Son of Ellis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Frederick Douglass  (born  Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey , c. February 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an African-American social reformer, abolitionist  orator , writer, and  statesman . After escaping from  slavery , he became a leader of the  abolitionist  movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing. He stood as a living counter-example to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. Many Northerners also found it hard to believe that such a great orator had been a slave. Douglass wrote several autobiographies. He described his experiences as a slave in his 1845 autobiography,  Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave , which became a bestseller and influential in supporting abolition, as did the second,  My Bondage and My Freedom  (1855). After ...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Odetta Holmes (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008), known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, and a civil and human rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals. An important figure in the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s, she was influential to many of the key figures of the folk-revival of that time, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mavis Staples, and Janis Joplin. Time included her song "Take This Hammer" on its list of the All-Time 100 Songs, stating that "Rosa Parks was her No. 1 fan, and Martin Luther King Jr. called her the queen of American folk music."

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Edward Kennedy  " Duke "  Ellington  (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an  American  composer, pianist and  bandleader  of  jazz orchestras . He led his orchestra from 1923 until his death, his career spanning over 50 years. Born in  Washington, D.C. , Ellington was based in  New York City  from the mid-1920s onward, and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the  Cotton Club  in Harlem. In the 1930s, his orchestra toured in Europe. Though widely considered to have been a pivotal figure in the history of jazz, Ellington embraced the phrase "beyond category" as a "liberating principle", and referred to his music as part of the more general category of "American Music", rather than to a musical genre such as "jazz". Some of the musicians who were members of Ellington's orchestra, such as saxophonist  Johnny Hodges , are considered to be among t...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia George Duke  (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American musician, known as a  keyboard  pioneer, composer, singer and producer in both  jazz  and popular mainstream musical  genres . He worked with numerous acclaimed artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a professor of music. He first made a name for himself with the album  The Jean-Luc Ponty Experience with the George Duke Trio . He was known primarily for thirty-odd solo albums as well as for his collaborations with other musicians, particularly  Frank Zappa .

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia George Clinton  (born July 22, 1941) is an American  singer ,  songwriter ,  bandleader , and  music producer . He was the principal architect of  P-Funk , the mastermind of the bands  Parliament  and  Funkadelic  during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost innovators of  funk music , along with  James Brown  and  Sly Stone . He was inducted into the  Rock and Roll Hall of Fame  in 1997, alongside 15 other members of Parliament-Funkadelic .

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Victoria Lynn Rowell  (born May 10, 1959) is an American actress, writer, producer and dancer. Rowell began her career as ballet dancer and model, before making acting debut in the 1987 comedy film,  Leonard Part 6 . In 1990, Rowell joined the cast of the  CBS  daytime soap opera,  The Young and the Restless  as  Drucilla Winters , her signature and longest role on television, for which she was nominated for a three  Daytime Emmy Awards . She departed from the show in 2007. Rowell is also well known for her role as Dr. Amanda Bentley in the CBS medical crime drama  Diagnosis: Murder  (1993-2001). From 1993 to 2000, she appeared on both series simultaneously. Rowell has had a number of roles in feature films. She starred alongside  Eddie Murphy  in the 1992 comedy  The Distinguished Gentleman , and later had roles in films  Dumb and Dumber  (1994),  Barb Wir...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Nell Carter  (September 13, 1948 – January 23, 2003) was an American singer and actress. She won a  Tony Award  for her performance in the Broadway musical  Ain't Misbehavin' , as well as an  Emmy Award  for her reprisal of the role on television. From 1981 to 1987, Carter starred in the  NBC  sitcom  Gimme a Break! . She received two Emmy and two  Golden Globe  nominations for her work on the series.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor and filmmaker. Washington has received much critical acclaim for his film work since the 1990s, including his portrayals of real-life figures such as South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko (in the 1987 film Cry Freedom ), Muslim minister and human rights activist Malcolm X (in the 1992 film Malcolm X ), boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (in the 1999 film The Hurricane ), football coach Herman Boone (in the 2000 film Remember the Titans ), poet and educator Melvin B. Tolson (in the 2007 film The Great Debaters ), and drug kingpin Frank Lucas (in the 2007 film American Gangster ). He has been a featured actor in the films produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and was a frequent collaborator of the late director Tony Scott . Washington has received two Golden Globe awards, a Tony Award ,  and two Academy Awards : Best Supporting Actor for the h...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Janet Damita Jo Jackson  (born May 16, 1966) is an  American   singer ,  songwriter , and  actress . Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television roles, and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years. The youngest child of the  Jackson family , she began her career with the variety  television series  The Jacksons  in 1976 and went on to appear in other television shows throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, including  Good Times  and  Fame . After signing a recording contract with A&M in 1982, she became a  pop icon  following the release of her third studio album  Control  (1986). Her collaborations with record producers  Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis  incorporated elements of  rhythm and blues ,  funk ,...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Natalie Maria Cole  (born February 6, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter, and performer. The daughter of  Nat King Cole , Cole rose to musical success in the mid-1970s as a  R&B  artist with the hits " This Will Be ", " Inseparable ", and " Our Love ". After a period of failing sales and performances due to a heavy  drug addiction , Cole reemerged as a pop artist with the 1987 album,  Everlasting , and her cover of  Bruce Springsteen 's " Pink Cadillac ". In the 1990s, she re-recorded standards by her father, resulting in her biggest success,  Unforgettable... with Love , which sold over seven million copies and also won Cole numerous Grammy Awards. She has sold over 30 million records worldwide.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Marvin Gaye  ( born  Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. ; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an  American  singer, songwriter, and musician. Gaye helped to shape the sound of  Motown Records , first as an in-house session player in the  1960s  and later as a solo artist with a string of hits, including  How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)  and  I Heard It Through the Grapevine , and duet recordings with Mary Wells ,  Kim Weston  and  Tammi Terrell , later earning the  titles   Prince of Motown  and  Prince of Soul . During the  1970s , he recorded the  concept albums   What's Going On  and  Let's Get It On  and became one of the first artists in Motown to break away from the reins of his production company. Gaye's later recordings influenced several  R&B   subgenres , such as  quiet storm  and  ...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia India Arie  (born  India Arie Simpson ; October 3, 1975) is a  Grammy Award -winning American  singer-songwriter ,  musician , and  record producer .  She has sold over 3.3 million records in the US and 10 million worldwide. She has won four  Grammy Awards  from her 21 nominations, including  Best R&B Album .

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Toni Michele Braxton  (born October 7, 1967) is an American  R&B  singer-songwriter, pianist, musician, record producer, actress, television personality, and philanthropist. Rising to fame in the beginning of the 1990s, Braxton quickly established herself as an R&B icon and became one of the best-selling female artists of the 1990s decade, garnering her honorific titles such as the "Queen of R&B" and being recognized as one of the most outstanding voices of this generation. Her  self-titled debut studio album  was released in 1993. It sold over 10 million copies worldwide, spawning such hits as " Another Sad Love Song " and " Breathe Again " and earning Braxton three Grammy Awards , including  Best New Artist . Released in 1996, her second album,  Secrets , continued her acclaim and mega success, selling over 15 million copies globally. The album spawned the Billboard  Hot 100  No. 1...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Robert Townsend  (born February 6, 1957) is an  American   actor ,  comedian ,  film director , and  writer . He is best known for directing the films  Hollywood Shuffle ,  Eddie Murphy Raw ,  The Meteor Man , and various other films and stand-up specials.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Morgan Freeman  (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, film director, and narrator. Freeman has received  Academy Award  nominations for his performances in  Street Smart ,  Driving Miss Daisy ,  The Shawshank Redemption  and  Invictus , and won the  Best Supporting Actor  Oscar in 2005 for  Million Dollar Baby . He has also won a  Golden Globe Award  and a  Screen Actors Guild Award . Freeman has appeared in many other box office hits, including  Unforgiven ,  Glory ,  Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves , Seven ,  Deep Impact ,  The Sum of All Fears ,  Bruce Almighty ,  Along Came a Spider ,  The Dark Knight Trilogy ,  March of the Penguins ,  The Lego Movie  and  Lucy . He is known for his distinctively smooth, deep voice. He got his first break as part of the cast of The Electric Company .