MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Isaac Hayes, the baldheaded, baritone-voiced soul crooner who laid the groundwork for disco and whose "Theme From Shaft" won both Academy and Grammy awards, died Sunday afternoon after he collapsed near a treadmill, authorities said. He was 65.
Hayes, 'Shaft' singer and disco presage, dies
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Isaac Hayes, the baldheaded, baritone-voiced soul crooner who laid the groundwork for disco and whose "Theme From Shaft" won both Academy and Grammy awards, died Sunday afternoon after he collapsed near a treadmill, authorities said. He was 65.
Bernie Mac blended style, authority and a touch of self-aware bluster to make audiences laugh as well as connect with him. For Mac, who died Saturday at age 50, it was a winning mix, delivering him from a poor childhood to stardom as a standup comedian, in films including the casino heist caper "Ocean's Eleven" and his acclaimed sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show."
Where do we go from here? Amy Alexander at TheRoot.com observes, "Certainly, the show shines a spotlight on the scope of blackness. But will black viewers see or learn anything that improves their daily lives or inspires new thinking or action? And will viewers unfamiliar with "the black experience" learn anything that will expand or positively inform their opinions of blacks, or—more to the point—spur them to reach out to blacks?"
Black America Today provides a fresh look at more than 30 million African-Americans -
In this present era of economic and educational onslaught against the African Community in America, it is important that we understand that the rise of the African Centered Education Movement should be linked to our quest for economic independence. We must free the “African mind” through African Centered Educational activities so that we might better understand the importance of economic self-reliance.
