Category: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

It looks like soul singer Aretha Franklin isn’t getting married after all. According to the Associated Press, her representative recently released a statement saying the singer and her beaux Willie Wilkerson had decided to call off their engagement. It’s not clear whether the two are still romantically involved. “Will and I have decided we were […]

Entertainment mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs reportedly plans to launch his own music-themed cable network. According to Broadcast and Cable magazine, the network will be called Revolt and will serve as a music and news channel with an urban twist. Sources have described the channel as classic MTV, but for an African-American audience. Comcast and Time […]

Don’t be deceived by Hugo’s landing the most Oscar nominations, The Artist still remains the heavy favorite to win for Best Picture. The list of nominees doesn’t include much in the way of major surprises other than perhaps the conspicuous absence of Ryan Gosling (The Ides of March and Drive) and Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids) in […]

Producer George Lucas refuses to bite his tongue on why he couldn’t get funding for his latest film, “Red Tails.” In a recent interview on the “Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” he revealed that Hollywood studios avoided the film about the pioneering Black aviators of World War II because of its all-Black cast. The film, […]

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Winston Riley, an innovative reggae musician and producer, has died of complications from a gunshot wound to the head. He was 65. Riley died Thursday at University Hospital of the West Indies, where he had been a patient since November, when he was shot at his house in an upscale neighborhood […]

Cuba Gooding Jr. was born in the Bronx, New York on Jan. 2, 1968, to Shirley and Cuba Sr., the lead singer of the R&B group The Main Ingredient But after his dad abandoned the family in 1974, Jr. and his siblings were raised in L.A. by his struggling single-mom. He ended up attending four […]

Rising Gospel music superstar Vashawn Mitchell topped the list of winners during the 27th Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards announced Jan. 14 during the show’s taping at Nashville’s iconic Grand Ole Opry House Theater. Mitchell took home six awards, including Artist of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Contemporary Male of the Year and […]

Wendy Williams wants to make sure that one of America’s favorite snacks stays around for generations to come. That’s why the TV talk-show host is spearheading a campaign entitled “Save the Twinkie,” according to a recent news release. The new initiative comes weeks after Hostess Brands, the maker of the creamy cakes, filed for Chapter […]

Etta James, the feisty R&B singer whose raw, passionate vocals anchored many hits and made the yearning ballad “At Last” an enduring anthem for weddings, commercials and even President Obama, died Friday. She was 73. James had been suffering from dementia, kidney problems, and battling leukemia. In December 2011, her physician announced that her leukemia […]

From an Etta James interview: “…I used to go to Baltimore at least two or three times a year, at the Royal Theatre. Remember that theater? Now that was a bum theater. Everybody that ever went there would be terrified to go. ‘Where are you working?’ ‘Oh, I’m working at the Royal Theatre in Baltimore. […]