Ronnie Wilson, a co-founder of one of the seminal funk groups of the 1970s and 80s — the Gap Band — along with his brothers Charlie and Robert, is dead at the age of 73.
The performer, who was preceded by his brother Robert in death, who died of a heart attack in 2010 at the age of 53 following the group's official retirement after 36 years, suffered a stroke last week and his wife Linda Boulware-Wilson told TMZ that he died at his Tulsa, Oklahoma, home Tuesday morning.
"The love of my life was called home this morning, at 10:01am. Please continue to pray for The Wilson, Boulware, and Collins family, while we mourn his passing," Boulware-Wilson wrote in a Facebook post confirming the death.
"Ronnie Wilson was a genius with creating, producing, and playing the flugelhorn, trumpet, keyboards, and singing music, from childhood to his early seventies. He will be truly missed!!!"
The Wilson brothers founded the band in the 1960s and named it after streets in their hometown (Greenwood, Archer, and Pine) in remembrance of the Tulsa race massacre. After years of steady work and some mild successes, the GAP band exploded on the scene in the late 70s and 80s with hits like "Burn Rubber on Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)," "Early in the Morning," and their signature hit "You Dropped a Bomb on Me."
As early as Wednesday of this week some parents will have the choice to vaccinate their young children, following a unanimous vote by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory panel Tuesday to recommend giving the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to children ages 5 to 11.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky declared, "Today is a monumental day in the course of this pandemic and one that many of us have been very eager to see ever since your vote … recommending COVID-19 vaccination for those 16 and older," at the start of the panel meeting according to reporting from the Washington Post.
"There are children in the second grade who have never experienced a 'normal' school year," Walensky, who was expected to sign off on the recommendation later Tuesday, continued. "There are students in middle school who missed out on school sports and extracurricular activities. There are missed proms and homecoming dances … Pediatric vaccination has the power to help us change all of that."
Once Walensky's signature is on the letter, 28 million kids will be eligible for a two-shot dose of the vaccine — containing one-third of the adult dose and administered three weeks apart — and according to White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients the vaccination effort is expected to be fully running by next week.
“Starting the week of Nov. 8, the kids vaccination program will be fully up and running,” Zients said at a press conference Monday, following the Food and Drug Administration's emergency use authorization of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for kids in the same age group Friday. “Parents will be able to schedule appointments at convenient sites they know and trust to get their kids vaccinated.”
Saturday the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame welcomed one of its most diverse and talented classes, but one star shone brighter than the rest at the star-studded ceremony.
That Class of 2021 standout was Jay-Z. The 23-time Grammy winner and one-half of music's reigning premiere power couple, along with wife Beyoncé, was feted by friends, fellow musicians and a former president as he joined the less than a handful of rappers to be given the honor.
In a video proceeding his induction President Barack Obama shared how important the music of the street hustler, turned musician and finally billionaire business mogul, had been to him personally.
“I’ve turned to Jay-Z’s words at different points in my life, whether I was brushing dirt off my shoulder on the campaign trail, or sampling his lyrics on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the 50th anniversary of the Selma march to Montgomery,” Obama said. "Today Jay-Z is one of the most renowned artists in history and an embodiment of the American dream, a dream he has helped make real for other young people like him."
The speech, part of a video featuring high praise from numerous other luminaries from the worlds of art, entertainment, music and sport; including LeBron James, David Letterman, Diddy, Chris Martin, Ed Sheeran, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jamie Foxx, Chris Rock, John Legend along with Jay-Z's wife Beyoncé and daughter Blue Ivy, was followed by an in-person induction by currently controversial comedian Dave Chappelle.
"This is an incredible honor to induct this next man into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame," Chapelle said. "But I need everybody in rock & roll to know that even though we are honoring him, he is ours. He is hip-hop. Forever and ever and a day."
Following Chappelle's speech, Jay-Z delivered the longest of the night, beginning with some words of thanks and an acknowledgment how far hip-hop has come as an art form since the 51-year-old began his own career.
"Thank you, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, for this incredible honor. And you know, growing up, we didn't think we could be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We were told that hip-hop was a fad," he said. "Much like punk rock, it gave us this anti-culture, this subgenre, and there were heroes in it."
The artist thanked a long list of family, friends, business partners, artists and others who have enabled and advanced his career. In addition to business partners Damon Dash and Tyran Smith, his mother Gloria, sister Annie and the late rapper Notorious B.I.G. — whom along with fellow 2021 inductee LL Cool J, Tupac and Jay-Z are the only individual rap artists to be enshrined into the hall — before ending his speech on an optimistic note.
"Hopefully, I'm informing the next generation that anything is possible," he said. "I don't know what's next — In fact, I do know what's next. I have to go to court Monday. There's good and bad, life is about balance — But you know, tonight, we're going to enjoy tonight. I appreciate this honor. Sorry for this long-ass speech, but I had to give it up. We did it, Brooklyn!"
While his induction stole the show, it was only a small part of what the hall touted as one of its most diverse classes ever. Tina Turner, Carole King, The Go-Go's, Foo Fighters and Todd Rundgren, were just a few of the big names from across the musical spectrum honored.
Continue reading below to see a full list of the rest of this year's inductees:
