Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Watch: Angela Bassett Make History as First MCU Actor to Win a Golden Globe

Photo Courtesy Marvel 

Angela Bassett paid a touching tribute to late "Black Panther" star Chadwick Boseman, Tuesday, while accepting her Golden Globe for best supporting actress in a drama film for her performance as Queen Ramonda in the film's sequel “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

“We embarked on this journey together with love. We mourned, we loved, we healed. We were surrounded each and every day by the light and the spirit of Chadwick Boseman,” Bassett said following the historic win, the first for an actor in a Marvel movie.


“We have joy in knowing that with this historic ‘Black Panther’ series, it is a part of his legacy that he helped to lead us. We showed the world what Black unity, leadership and love looks like, behind and in front of the camera."

The win was the second for the 64-year-old actor. Bassett, who has been nominated twice for Golden Globes, also won the award for best actress in a musical or comedy for 1993’s Tina Turner biopic “What’s Love Got to Do With It."

Monday, January 9, 2023

Gordy Harmon, Co-Founder of R&B Hitmakers the Whispers, Dies At 79


Early promotional material for the Whispers featuring Gordy Harmon. 
The Whispers, and fans of the acclaimed California-bred R&B group, are in mourning following the death of one of its founding members.

Singer Gordy Harmon, who co-founded the quintet in Watts, California, with twin brothers Wallace and Walter Scott, Marcus Hutson, and Nicholas Caldwell in 1964, has died at the age of 79.

No cause was given for Harmon’s death, but his family confirmed the news to ABC 7. The media outlet reported that the musician died peacefully in his sleep at his Los Angeles home on Thursday (Jan. 5). 

The surviving Whispers shared their condolences on social media. 

“We are saddened by the passing of one of the founders and former member of the Whispers,” the group captioned a collage of photos during Gordy's time with it on its official Instagram page. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and his memory and his contributions will never be forgotten. Much love.”

Before leaving the band in 1973, after his larynx was damaged in a driving accident, Harmon helped lay the groundwork for the group's future success. 

He sang on early hits like 1969's "The Time Will Come," which peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard R&B chart, and “Seems Like I Gotta Do Wrong” which became the group's first top 10 R&B entry in 1970.


Harmon was replaced by, Leaveil Degree, formerly of Friends of Distinction, and the Whispers went on to enjoy even greater success.

During the eighties and early nineties, the group scored multiple hits on the R&B and Billboard Hot 100 charts, putting out five gold and two platinum-certified albums. 

In 1987, their signature hit "Rock Steady" peaked at No. 7 on the Hot 100, while taking the top spot on the R&B chart. 

The Whispers were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003, the Soul Music Hall of Fame in 2012 and the R&B Music Hall of Fame in 2014.

Thursday, January 5, 2023

De La Soul's Music is Officially Headed to Streaming Platforms

De La Soul (Photo Courtesy Instagram: @wearedelasoul)

De La Soul has finally gone digital.

On Wednesday, the Grammy Award-winning rap group announced its iconic catalog will be released on streaming services for the first time ever on March 3 — the 34th anniversary of its debut album "3 Feet High and Rising."

"We can’t believe this day is finally here, and we are excited to be able to share our music with fans, old and new. Golnar, Rell, Faith and the Reservoir team have been great partners in this entire process. We’re grateful that our relationship with them all has enabled this to happen,” De La Soul said of the long-anticipated release in a statement.

The rest of the group's first six albums, "De La Soul Is Dead," "Buhloone Mindstate," "Stakes Is High," "Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump" and "AOI: Bionix," will also be made available.

De La Soul's label AOI will distribute the music in partnership with Reservoir Media and its subsidiary Chrysalis Records.

The move ends months of speculation on whether or not the move would really happen. Previously, infighting between the trio and their label Tommy Boy had kept De La Soul's work from being digitally distributed. 


As we reported earlier Reservoir acquired Tommy Boy — founded by Tom Silverman in New York in 1981 and instrumental in launching the careers of Afrika Bambaataa, Queen Latifah, Digital Underground and Naughty By Nature amongst others — in June for a deal valued at $100 million dollars.

The purchase proved fortunate for De La Soul which was at an impasse in negotiations with Tommy Boy over streaming rights in 2019 after the label acquired the rights to its back catalog from Warner Records.

In August the group revealed during an Instagram live session that its whole catalog would be made available for streaming as a result of the deal.


"We have finally come down to a deal between ourselves and Reservoir Media to release our music in 2021," group member Dave "Trugoy" Jolicoeur said. "Our catalog will be released this year, we are working diligently with the good folks at Reservoir, and we sat down with them and got it done pretty quickly actually."

Made up of Jolicoeur, Kelvin "Posdnuos" Mercer and Vincent "Maseo" Mason, De La Soul were pioneers of alternative rap and prominent members of the so-called Native Tongues collective, along with A Tribe Called Quest, The Jungle Brothers and others known for the positive Afrocentric lyrics, eclectic samples and jazz-influenced beats. A 2006 collaboration with the Gorillaz on the single “Feel Good Inc.” earned it a Grammy.

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