"Fast and Furious' Franchise Star, Tyrese Gibson, Loses Mother to Covid-19 Complications

@tyrese/ Instagram

While others were celebrating the loves of their life this past Valentine’s Day, actor Tyrese Gibson took to Instagram to share the loss of one of his with the world.

In a solemn video posted on the site, the 43-year-old “Fast and Furious” movie franchise star mourned the loss of his mother Priscilla Murray, who died on Monday after being hospitalized with COVID-19 and pneumonia the previous week.

"On behalf of my family and everyone who ever spent anytime praying for my mother, this is the saddest moment of my life," Gibson captioned the clip. "My sweet Valentine just passed away."

The video features the actor holding his unresponsive mother’s hand.

"Rest in peace mom," he says with tears in his voice. "You fought, mom. You fought. Oh my god, I'm so sorry this happened, mom, Jesus."

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Gibson added, "I'm gonna hold your hand for the rest of my life, OK? Everywhere I go, I'm gonna hold your hand the way you held my hand when I was a kid."

The heartbreaking scene was the end of a sad and short saga that begin on Feb. 7 when Gibson shared that his mother was hospitalized and asked his fans to pray for her.

"My mother is in a coma, in ICU, with Pneumonia and she caught Covid they got her so sedated she can't breathe or even eat on her own," he explained in an Instagram post. "This has been going on all week I haven't posted [I'm doing it this time cause I feel helpless this is my cry for help."

"Please guys praise you pray and even write out the prayers in the comments so that me and my family can read and be encouraged," Gibson said. "I feel helpless and need my prayer warriors to cover my mother please please keep her father God she's got so much more to do…"

Despite being clearly deep in mourning Gibson expressed thanks to jazz artist Kenny G. The legendary saxophonist played "Forever in Love" during an Instagram Live for Gibson and his mom while in the hospital.

"Dear @kennyg I will never ever forget what you did for our beloved mother you sent her into the heavens with the perfect melody………." he wrote. "I am going to watch this clip over and over and remember that you sent her into the heavens on the sweetest Melodies…."

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R&B Singer, David Bowie Muse, Ava Cherry Releases Memoir

During the mid-1970s when the musical chameleon christened David Robert Jones, but better known to
the earthlings who consumed his works during his hall-of-fame career as David Bowie was near the pinnacle of his creative powers, he moved to the US as he gravitated towards funk and soul.

During much of that period, which saw the then relatively unknown outside of the U.K. artist, become a worldwide sensation, Ava Cherry was by his side. A former fashion model turned musician, she was Bowie’s lover, backup singer, collaborator and friend.

Their five-year relationship inspired one of his greatest hits and most beloved songs “Golden Years,” and Cherry’s influence on Bowie during that period was essential in the development of his breakthrough album from that period, “Young Americans.”

Now the nu-soul diva is finally revealing what it was like to work with the global rock icon in the 1970s in her new book (available now at major retailers, “All That Glitters: The Ava Cherry Story.”

Cherry told iHeartRadio’s biography podcast series “Off the Record” in 2021: “I was already hooked. There was nothing I could do about how I felt. I wasn't going to let him go,” of meeting Bowie and making love with him only to be introduced to his wife in the morning and told they had an open marriage.

She was not the only one addicted apparently. Cherry's formative years on the Chicago black music scene shaped her soul music sensibilities and she shared that influence with the rock great whose copy of James Brown’s “Live at the Apollo” had been one of his most treasured possessions as a child.

Cherry took him to the black music mecca and soon he had recruited house band’s guitarist, Carlos
Alomar and headed to Philadelphia's Sigma Sound, the center of the "Philly Soul" explosion, and vowed to cut a record that emulated the funky sounds of bands like the Spinners, and the O'Jays.

That album “Young Americans” became Bowie’s first to reach the top 10 of the Billboard charts in the US, and its lead single “Fame” — which Cherry can be heard on — his first No. 1 hit in the country.

Eventually, Cherry and Bowie’s partnership collapsed under the weight of his drug use and money woes according to her interview with “Off the Record,” but she never stopped caring for him.

“I stayed in love with him for so long because I knew I didn't do anything wrong for us to break up,” she said. “It was just the circumstance."

Cherry remained friendly with Bowie in the following years, even attending the engagement party for his second wife Iman and remained active in the music world as well, first as a backup singer for R &B legend Luther Vandross and eventually as a solo artist.

Funk Pioneer, Betty Davis, Dies at 77

Betty Davis, a North Carolina native who transitioned from modeling to music during her storied career and earned the moniker Queen of Funk, died at 77 Wednesday. 

The news of Davis' death was confirmed to Rolling Stone by her friend Danielle Maggio, an ethnomusicologist whose work focused on Betty’s music and life.

Betty Davis, trailblazing Queen of Funk, has died at 76 https://t.co/pC5HkqzG9D

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) February 9, 2022

Amie Downs, communications director for Allegheny County where Davis lived, told the magazine that Davis’ cause of death was natural.

It is with great sadness that I share the news of the passing of Betty Davis, a multitalented music influencer and pioneer rock star, singer, songwriter, and fashion icon,” Connie Portis, another longtime friend of Davis, said in a statement. “Most of all, Betty was a friend, aunt, niece, and beloved member of her community of Homestead, Pennsylvania, and of the worldwide community of friends and fans. At a time to be announced, we will pay tribute to her beautiful, bold, and brash persona. Today we cherish her memory as the sweet, thoughtful, and reflective person she was…. There is no other.

Davis, who spent one-year married to fellow music legend Miles Davis in the 1960s, recorded the majority of her music between 1964 and 1975. Her signature raspy purr, combined with often erotic lyrics and outrageous costumes, helped her rack up a slew of hits including “Get Ready for Betty,” “It’s My Life,” and “If I’m in Luck I Might Get Picked Up” amongst others. Davis recorded three solo albums in all and wrote much of her own music.