
1929  Joe Hinton, soul singer born in Evansville, Indiana, USA.  d. 13 August 1968, Boston, USA. Hinton recorded a string of R&B singles for the Texas-based Back Beat label in the late 50s and 60s, the best-known of which, a cover version of Willie Nelson's "Funny", reached the Top 20 in the USA in August 1964. Hinton first applied his falsetto to gospel music with the Blair Singers and the Spirit Of Memphis Quartet. He moved to Memphis, Tennessee, to work with the latter group, who recorded for the Peacock label. In 1958 Peacock president Don Robey convinced Hinton to switch to secular music and in 1958 signed him to the Back Beat subsidiary. Hinton's first single for the label was "Ladder of Love", which did not sell well. It was not until the 1963 "You Know It Ain't Right" that Hinton reached the charts, at number 20. After one other minor chart single, "Better To Give Than Receive", Hinton had his greatest success with the Nelson ballad, which rose to number 13 in 1964. There was one further single in the charts that year, "I Want A Little Girl", but Hinton's career declined after that. He recorded for Backbeat until 1968, when he died of skin cancer. (mn-cl-music.us)
1932  Clyde Mc Phatter soul singer with Billy Ward & Dominoes, The Drifters and later a solo artist, born in Durham, North Carolina, USA. For three years, McPhatter was the lead singer in the seminal R&B vocal group Billy Ward And His Dominoes. He left in 1953 to form the Drifters, whose early releases were enhanced by the singer's emotional, gospel-drenched delivery. In 1954 McPhatter was drafted into the US Army, where he entertained fellow servicemen. Such work prompted a solo career, and the vibrant "Seven Days" (1956) was followed by several other superb performances, many of which, including "Treasure Of Love", "Without Love (There Is Nothing)" and "A Lover's Question", became R&B standards. A hugely influential figure, McPhatter inspired a generation of singers. His work was covered by Elvis Presley, Ry Cooder and Otis Redding, but his departure from the Atlantic Records label to MGM Records in 1959 precipitated an artistic decline. He had several minor hits on Mercury Records during the early 60s, and arguably his finest work was the US Top 10 single "Lover Please" in 1962. (Died 13/6/72). (mn-music.us)
1937  Little Willie John brother of singer Maybell John, also a singer born in Cullendale, Arkansas, USA. (Dies 26/5/68)
1941  Percy Sledge soul singer born in Leighton, Alabama, USA. An informal, intimate singer, former hospital nurse Sledge led a popular campus attraction, the Esquires Combo, prior to his recording debut. Recommended to Quin Ivy, owner of the Norala Sound studio, Sledge arrived with a rudimentary draft of "When A Man Loves A Woman". A timeless single, its simple arrangement hinged on Spooner Oldham's organ sound and the singer's homely, nasal intonation. Released in 1966, it was a huge international hit, setting the tone for Sledge's subsequent path. A series of emotional, poignant ballads followed, poised between country and soul, but none achieved a similar commercial profile. "It Tears Me Up", "Out Of Left Field" (both 1967) and "Take Time To Know Her" (1968) nonetheless stand among southern soul's finest achievements. Having left Atlantic Records, Sledge re-emerged on Capricorn in 1974 with I'll Be Your Everything, which included the R&B Top 20 title track. Two 80s collections of re-recorded hits, Percy and Wanted Again, confirm the singer's intimate yet unassuming delivery. Released in Britain following the runaway success of a resurrected "When A Man Loves A Woman" (the song reached number 2 in 1987 after featuring in a Levi's advertisement), they are not diminished by comparison. In 1994 Sledge recorded his first all-new set for some time, the excellent Blue Night on Sky Ranch, which capitalized on the Sledge "strong suit", the slow-burning countrified soul-ballad, even although the sessions were recorded in Los Angeles. The appearance of musicians such as Steve Cropper and Bobby Womack helped to ensure the success of the album. (mn-music.us)
1952  Michael Cooper of soul group Con Funk Shun is born. Formed initially in 1968 as Project Soul by Mike Cooper (guitar, sitar, timbales, percussion, vocals) and Louis McCall (drums, vocals), the group's rise began when they accepted an offer to back the Soul Children, necessitating a move from California to Memphis. Upon arrival in 1972, Project Soul became Con Funk Shun, having been augmented by group members Karl Fuller (trumpet, fl�gelhorn, vocals), Paul Harrell (saxophone, flute, vocals), Cedric Martin (bass and vocals), Felton Pilate (trombone, bass trumpet, piano, synthesizer, acoustic guitar, vocals) and Danny Thomas (clavinet, piano, synthesizer, organ, vocals). To make ends meet they initially worked as a Stax Records studio band. After recording a couple of singles with small local label Fretone they signed with Mercury Records, releasing their debut album in 1976. The following year they achieved a gold disc with Secrets, aided by the success of "Ffun", which would go Top 30 in early 1978. Further albums consolidated their success, but the lack of a focal point within the group (as opposed to contemporaries such as Lionel Richie and the Commodores) meant they were never likely to attain superstar status. In the mid-80s they split, with Felton Pilate becoming an in-demand producer. (mn-jt-music.us)
1954  Tony Thompson of soul group Chic is born. Probably the band of the disco generation, Chic was built around Nile Rodgers (Born 19 September 1952, New York, USA; guitar) and Bernard Edwards (Born 31 October 1952, Greenville, North Carolina, USA, d. 18 April 1996, Tokyo, Japan; bass). During the 60s Rodgers had played in a rock group, New World Rising, before joining the Apollo Theatre house band. Edwards had played with several struggling musicians prior to meeting his future partner through a mutual friend. They both joined the Big Apple Band in 1971, which subsequently toured, backing hit group New York City. Chic evolved out of a collection of demos that Edwards and Rodgers had recorded. Two female singers, Norma Jean Wright and Luci Martin, were added to the line-up, along with Tony Thompson (Born 15 November 1954, New York, USA, d. 12 November 2003, Encino, California, USA), a former drummer with LaBelle. Wright later left for a solo career and was replaced by Alfa Anderson. (mn-jt-music.us)
1962  Starkey Banton, reggae singer born David Murray, Hammersmith, London. Banton began his career on the sound system circuit in and around west London during the mid-70s, performing under the name Starkey Super. He eventually changed his name to Banton in acknowledgment of the Jamaican patois term for a DJ "full of lyrics". Initially, he maintained a low profile, working with many of the UK's top DJs, including Sweetie Irie, Chuckie Star and General Levy. In 1993 he released his debut, "Lover Dread", a conscientious recording at a time when slackness and gun lyrics were in fashion. The sessions led to further releases, including the authoritative "Blackman Memories" and an ode to marijuana, "Ganja Baby". By 1994 he had joined the One Love crew, who released the favoured "Wicked Man", leading to combination hits with Sweetie Irie and Horace Andy. With the advent and popularity of jungle music in the UK Starkey caused a major controversy when he released "Jungle Bungle" through Fashion Records; the song became a summer anthem and, along with his subsequent releases, fuelled the jungle versus ragga debate. Banton maintained a high profile with the release of "Fire The Gal", "Don't Diss The Rass", and a guest appearance on Danny Dread's "Rolling Stone". He also appeared at the 1995 Jamaican Reggae Sunsplash Festival. Banton's partnership with Fashion led to further hits, including the contentious "Nah Wear Nuh Versace" (the song was inauspiciously released on the day the designer was killed, somewhat eclipsing the essence of the tune). In 1997 he released a well-received mini-album, which featured Mykal Rose ("Love King Selassie"), with whom he also appeared on "Release Me" and "Another Day In Babywrong". Banton later embarked on session work for the eagerly anticipated Ancient Spirit. (music.us)
1974  The Black Man In Britain: 1550-1950 - Only the second television programme thus far acknowledging pre-1950 black people in Britain is broadcasted. A five part series exploring the history of black people in Britain shown on BBC2.  (first was on 24.1.71) (mn-sb)
1986  Freddie Jackson replaced his own no.1 in US R&B chart when 'A Little Bit More', his duet with Melba Moore, was supplanted by his solo single, 'Tasty Love', (mn-jt)
1996  A 25 mile long column of Huto refugees began leaving Zaire for Rwanda. (mn-tx)
1988  Pirates Seek Legit Airways Slot. Read the headline in a local news paper, talking about PCRL's plight against the D.T.I. (mn-cm)
1996  Rankin' Festus, one of our longest serving D.J.'s on PCRL Radio Birmingham (12 years at this time), is found guilty at Birmingham Magistrate Court and is fined £1500 + £500 costs for illegal broadcasting. (mn)
1998 Stokely Carmichael dies. While attending Howard University (1960-64) he became the leader of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, changing its focus from integration to "black liberation" and "black power," stressed the need for black-run organizations and self defence. Gifted and articulate, he was prime minister of the Black Panthers in Oakland, California (1967-69) and for many symbolized black violence. He and his South African wife Miriam Makeba, lived in Guinea for a while, and wrote Stokely Speaks (1971), a book that dealt largely with his new interest in Pan-Africanism. (mn-ss)
1999  Lady J.C. a PCRL presenter is fined after pleading guilty to a charge of illegal broadcasting at Birmingham Magistrate Court and fined only £200 and remanded for one year after pointing out to the judge that she has made many contributions to local/international community work. (mn)

16th. NOVEMBER   

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT    PRIZE FIGHTERS: 
178: TOM MOLINEAUX (1784-1821)                      
JAHSIAH B BORN TODAY (PCRL presenter)
1892  King Behanzin of Dahomey (now Benin), leads soldiers against the French. (tr-iokts)
1904  William Henry Hastie, jurist and governor of the Virgin Islands, born in Knoxville, Tn., USA>
1943  Winfred Lovett singer with The Manhattans born. The band was formed in 1960 in Newark, New Jersey, USA. Lovett left in 1971. (mn-jt)
1945  Lillian Lopez of soul group Odyssey is born. (mn-jt)
1957  Sauders of the River - Is first shown on British television. To complaints that the film is a hymn to colonialism, and an embarrassment to watch. It stared Paul Robeson who said that extra filming took place unbeknown to him.
1961  Franklin Roy Bruno WBC World Champion boxer born in Hammersmith General Hospital (his first family home was at Battersea, and later at Wandsworth). His Ring record: 45 contests, 40 victorys. His only defeats have been by James 'Bonecrusher' Smith and in world titles fights against Tim Witherspoon, Mike Tyson (twice) and Lennox Lewis. He won the World WBC Title in 1995 against Oliver McCall, and lost it to Tyson in 1996 after 3 rounds in Las Vagas on March 16th. (mn-ng)
1973  Adrian (Adie) Roosevelt Mike, 6'0", 11.9 footballer born in Manchester, England. International Honours: E: Yth; Sch. (bh-mn)
1980  O.V. Wright, soul-blues singer, dies, Mobile, Ala., USA. Born October 9, 1939  Overton Vertis Wright in Memphis. One of deep soul's most impressive stylists, his first recordings were in the gospel tradition and it was while a member of the Harmony Echoes that he became acquainted with Roosevelt Jamison. This aspiring songwriter penned the singer's debut, That's How Strong My Love Is, impassioned ballad covered later by Otis Redding and the Rolling Stones. (rs-cl)
1985  Whitney Houston Make her chart debut when 'Saving All My Love For You' entered at No.60 on it's way to becoming her first No.1 a month later. (mn-jt)
1997  Jamaica's football team (the Reggae Boys), qualifies for the World Cup. Only two other Caribbean nations - Cuba/Haiti - have qualified for the World Cup before, in 1934 and 1974 respectively (mn-tr-voice)

17th. NOVEMBER        

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT:  PRIZE FIGHTERS:  
179: SAM ROBINSON/HARRY SUTTON & MASSA KENDRICK                    
1636  Henrique Dias, Brazilian general, wins a decisive battle against the Dutch in Brazil. (tr-iokts)
1916  Winson Hudson born. (tr-bl)
1947  Buckweat Zydeco, bandleader, born Stanley Dural, Jr., Lafayette, La, USA. In the 1980s Dural moved Zydeco music into mainstream by adding liberal doses of R&B, blues, rock, soul and pop to the Louisiana dance music, touring with U2, Eric Clapton and Robert Cray made him the best known Zydeco act of the 80's. (mn-rs)
1979  Jamaica born Arthur Lewis is named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for research into Economic Development.
1980  WHMM-TV, Howard University, becomes the first black public broadcasting TV station in the USA.
2006 Ruth Brown dies (a.k.a Ruth Alston Weston) born 30th January 1928, Portsmouth, Virginia, U.S.A. died in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A. she was 78. Ruth won Grammy and a Tony awards, died  of complications from a stroke and heart attack at a Las Vegas-area hospital. (soulwalking)

18th. NOVEMBER    

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT:   PRIZE FIGHTERS:   
180: JAMES WHARTON (1813-1856)
1900  Howard Thurman, American theologian and author born on this day. Dies 1981. (mn)
1928  Dennis Binder, blues man born. Took up keyboards in the church as a youth in Rosedale, Mississippi, where he was born. Settled in Chicago around 1939, turning his talents to singing after trying his luck as a dancer. He recored sessions for Modern/United & Sun labels. (mn-bd)
1936  Hank Ballard soul singer born in Detroit, Michigan, USA. In the early 50s, gospel-tinged vocalist Hank Ballard and his group the Midnighters recorded some of the raciest songs in rhythm and blues. Hits such as Work With Me Annie, Sexy Ways and Annie Had A Baby, had enough sexual intonations that many radio stations wouldn't play them. (mn-cl-rs)
1940  Josh Altheimer, blues-pianist dies aged 30. Early Chicago blues pianist, known for his richly percussive accompaniments, Josh played on a number of Lester Melrose-sponsored recording sessions in the 1930s for the Bluebird Label. (mn-rs)
1983  "Sweet Honey in the Rock", a cappella singers, perform their 10th anniversary reunion concert in Washington, D.C.
1989  Shangri'las Win, Three Degrees Lose. The Three Degrees are told their name belongs their former manager Richard Barrett, while the Shangri'las was told they could license their group name to whoever they wanted. (mn-jt)
1992  Wayne Bennett, blues guitarist with Bobby Bland's group, dies, New Orleans, La, USA. Although not a soloist he ranks as one of the great rhythm and blues guitarists. He suffered a fatal heart attack.  (mn-rs)
1994  Cab Calloway singer/drummer/MC dies. Famous for his extroverted manner, flamboyant zoot-suited appearance, and scat singing - his Hi-Di-Hi became part of the language - Calloway led one of the most successful bands of the 1930s, making major contributions to jazz though the quality of musicians he hired and allowed to solo. Born in Rochester, New York, and raised in Baltimore, as a versatile song-and-dance man he began fronting bands in Chicago in 1928 and began fame when his band replace Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club in 1931 (mn-cl-ss)
2010 Ron aka Original Don a PCRL DJ was laid to rest. Service was at the New Testiment Church Of God, Gilson Way, Kingshurst, Birmingham B37. Internment: Woodland Cemetry, Birmingham Road, Birmingham B46 1DP. Refreshments: The Labour Club, 51 Clopton Cresent, Birmingham B37 6QU. Since the close down of PCRL he had presented a show on Newstyle radio. (pilot)

19th. NOVEMBER       

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT:   PRIZE FIGHTERS:  
181: MASSA SUTTON & JOHN PERRY
0496  Saint Gelasius I, dies, and like all black popes was canonized as a saint. He was the 3rd African pope to Rome. He became the 49th pope after Saint Peter and the head of the Catholic Church just over 1500 years ago in 492 AD. His reign was short lived - a little over four years. During this period, Gelasius did all that was necessary to establish the future security of the Roman Catholic Church. He is celebrated on November 21st. (mn-voice)
1797  Sojourner Truth, abolitionist and women's rights advocate, is born in New York, USA. On January 25, 1851 Sojourner Truth addresses the first Black Women's Rights Convention, Ackron, Ohio. On May 28, 1851 she attends Women's Rights Convention. She met most of the white abolitionists, and she was received by Abraham Lincoln at the White House. Only Fredrick Douglas outshone her in eloquence. Dies November 26, 1883 in Battle Creek, Mi. (mn-ss
1878  Charles S. Gilpin, actor, born. James Weldon Johnson once wrote that Charles Gilpin "by his work in the Emperor Jones ... reached the highest point of achieving on the legitimate stage that had been attained by a Negro in America." In 1921 Gilpin won the converted Spingarn Medal for his contribution to the theatre and the progress of the Negro. (mn-ss)
1979  Chuck Berry released from prison after serving a short sentence for tax evasion. (mn-jt)
1983  Tina Turner returns to the charts after ten years with 'Let's Stay Together' her first hit since 'Nut Bush City Limits'. She ended the 1980s a world superstar. (mn-jt)
2011 Basil Lewis D'Oliveira CBE dies. (4 October 1931 - 19 November 2011)He was a South African-born cricketer. D'Oliveira was classified as 'coloured' under the apartheid regime, and hence barred from first-class cricket. He captained South Africa's national non-white cricket team, and also played football for the non-white national side. D'Oliveira played in forty four Test matches, and four ODIs for England. Despite his cricketing prowess, he was best known because of the "D'Oliveira affair", centred around his inclusion in the England side for a planned tour to South Africa in 1968. In 2000, he was nominated as one of 10 South African cricketers of the century, despite not having played for South Africa. In 2004, a perpetual trophy was struck for Test series between England and South Africa, and named the 'Basil D'Oliveira Trophy'. In 2005, he was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours. In the same year, journalist Peter Oborne wrote a well-received biography, entitled Basil D'Oliveira: Cricket and Conspiracy, which was accompanied by Paul Yule's RTS award-winning documentary Not Cricket—The Basil D'Oliveira Conspiracy. In the same year, a stand at New Road, Worcester was named in his honour. (mn-wiki)

20th. NOVEMBER   

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT:PRIZE FIGHTERS:     
182: JEMMY ROBINSON & BOB TRAVERS
1695  Zumbi dos Palmares, Brazilian leader of a hundred-year-old rebel slave group, is killed in an ambush. (tr-iokts)
1910  Pauli Murray, the first female African-American priest to be ordained in the Episcopal Church, is born. This church is the oldest and largest institution amongst African-Americans, and was founded in Philadelphia by Richard Allen in 1787. (tr-iokts-ss)
1923  Black Invention: Traffic lights, Garrett A. Morgan receives U.S. patent for this modern-day essential item.
1944  New Constitution in Jamaica - ministerial government, the most advanced at the time in the British West Indies - was useful for it's period. It proved a system under which official, nominated and elected members were expected to share responsibility for governmental decisions. (mn-cb)
1970  Phife, friendly rapper from Queens, USA, real name Malik Taylor and member of A Tribe Called Quest, born today. (mn-ms)
1982  Pop Pirates Chart A Hit. Read the headline in the Birmingham Evening Mail, it also showed a photograph of Radio Star DJ, Papa Stone. Radio Star was PCRL's earlier name. (mn)
1998  Roland Alphonso, core member of seminal reggae group the Skatalites dies. He had been struggling with heart problems for some time, collapsed on stage in New York six days earlier. (mn-echoes)
2007  Bob Relf dies in Bakersfield, Kern County, California, U.S.A. a.k.a. Bobby Byrd & Bobby Day. ( b. Robert Nelson Relf, 10th January 1937, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.) Bobby Relf was an accomplished singer and songwriter. He was also half of a later line-up of the popular singing duo Bob and Earl, famously recording the Soul Classic 'Harlem Shuffle'. He was Bobby Byrd in the Hollywood Flames in 1952 & Bobby Day as a solo artiste. Remembered by UK Northern Soul fans for: Blowing My Mind To Pieces/Girl You're Some Kind Of Wonderful on Transamerican Records. (mn)

21st. NOVEMBER     

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT:   PRIZE FIGHTERS:  
183: BOB SMITH & BOBBY DOBBS
1865  Shaw University is founded in Raleigh, N.C., USA. (tr-iokts)
1866  Duse Mohammed Effendi, Egyptian Pan-Africanise, born.
1904  Colman Hawkins, jazz musician born. (aka "Bean" and "Hawk") is a colossus of the tenor saxophone, and hence of jazz. He was the first to use the instrument as a serious means of expression and continued to be open to new developments for 40 years. Starting piano lessons at the age of five, he later learned cello and took up tenor saxophone when he was nine years old. (mn-jt)
1941  David Porter producer/singer born today in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. He sang on Savoy and Hi Records before he tried to sell life insurance to Isaac Hayes. The two teamed up for production work on many early Stax hit records. (mn)
1948  Lonnie Jordan, with the band War born Leroy Jordan.Veterans of the Californian west coast circuit, the core of War's line-up - Leroy "Lonnie" Jordan (Born 21 November 1948, San Diego, California, USA; keyboards), Howard Scott (Born 15 March 1946, San Pedro, California, USA; guitar), Charles Miller (Born 2 June 1939, Olathe, Kansas, USA; flute/saxophone), Morris "BornBorn" Dickerson (Born 3 August 1949, Torrence, California, USA; bass) and Harold Brown (Born 17 March 1946, Long Beach, California, USA; drums) - had made several records under different names including the Creators, the Romeos and Senor Soul. In 1969, the quintet was working as Nightshift, an instrumental group, when ex-Animals lead singer, Eric Burdon, adopted them as his backing band. Renamed War, the ensemble was completed by Lee Oskar (Born Oskar Levetin Hansen, 24 March 1948, Copenhagen, Denmark; harmonica) and "Papa" Dee Allen (Born 18 July 1931, Wilmington, Delaware, USA, d. 29 August 1988; percussion).  (mn-jt)           
1948  Alphonse Mouzon, Jazz musician born. Mouzon started playing when he was four years old and was taught drums at high school. He relocated to New York when he was 17 and in 1969 played in the Broadway musical Promises, Promises. He released his first record in the same year, with Gil Evans. He freelanced for a time before playing with Weather Report in 1971, McCoy Tyner (1972-73), Larry Coryell's Eleventh House (1973-75) and in a trio with Albert Mangelsdorff and Jaco Pastorius. After that Mouzon again freelanced until he joined Herbie Hancock in the late 70s. Later recordings such as Early Spring (1988) and The Survivor (1992) edged towards smooth mainstream jazz, alienating some fans and critics. In 1996 he released a new album and landed a small part in the Tom Hanks movie That Thing You Do. Mouzon tries to bring "jazz polyrhythms to a rock pulse" and in this he succeeds, with his furiously propulsive drumming which is as welcome in a rock setting as in straight jazz.  (mn-jt-music.us)
1951  In memory of Henrietta Lacks. The first of it's case where by her cancerous cells continued to grow way after her death. Her cells were used by the world of science to gather valuable knowledge on a cure for cancer, her cells gave birth to the polio vaccination and these cells are still growing till this day and are still being used by scientists. Many companies made great profits from her cancerous cells, but the 'white' scientists never acknowledged her great input. These cancerous cells are known simply as 'Hela', without her family's knowledge or permission. (sc)

22nd. NOVEMBER   

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT:   18TH. CENT. BIOGRAPHIES:  
184: FRANCIS WILLIAMS (1700?-?)
1778  Ackee trees were brought from West Africa to the Caribbean. Ackee and salt-fish has become the national dish of Jamaica. (sc)
1870  Scotia Seminary opened on this date, Scotia Seminary was chartered by the State of North Carolina.  As a learning institution for Black girls, Scotia was founded in 1867 as a strict prim Presbyterian school located roughly fifteen miles north of Charlotte in the cotton-mill town of Concord. In 1932, responding to the wave of interest in junior colleges and greater responsibility for Black secondary education, Scotia merged with Barber College for Women in Anniston, Alabama. The transformed school, Scotia-Barber College was typical in basic functions, tuition, many secondary programs and in its private sponsorship. Yet the majority of Scotia’s faculty held masters degrees, more than half were enrolled in college programs, and all of them were women. (aareg)
1884 Christopher Perry founded the Philadelphia Tribune. It is the oldest continually published non-church newspaper, first published in 1885. Reference: The Encyclopedia Britannica, Fifteenth Edition. Copyright 1996 Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. ISBN 0-85229-633-0
1888 Camille Nickerson is born. She was an African-American musician, composer, and administrator. Nickerson was born into a talented musical family in the French Quarter of New Orleans. At the age of nine she was the pianist for the Nickerson Ladies' Orchestra directed by her father. She attended Oberlin Conservatory earning a bachelor of music in 1916 and Masters in Music degree in 1932. She also was a member of Pi Kappa Lambda and the national honor society in music. While at Oberlin, she began to compose and publish Creole music. (aareg)
1930  Elijah Muhammad joins The Nation of Islam. Born Elijah Pool, October 7, 1897 in Sanderville, Georgia, the founder of the Black Muslims becomes a most influential leader. Born to former slaves and sharecroppers. On this day he joined the Nation of Islam, founded and led by W.D. Fard in Detroit, who became Pool's spiritual leader. After Fard's disappearance in 1934 Pool emerged as Elijah Muhammad, the divine leader of the Nation of Islam. Many of his teachings live on in minister Louis Farrakhan's Final Call to Islam, a break away group. (Dies 1975) (mn-ss?)
1946  Aston Francis Barrett, Bass player/writer/arranger originally with The Reggae Boys later with The Wailers born Kingston Jamaica. (tr)
1963  Kennedy Assassination Spoils Spector's Xmas. 'A Christmas Gift For You' an album of Phil Spector's artists sold very little because of U.S. president J.F. Kennedy's assassination. (mn-jt)
1972  Patra, reggae DJ/singer born, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies. A DJ, singer and hopeful actor widely touted/hyped as the female equivalent of Shabba Ranks, Patra (formerly Lady Patra) signed to the same management, under the aegis of Clifton "Specialist" Dillon, in 1989. She also shares the same record company, Epic. Accordingly, with the new, commercial expectations placed on her shoulders, her material has moved from strict dancehall to include smooth love songs. Patra was brought up singing in churches in Westmoreland, where she moved from Kingston at an early age. Her ambition as a child was always evident, and she soon entered neighbourhood singing/DJing competitions in high school. Early supporters, who included Major Mackerel, encouraged her to return to Kingston and try her luck in the studios. Gussie Clarke was the first to "voice" her after she had been declined by several others. Such rejections were only a short-term problem, however. Following the sessions with Clarke, she found herself in demand by Shocking Vibes, Exterminator and several others. Sides such as "Holler Fe The Wok", "Visa Hole", "Man Me Love" and "Worky Worky' showcased her considerable talents. On the back of this moderate success she played her first major show at the Sting "88 celebrations. By the time the contract with Epic was secured, Patra's singing voice had taken precedence over her DJ skills, as highlighted by the single "Sweet Memories", the first product of new sessions (though it was actually released by Tachyon's Sonny Ochai). Curiously, it rose to number 1 in the Japanese reggae charts, but Epic will surely demand more concrete domestic success in return for their investment. (mn-cl-music.us)
1986  George Branham is the first African American to win a professional Bowlers Association title. (tr-iokts)
1997  Father Hovis, PCRL presenter wins The National Revival Cup Challenge for third year running. 'Revival' being term used for old Jamaican 45's. (mn)
1997  Haile Selassie's, Prince Ermias Sahle Selassie Hail Selassie, visited the birthplace and final resting place of Reggae king Bob Marley at Nine Miles, St. Ann, Jamaica. (tr-rr)
1998  The funeral of 'X Black Panther' Stokeley Carmichael takes place in Guyana, a week after his death from prostrate cancer. (mn)
1999  Patrick Moten, songwriter and production partner for Anita Baker, Rosie Gaines, Chapter 8, Johnnie Taylor and long time buddy of Bobby Womack dies. (mn-echoes)

23rd. NOVEMBER     

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT 18TH.CENT.BIOGRAPHIES: 
185: AYUBA SULEIMAN DIALLO (1701? - 1773) 
1897  Black Invention: Pencil Sharpener, patented by John L. Love. (S.C.).
1897  Black Invention: Rail road car coupler, A. J. Beard patents his life-saving device.
1926  R.L. Burnside, born, Oxford, Mississippi, USA. Burnside is a northern Mississippi guitarist whose whiskered, bristly blues recalls an earlier style heard by the likes of Mississippi Fred McDowell and Bukka White. (mn-rs)
1934  'Imitation of Life ' premiers in New York, N.Y., USA. (tr-iokts)
1939  Betty Everett soul singer born in Greenwood, Mississippi, USA. She gained her initial experience singing gospel before relocating to Chicago. Here she moved into the secular R&B field, initially with a solo release Your Love Is Important to Me and a US hit Your No Good during the early 60's. In 1964 she had a million seller with The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss) and recorded duets with Jerry Butler. In the UK her hits were Getting Mighty Crowded and The Shop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss). (mn)
1982  Arena (Upon Westminster Bridge) is shown on BBC2 -  Profile of Jamaican 'dub' poet Michael Smith, including an appearance by the Caribbean Marxist historian C.L.R. James and Smith's visit to the Bristol grave of Scipio Africanus, a slave who died in 1720. (mn-sb)
1985  Big Joe Turner soul/R&B artist dies. R&B became Rock-N-Roll when Shake Rattle and Roll was recorded on February 15th. 1954 by Joe Turner. (Born May 11, 1911) (mn-jt)
1995  Junior Walker saxophonist/singer with Motown Records dies from cancer. Born Oscar G. Mixon, a.k.a. Autry De Walt III, June 14, 1941 Blytheville, AK, USA. Best remembered for hits like Shotgun, Roadrunner, What does it take and These Eyes. Jr Walker and the All Stars was a great act to see live. He toured until his death in 1995. (interview: Mickey Nold archives Tape 113)  (mn)
2000  Bobby Sheen, the 'Bob B. Soxx' of Phil Spector's Blue Jeans', dies aged 57. (mn-i-t-b)
2006 Tiger Woods has won his seventh PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Poipu Beach, Hawaii, with a two-stroke victory over Jim Furyk. He finished with a with 6-under 66. He has been victorious eight times this year, including the British Open and PGA.  Woods earned $500,000 for the win, with Furyk taking home $300,000 for second. U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, who came in third, said of Tiger: “Any time you get to play with him, it’s a privilege. You can learn something from him.” (mn)

24th. NOVEMBER        

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT  18TH. CENT. BIOGRAPHIES:    
186: WILLIAM ANSAH 
PCRL PRESENTER T.N.T. Born
National Holiday, Anniversary of the New Regime-Republic of Zaire.
1868  Scott Joplin, famous for his early developments of ragtime is born in Texarkana, USA. d. 1 April 1917, New York City, New York, USA. Joplin's father was born into slavery, becoming a freedman with Emancipation in 1863. A musical individual, he encouraged the musical aspirations of his sons and daughters. Scott Joplin, who was originally self-taught, moved to St. Louis while still in his teens, by which time he was an accomplished pianist. Although adept in various styles, including that of contemporary classicists such as Louis M. Gottschalk, Joplin excelled in the currently popular ragtime music. (music.us)
1941  [Donald Dunn, bass player for Booker T. & MG's and 90% of Stax hit records born in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.]The quartet appeared on all of the company's notable releases, including "In The Midnight Hour" (Wilson Pickett), "Hold On I'm Comin'" (Sam And Dave), "Walking The Dog" (Rufus Thomas), and a creative partnership with Otis Redding. Although Jones divided his time between recording and studying at Indiana University (he subsequently earned a BA in music), the MGs (Memphis Group) continued to chart consistently in their own right. "Hang 'Em High" (1968) and "Time Is Tight" (1969) were both US Top 10 singles, while as late as 1971 "Melting Pot" climbed into the same Top 50. The group split that year.  (mn)
1943  Richard Tee soul pianist born in New York, USA. He's one of New York's top session musicians, Richard established himself during the early 70's. While working for Aretha Franklin he met Eric Gale with whom he has recorded sessions over the years in addition to their playing together in a group called Stuff. Also worked for Motown and CTI Labels as a staff arranger. (mn-rt)
1997  Man suing cops faces charges. Read the headline in the national Voice newspaper. Cee Jay (a PCRL radio DJ at the time) has been found guilty at Sutton Coalfield Magistrate's Court for failing to stop for the police. (this judgement went to appeal in March 1998 and was overturned). So Cee Jay still has a 'squeaky clean' driving licence even though he has been stopped over 34 times by the police. (mn-cj) 
2011 Lee 'Shot' Williams dies. b. Henry Lee Williams, 21st May 1938, Lexington, Mississippi, U.S.A. Dies, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. Lee Shot Williams has died. He was 73. Lee moved to Detroit in 1954, and later relocated to Chicago in 1956. He them worked with his cousin, Little Smokey Smothers, as a vocalist with his band in 1961.  The name 'Shot' was given to him by his mother at a young age, owing to his fondness for wearing suits and dressing up as a 'big shot'. In 1962, Lee recorded his first singles for the Chicago based Foxy imprint, which were 'Hello Baby' and 'I'm Trying'. He also recorded for the King/Federal, Palos, Gamma, Shama and Tchula labels during his career. Lee's 1964 recording 'Welcome to the Club' was a local hit, being covered by Little Milton for Checker Records in 1965. Another regional hit, 'I Like Your Style', was issued in 1969 and was later covered by Junior Parker. Several more singles followed included 'Drop Your Laundry Baby'. His first album release was called 'Country Disco', for the Roots label in 1977. During the 80's, he released several singles on the Tchula, 4-Way, True & Dis-Muke imprints. Some of these recordings were released on an album entitled 'I Like Your Style'. In 1994 the Japanese label Vivid Sound released an album called 'A Shot of Rhythm and Blues'. 'Cold Shot' was then released in 1995 and was voted the Best Blues Album of 1995. His debut album for the Memphis-based Ecko Records, 'Hot Shot', included the tracks 'Southern Soul Blues' and 'I'll Take The Risk'. In 2000 Lee released 'She Made A Freak Out Of Me', followed by 'Somebody's After My Freak'. He left the label again and recorded one disc for Charles Wilson's label called 'Let The Good Times Roll' before returning to Ecko for four more albums. In 2008 Lee signed with CDS Records recording the songs 'It's Friday (Time To Get Paid)' and 'Wrong Bed'. Two more albums were released by CDS Records, 'I'm The Man For The Job'& 'The First Rule Of Cheating'.  (soulwalking.co.uk)

25th. NOVEMBER      

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT  18TH.CENT.BIOGRAPHIES:   
187: FRANCIS BARBER (1735?-1801) 
Independence Day - Republic of Suriname
1914  Eddie Boyd, blues pianist, born, Clarksville, Miss, USA. Popular post-World War II Chicago blues player and singer is best known for his 1952 hit Five Years Long, which has since become a blues standard. (mn-rs)
1931  Nat Adderley, younger brother of Cannonball Adderley singer/trumpet player born this day. He was a singer until his voice broke and he took up the trumpet. In 1954 Lionel Hampton asked him to join his riotously swinging, R&B-infected big band, he stayed for one year. Later he played for Woody Herman and J.J. Johnson. He played throughout the 60/70's with his brother's combo until his death in 1975. (mn-cl)
1941  Percy Sledge, soul singer born. Best remembered for the hit 'When A Man Loves A Woman' (mn-jt) [duplicate]
1955  The Interstate Commerce Commission bans segregation in interstate travel. (tr-iokts)

1968  Erick S. Sermon, hard-core, boasts and money talk rapper from Brentwood, Long Island and member of EPMD born today. (mn-ms)

26th. NOVEMBER
BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT  18TH.CENT.BIOGRAPHIES    
188: PHILIP QUAQUE (1741-1816)
PCRL PRESENTER SHAWN KING IS BORN ON THIS DAY
1883  Sojourner Truth, poet, freedom fighter, dies in Battle Creek, Mi. Abolitionist and women's rights advocate, is born in New York, USA. On January 25, 1851 Sojourner Truth addresses the first Black Women's Rights Convention, Ackron, Ohio. On May 28, 1851 she attends Women's Rights Convention. She met most of the white abolitionists, and she was received by Abraham Lincoln at the White House. Only Frederick Douglas outshone her in eloquence. (Born 17/11/1797) (mn-ss)
1933  Garnet Mimms (singer with the Enchanters) born on this day in Ashland, West Virginia, USA. Raised in Philadelphia and by 1954 he was singing in gospel groups and in 1958 he fronted the Enchanters before going solo in 1964. On Loma Records he had hits One Girl (1964), A Quiet Place (1964), A little Bit Of Soap (1965), I'll Take Good Care of You (1966), and Looking for You (1966). (mn-rt)
1939  Tina Turner born Anna Mae Bullock in Brownsville, Tennessee, USA. The daughter of a Cherokee Indian and African American father. The saga of Tina Turner's escape from an abusive relationship with husband Ike has often obscured the duo's status as seminal R&B and rock'n'roll pioneers. Phil Spector produced her first hit River Deep Mountain High. But the beatings she received from Ike and his escalating drug abuse eventually prompted her to leave him in 1976. Loss of confidence held her back until she made a cover version of Let's Stay Together, she soon turned into an 80's rock legend. (mn-ed/gg)
1958  Tiny Bradshaw, big band musician/R&B singer, dies, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
1965  Desmond Sinclair (Des) Walker, 5'11", 11.13 footballer born in Hackney, London, England. Club Honours: FLC '89, '90; FMC '89, '92. International Honours: E: 59; U21-7. Sampodoria paid Nottingham Forest £1,500,000 for him on 1/8/92 and Sheffield Wednesday paid £2,700,000 for him on 22/7/93. (bh-mn)
1968  O.J. Simpson 'Juice' is named Heisman Trophy Winner for 1968. This sports legend career is now over-cast by the murder trial of the mid-90's, where he was acquitted for the murder of his 'white' blonde wife. He is now fighting for custody of his children. (mn)
1970  Charlie Gordone receives Pulitzer Prize for his play 'No Place to be Somebody'.
1999  [James Shaw, 57 one of the founders of the National Front (NF), was jailed for nine years at the Old Bailey. Police arrested him by chance in Chiswick, west London, in April. He was found carrying two home-made bombs in a bag - built to blow up trains.] (mn-voice)
2006 Tony Sylvester, singer with Main Ingrediant died. (soulwalking)

27th. NOVEMBER  

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT  18TH.CENT.BIOGRAPHIES   
189: JOHN NEMGBANA (1760- ? 
1935  Al Jackson Stax Records main drummer and member of Booker T. & M.G's born in Memphis, Tn, USA.  Al Jackson was drummer with seminal house band at Stax Records, Booker T. and The MGs (MG stood for Memphis Group), and thus the rock-steady rhythm behind hits by Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, and other great soul stars of the 1960s. On the same day as Jimi Hendrix was buried (1st October 1975), Jackson was murdered - spooky as they share the same birthday as well! He was shot and killed when he confronted an intruder at his Memphis home. Jackson was 39 years old. (mn-jt)
1942  Jimi Hendrix, rock musician, born in Seattle, Washington, USA. When he died in 1970 the news stuns the world. Although he will be remembered as rock's most innovative and revolutionary guitarist, he had the natural instincts of a bluesman and in fact built much of his early repertoire from the blues. Some of what he did with feedback, fuzz tones, distortion, and volume elaborated on the styles of blues guitarists Pat Hare and Guitar Slim. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1992. (Dies 18th. September 1970). (mn)
1960  Ashley Ingram from soul group Imagination is born. Imagination were one of the most successful British funk bands of the early 80's. Ingram had played in Chairman of the Board and the Delphonics as a musician along with Lee John, they both formed Imagination who's debut was Body Talk (1981). (mn-jt)
1961  Princess  (uk singer) born Desiree Heslop. (nationmaster)
1969  Ike Quartey WBA Welterweight World Champion Boxer is born.  Record:34-0-1 (29). Best wins: Crisanto Espana; Vince Phillips and Oba Carr. He lives in Accra, Ghana. (mn-ring)
1990  Charles Johnson's 'Middle Passage' wins National Book Award.
1998  Barbara Acklin, soul singer dies while dubbing vocals aged 56. Born in California but grew up in Chicago, her career took of when she joined Brunswick Records as a songwriter in 1966 (and secretary to boss Carl Davis). She co-wrote Jackie Wilson's Whispers (Getting Louder) that year, while her own recordings, including soul classics Love Makes A Woman and Am I The Same Girl, have ensured her a place in music's hall of fame. (mn-echoes)
1999  I-Roy, reggae d.j., dies after a long illness in Spanish Town, Jamaica, West Indies. Born Roy Reid, Spanish Town, Jamaica, West Indies,  I. Roy, aka Roy Reid, aka Roy Senior, was one of the great originals of Jamaican music. Always the most intellectual of his peers, he arrived at the start of the 70s as an accomplished DJ with a neat line in storytelling and the ability to ride a rhythm as if it was first recorded for him and not simply "borrowed". He drew his name from U-Roy, the first truly popular reggae star, and his first records were slightly derivative of the older man's style, and also owed a little to another DJ pioneer, Dennis Alcapone. However, I. Roy soon hit his stride and recorded a mighty series of singles for producer Gussie Clarke, including "Black Man Time", "Tripe Girl" and "Magnificent Seven". "Brother Toby Is A Movie From London" emerged for Glen Brown; "Dr Who" for Lee Perry and innumerable sides for Bunny Lee. His debut album Presenting was magnificent, collating most of his hits for Gussie Clarke. It remains a classic of its genre today. Further albums Hell And Sorrow and Many Moods Of were nearly as strong. In 1975, he became involved in an on-record slanging match with fellow DJ Prince Jazzbo, a bizarre name-calling affair that nonetheless presented the public with a new twist to such rivalries and helped to maintain sales. In 1976, a liaison with producer Prince Tony Robinson brought I. Roy a contract with Virgin Records and Roy's albums graced the label five times: General, Musical Shark Attack, World On Fire, Crisis Time and the excellent 1977 set Heart Of A Lion. By the early 80s I. Roy had burnt out his lyrical store and was overtaken by younger DJs. However, he was still to be found on the periphery of reggae until his death from a heart attack in 1999, sometimes, ironically, on Ujama, the label owned by his old rival, Prince Jazzbo. (mn-echos-music.us)
2006 Prime Minister Tony Blair has said he feels "deep sorrow" for Britain's role in the slave trade in an article for the New Nation newspaper. His statement which comes ahead of next year's bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade, stopped short of a full apology and has divided opinions. (mn)

28th. NOVEMBER  

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT  18th.CENT.VOICES:   
190: JOSEPH EMIDY 
Independence Day - Islamic Republic of Mauritania.
1929  Berry Gordy Jnr., founder of the Motown Records empire, is born in Detroit, USA. He took his first steps in the music business in 1955, when he opened a jazz record store in Detroit. When it folded he returned to the automobile assembly lines until he met the manager of a young R&B singer Jackie Wilson. Berry wrote Wilson's first hit Reet Petite, and joined the singers entourage, composing four other chart hits over the next two years. In 1958 he set himself up as an independent producer and the rest is history. (mn-cl)
1940  Clem Curtis, lead singer with the Foundations, born in Trinidad, West Indies. The group was formed in January 1967, discovered by London record dealer Barry Class as they rehearsed in the Butterfly, a club in the basement below his office. Baby Now That I Have Found You became the groups debut release.  (mn-cl)
1944  R.B. Greaves, (Ronald Bertrum Aloysuis Greeves), soul singer born in Georgetown, British Guyana. This singer half north American Indian, made his greatest impact in 1969 with the single, Take A Letter Maria. He's a nephew of Sam Cooke and built a career in the Caribbean and in the UK. (mn-cl)
1946  Blues Boy Willie, singer, born, Memphis, Texas, USA. (mn-rs)
1960  Republic of Mauritania gains independence.
1961  Ernie Davis is the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy. (tr-iokts)
1962  Princess, soul singer born Deriree Heslop. She sang with Osibisa prior to touring as backing singer with artists like Evelyn Thomas and Precious Wilson. Teaming up with writers/producers Stock, Aitkin and Waterman she signed to the Supreme label and had a string of UK hits, the biggest of which was Say I'm You're No.1, (Top 10, 1985) (mn-jt-rt)
1967  Sanchez, reggae artist born, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies.       Popular success came with many cover versions. His skinny frame, boyish demeanour and exciting stage act appealed to the predominantly female audiences. He is capable of writing his own serious songs, such as 'South Africa', which became yet another hit. (mn-cl)
1992  PCRL's DJ, C.J. Gospel, receives his first 'producer' at 3.38 pm. 34 more follow between 1992-1997 before he takes the West Midland police to Court in January 1999. (mn-cj)

29th. NOVEMBER     

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT   18th.CENT.VOICES:  
191: LADIPO SOLANKE & W.A.S.U. (B.1895 - D.1958)
1735  Francis Barber born. He was a Black slave who became a businessmen and educator. Barber was born a slave on a plantation in Jamaica. He was brought to England by his owner in 1750. After a brief schooling at a village school in Yorkshire he entered the service of his owner's son. Later he was hired out to Samuel Johnson after the death of his wife in 1752. Barber worked as Johnson's valet for six years until he ran away to sea. There, for the next two years he served on the HMS Stag in the North Sea. On his return in 1760 he rejoined Johnson's staff. He worked as Johnson's butler but in 1762, after attending Bishop's Stortford Grammar School for five years he worked as his secretary. Barber married an Englishwoman and the couple had four children. Barber and his family lived in Johnson's house. When Samuel Johnson died in 1784 he left Barber a gold watch and an annual payment of 70 pounds. Barber moved to Litchfield, Staffordshire, and later he became a schoolteacher in Burntwood. Francis Barber died in 1801. His son, (also) Samuel Barber, became a Primitive Methodist preacher in Staffordshire. (aareg)1915, Billy Strayhorn was born. He was an African-American composer and jazz pianist. (aareg)
1915 William Thomas Strayhorn was born in Dayton, Ohio, and raised in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Yet he gained most of his schooling, including private piano instruction in Pittsburgh. He sought our Duke Ellington in 1938, attempting to work with his as a lyricist; Strayhorn introduced himself with his songs Lush Life and Something to Live For. After becoming a regular contributor to the Ellington Orchestra, he contributed themes such as Day Dream and Passion Flower for the Ellington saxophonist Johnny Hodges. Other tracks that followed were Take the A Train, Raincheck, Chelsea Bridge and Johnny Come lately. Strayhorn came to the world of music with a sophisticated knowledge of chromatic harmony, this gave jazz performers and listeners classic melodies unlike anyone else before him. From the mid-fifties until his death he wrote and arranged at a fever pitch, coming out with selections such as Sweet Thunder, Suite Thursday and Far East suite. Billy Strayhorn died on May 30, 1967. (aareg)
1897  Lucille Hegamin born. She was an African-American Blues singer.  Hegamin’s birth name was Lucille Nelson; she also went by Fanny Baker and was born in Macon, Georgia, hence her first stage-nickname, the Georgia Peach. Although she had little or no vocal training, she began working the tent-show circuit in the South in her mid-teens. In 1914 she married piano player Bill Hegamin. The duo eventually wound up in Chicago, where Hegamin sang with jazz pianists Jelly Roll Morton and Tony Jackson. She and her husband moved to Los Angeles before ultimately settling in New York in 1919. In New York she sang in cabarets and nightclubs and was signed by Arto in 1920. Her follow-up to "The Jazz Me Blues" was "Arkansas Blues," a song that solidified her reputation as one of the more popular Black singers of the era. After Hegamin's contract with Arto expired, she signed with Cameo and eventually became known as the Cameo Girl. Lucille Hegamin was the second black vaudeville-blues singer to record in 1920. She cut "The Jazz Me Blues" and "Everybody's Blues" for Arto Records in November of that year, just a few months after Mamie Smith had recorded "Crazy Blues," the first blues song to appear on disc. Although not a pure blues singer in the tradition of, say, Bessie Smith, Hegamin seemed as comfortable singing the blues as she was singing the pop and vaudeville hits of the day. Light-skinned and attractive and born with a cool, well-rounded voice, Hegamin became one of the biggest names in blues circles in the early 1920s. Her signature song, "He May Be Your Man, But He Comes to See Me Sometimes," is considered one of the era's most memorable numbers. In all, Hegamin recorded some forty songs with Cameo before she slid from the scene in the 1930s. In the early 1960s, Hegamin returned to recording, thanks to the support and urging of fellow classic blues singer Victoria Spivey. Hegamin sang songs for Spivey's self-named label as well as for the Prestige-Bluesville label. She died on March 1, 1970. (aareg)
1964  Kenneth (Ken) Monkou, 6'3", 14.4 footballer born in Surinam. Club Honours: FMC '90. International Honours: Holland: U21. Southampton paid £750,000 for him on 21/8/92. (bh-mn)

2011 Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray, has been sentenced to four years in prison following his conviction for involuntary manslaughter of the pop legend earlier this month. Judge Michael Pastor said Dr Murray, "repeatedly lied... violated the trust of the medical community... and of his patient, and he has absolutely no sense of remorse." The pop star died on 25 June 2009 from an overdose of the powerful anaesthetic propofol. Murray waited 20 mins before calling for help. (bbc)

30th. NOVEMBER  

BLACK HEROES PAST & PRESENT: 18th.CENT.VOICES:
192: DR. HAROLD MOODY B.1882 D.1947
JR.RANKS BORN (1978)
1912  Gordon Parks, film maker and photographer, is born. (tr-iokts)
1915  Brownie McGhee, blues guitarist born in Knoxville, Ten, USA.McGhee learned guitar from his father, and started a musical career early on, playing in church before he was 10 years old, and on the road with medicine shows, carnivals and minstrel troupes in his early teens. His travels took him into the Carolinas, and his time there proved very influential in moulding his musical style. His younger brother was Granville "Sticks" McGhee, also a singer and blues guitarist. He met Sonny Terry in 1939, and their partnership was to become one of the most enduring in blues. The following year, he made his first records, reminiscent of those of Blind Boy Fuller; indeed some of them bore the credit "Blind Boy Fuller No.2". Also around this time, he settled in New York, where his career took a rather different turn, as he took up with a group of black musicians - including Terry, Lead Belly and Josh White - favored by the then small white audience for the blues. Dies 1996. (mn-rs-music.us)
1924  Shirley Chisholm, congresswoman, is born in Brooklyn, New York but spent her early childhood with her grandparents in Barbados. She received her A.B. degree from Brooklyn Collage in 1946 and her M.A. from Columbia University in 1952. She taught in Brooklyn and served as an education consultant to New York's Division Day Care before her election to the state assembly in 1964. In 1968 she was elected, as a Democrat, to the US House of Representatives, where she served until 1982. In 1993 President Clinton appointed her ambassador to Jamaica.(mm-ss-tr-iokts)
1943  J.J. Barnes singer/songwriter born James Jay Barnes in Detroit, USA. Popular night club performer in Detroit best remembered by Northern Soul fans for his classic 'Real Humdinger'. He made a radio program for PCRL in 1991. Dies 10-12-2022 (mn-br/ref:tape 18)
1944  Luther Thomas Ingram singer born in Jackson, Tennessee. Recorded on Koko Records via Stax, his 1972 album 'I've Been Here All the Time' sold 50,000 imported copies in the UK without being released. Dies 19-3-2007. (mn-rt)
1966  Barbados gains independence from Britain after 300 years (mn)
1968 Desree Weeks (uk singer) born in London. (nationmaster)
2005 Dr John Sentamu becomes the UK's first Black Archbishop of York. A twenty strong group od dances, some bare chested performed a dance of "rejoicing and thanksgiving" wearing colourful head plumage of red white and black feathers. The 3000 strong conregation was  mesmerised by the specticle of the former Bishop of Birmingham, Dr. John Sentamu, himself wearing a colourful robe that was based on a paining from Birmingham. (mn)
2011 John "Blackfoot" Colbert, known best to soul music fans as J. Blackfoot, died of a heart attack in Memphis, Tennessee.  Colbert first came to prominence as a member of the Soul Children in the 1960s and 70s before scoring a major solo hit in 1984 with the brilliant Southern Soul song, "Taxi."  Colbert was born in Mississippi and was discovered by legendary songwriter David Porter, who helped him become a member of the Bar-Kays after a plane crash decimated that group. After a brief stay there, he became a founding member of the Soul Children, and over the next decade landed big hits like "Hearsay" and "I'll Be the Other Woman." After leaving the Soul Children in the early 80s, Colbert, then going by the name J. Blackfoot, went solo and recorded "Taxi," a song reportedly originally written for Johnny Taylor. He made it his own and it became an international smash and his signature song. He had a moderate hit a couple years later with the album U-Turn and the song "Tear Jerker," and continued to record with modest success into the new century.  Colbert then helped reform the Soul Children in 2007 for a brief run. Whether as part of a group or as a solo artist, John Blackfoot Colbert's gravelly, expressive voice absolutely brought life to any kind of material. He will be missed. (BR/soultracks)
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