Willie Norwood
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Willie Norwood
William Ray Norwood Sr. (born November 30, 1955) is an American gospel singer. He is the father and voice coach of R&B singers Brandy and Ray J. Career 1975–1992: Early career Willie Norwood's career in the music industry began at Jackson State University on a band scholarship during the 1970s where he joined a soul music group named The Composers, becoming their lead vocalist and trumpeter. The group found a modicum of success playing the Mississippi club scene and began opening up for acts such as Rufus and Chaka Khan and Lou Rawls. Norwood soon moved to Hollywood with the group where they attracted a loyal following. The fast-paced Hollywood scene caused Norwood to stray from his religious upbringing, causing him and his wife, Sonja Bates-Norwood, to move back to McComb, Mississippi, in the late 1970s to begin a family as well as to regain focus. Eventually, California would once again play an important role musically for Willie Norwood and family. He began working wit ...
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Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. maritime border with Canada, northeast of Cincinnati, northeast of Columbus, and approximately west of Pennsylvania. The largest city on Lake Erie and one of the major cities of the Great Lakes region, Cleveland ranks as the 54th-largest city in the U.S. with a 2020 population of 372,624. The city anchors both the Greater Cleveland metropolitan statistical area (MSA) and the larger Cleveland–Akron–Canton combined statistical area (CSA). The CSA is the most populous in Ohio and the 17th largest in the country, with a population of 3.63 million in 2020, while the MSA ranks as 34th largest at 2.09 million. Cleveland was founded in 1796 near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River by General Moses Cleaveland, after whom the city was named ...
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Lou Rawls
Louis Allen Rawls (December 1, 1933 – January 6, 2006) was an American record producer, singer, composer and actor. Rawls released more than 60 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and had numerous charting singles, most notably his song "You'll Never Find Another Love like Mine". He worked as a film, television, and voice actor. He was also a three-time Grammy-winner, all for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. Early life Rawls was born in Chicago on December 1, 1933, and raised by his grandmother in the Ida B. Wells projects on the city's South Side. He began singing in the Greater Mount Olive Baptist Church choir at the age of seven and later sang with local groups through which he met Sam Cooke, who was nearly three years older, and Curtis Mayfield. Career After graduating from Dunbar Vocational High School, he sang briefly with Cooke in the Teenage Kings of Harmony, a gospel group, and then with the Holy Wonders. In 1951, he replaced Cooke in the Highway QC's aft ...
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Omega Psi Phi
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African-American fraternity. The fraternity was founded on November 17, 1911, by three Howard University juniors Edgar Amos Love, Oscar James Cooper and Frank Coleman, and their faculty adviser, Dr. Ernest Everett Just. Since its founding the organization has chartered over 750 undergraduate and graduate chapters. Omega Psi Phi is the first fraternal organization founded at a historically black university. History Since its founding in 1911, Omega Psi Phi's stated purpose has been "to attract and build a strong and effective force of Handsome men dedicated to its Cardinal Principles of manhood, scholarship, perseverance, and uplift". Throughout the world, many notable members are recognized as leaders in the arts, academics, athletics, entertainment, business, civil rights, education, government, and science fields. A few notable members include Samuel M. Nabrit, Walter E. Massey, Benjamin Mays, Bayard Rustin, Langston Hug ...
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Entertainment One Music
MNRK Music Group (pronounced "monarch", formerly known as Koch Records and eOne Music) is a New York City-based independent record label and music management company. It was formed in 2009 from the music assets of Koch Entertainment, which had been acquired by the present-day Entertainment One (eOne) in 2005. In April 2021, after the acquisition of eOne by Hasbro, the company announced that it would sell eOne Music to The Blackstone Group. It owns the libraries of Artemis Records, Dualtone Records, and Last Gang Records. History eOne as a whole has its origins in the music distributor Records on Wheels, which was acquired by the Canadian retail chain CD Plus in 2001 to expand its wholesale business. Darren Throop joined the company after CD Plus acquired his record store chain Urban Sound Exchange. The combined company later became known as ROW Entertainment, with Throop as president and CEO. In June 2005, ROW acquired the American independent music distributor and home entert ...
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B7 (album)
''B7'' is the seventh studio album by American singer Brandy. It was released on July 31, 2020, through her own label Brand Nu, Inc. and eOne Music. Her first studio album since ''Two Eleven'' (2012), the album features production from Darhyl Camper, Jr. and LaShawn Daniels, among others. ''B7'' is an R&B album exploring themes such as self-love, tumultuous romantic relationships, mental health and single motherhood. The album received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the album's authenticity and cohesiveness, as well as Norwood's vocals. ''B7'' debuted at number 12 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, earning 25,000 album-equivalent units in its first week. The album and its songs were nominated for various awards, including a Grammy Award. It spawned two singles: "Baby Mama" and " Borderline". Furthermore, " No Tomorrow, Pt. 2" featuring Ty Dolla Sign, a remix of the album track "No Tomorrow" was also released in promotion of the album. Background and deve ...
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The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large national audience. Daily broadsheet editions are printed for D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. The ''Post'' was founded in 1877. In its early years, it went through several owners and struggled both financially and editorially. Financier Eugene Meyer purchased it out of bankruptcy in 1933 and revived its health and reputation, work continued by his successors Katharine and Phil Graham (Meyer's daughter and son-in-law), who bought out several rival publications. The ''Post'' 1971 printing of the Pentagon Papers helped spur opposition to the Vietnam War. Subsequently, in the best-known episode in the newspaper's history, reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein led the American press's investigation into what became known as the Watergate scandal ...
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Clinton Sparks
Clinton Charls Sparks (born September 18, 1975) is an American Disc jockey, DJ, record producer, songwriter and singer from Boston, Massachusetts. He initially started his career as a rapper, dancer, producer, and DJ who gained notoriety by making Bootleg recording, bootleg remixes and mixtapes and parlayed that into hosting radio shows on Boston's WZRM, Hot 97.7, Baltimore's WERQ-FM, 92Q, Hartford's WZMX, Hot 93.7, and Sirius XM Satellite Radio, Sirius XM's Shade 45 (among others). He was the long-time host of a worldwide syndicated radio show called ''SmashTime Radio'' (also referred to as ''Get Familiar with Clinton Sparks''). He is the current host and owner of the national Hip hop music, hip hop radio station ''Get Familiar Radio'' on Dash Radio, a digital radio platform for which he served as vice president from 2016 to 2019. In 2012, he was nominated for a Grammy Award, Grammy for his production work on Lady Gaga's ''Born This Way (album), Born This Way''. That year, he al ...
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Big Bert
Robert Anthony Smith, known as Big Bert, is an American record producer, songwriter and musician. He made a break in the industry when Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins consulted him to join his Darkchild collective in the late 1990s. He went on to co-produce alongside Jerkins on tracks for bands like B2K and the Spice Girls, prior to contributing to projects by Dave Hollister, Toni Braxton, and Kelly Rowland in the early to mid-2000s. During the production of Brandy's ''Full Moon'' album, he became romantically involved with the singer. The couple began a relationship in mid-2001 but announced it in February 2002, when Norwood revealed that she was expecting a child. A year after the birth of their daughter Sy'rai Iman Smith (June 16, 2002), the couple announced their separation on MTV reality series ''Special Delivery.'' In 2004 Smith said the pair never legally wed but portrayed the notion of nuptials to preserve Norwood's public image. Smith is CEO of NOMA Records, an independent r ...
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A Family Business
''A Family Business'' a 2011 compilation album released on Saguaro Road Records and Time–Life Music. Based on the American reality series '' Brandy and Ray J: A Family Business'' which aired on the VH1 network between the years of 2010 and 2011, it was released as a soundtrack accompanying the series' second and final season. Executive produced by the Norwood family, the show chronicled the backstage lives of singers Ray J and Brandy Norwood, while taking on larger roles in their family's management and production company, R&B Productions. The album features previously unreleased content from both siblings and their parents Sonja and Willie Norwood as well as contribution from Brandy's daughter Sy'rai, her half-sister Rain Smith, and fellow singers such as Tasha Scott. Production on the compilation was handled by several producers, including Big Bert, Clinton Sparks, and The Jam. Upon release, critics such as ''The Washington Post'' declared it an "awkward and adorable and rea ...
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A Family Business
''A Family Business'' a 2011 compilation album released on Saguaro Road Records and Time–Life Music. Based on the American reality series '' Brandy and Ray J: A Family Business'' which aired on the VH1 network between the years of 2010 and 2011, it was released as a soundtrack accompanying the series' second and final season. Executive produced by the Norwood family, the show chronicled the backstage lives of singers Ray J and Brandy Norwood, while taking on larger roles in their family's management and production company, R&B Productions. The album features previously unreleased content from both siblings and their parents Sonja and Willie Norwood as well as contribution from Brandy's daughter Sy'rai, her half-sister Rain Smith, and fellow singers such as Tasha Scott. Production on the compilation was handled by several producers, including Big Bert, Clinton Sparks, and The Jam. Upon release, critics such as ''The Washington Post'' declared it an "awkward and adorable and real ...
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Winans Family
The Winans family is a U.S. family of gospel music artists from Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Family members * Pop Winans, David "Pop" Winans Sr. (father; b. April 20, 1934 – d. April 8, 2009) * Delores "Mom" Winans (mother; b. September 22, 1936) * David Winans II (oldest, sibling #1)–(b. September 24, 1954); married to Deborah Ann Coduto-Winans II (b. August 23, 1956; d. December 2007). Children: daughter, Seven Simone Winans. * Ronald Winans (sibling #2) (b. June 30, 1956; d. June 17, 2005) * * Marvin Winans (sibling #3 twin)–(March 5, 1958); was married to Vickie Winans, Vickie; children: Marvin Winans Jr, Marvin Jr; Mario Winans, Mario (stepson) and Josiah * Carvin Winans (sibling #4 twin)–(March 5, 1958); is married to Cherie Winans; children Carvin Winans Jr.; Juan Winans , Juan;Deborah Joy Winans, Deborah Joy; Ian Winans; Shannaiah Winans; and Laylah Winans * Michael Winans Sr. (sibling #5) (b. June 5, 1959) married to Regina; children: Mike (Michael Jr); LaShay * ...
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Kirk Whalum
Kirk is a Scottish and former Northern English word meaning "church". It is often used specifically of the Church of Scotland. Many place names and personal names are also derived from it. Basic meaning and etymology As a common noun, ''kirk'' (meaning 'church') is found in Scots, Scottish English, Ulster-Scots and some English dialects, attested as a noun from the 14th century onwards, but as an element in placenames much earlier. Both words, ''kirk'' and ''church'', derive from the Koine Greek κυριακόν (δωμα) (kyriakon (dōma)) meaning ''Lord's (house)'', which was borrowed into the Germanic languages in late antiquity, possibly in the course of the Gothic missions. (Only a connection with the idiosyncrasies of Gothic explains how a Greek neuter noun became a Germanic feminine). Whereas ''church'' displays Old English palatalisation, ''kirk'' is a loanword from Old Norse and thus retains the original mainland Germanic consonants. Compare cognates: Icelandic & ...
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