I just found out via a telephone call yesterday that television star and one of the Original Kings of Comedy....Bernie Mac passed away from complications from pneumonia....
Born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough on Oct. 5, 1957, in Chicago, Bernie Mac grew up on the city's South Side. Mac gained popularity as a stand-up comedian. He joined comedians Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer and D.L. Hughley as The Original Kings of Comedy. After briefly hosting the HBO show Midnight Mac, Mac appeared in several movies in smaller roles. His most notable movie role was as Frank Catton in the remake of Ocean's Eleven and its two sequels. Mac also starred in several movies, including Mr. 3000. He was the star of The Bernie Mac Show, which ran from 2001-2006, and earned two Emmy Award nominations.
His publicist said he died Saturday from complications of pneumonia. He had suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body's organs, but had said the condition went into remission in 2005. He recently was hospitalized and treated for pneumonia, which his publicist said was not related to the disease.
Fans and friends of Chicago comedian Bernie Mac, who died Saturday, are invited to a public memorial celebrating Mac's life. Services are scheduled for noon Saturday in the 10,000-seat House of Hope, 752 E. 114th St., Chicago, said Danica Smith, Mac's publicist.
Donations in Mac's honor may be sent to the Bernie Mac Foundation for Sarcoidosis, 40 E. 9th St., Suite 601, Chicago, IL 60605, Smith said.
Then to make matters worse I turned on my television to check the weather status and heard that musician & actor Isaac Hayes had also died.
Singer Issac Hayes was found dead Sunday at age 65. Relatives found Hayes, 65, unconscious in his home next to a still-running treadmill, said Steve Shular, a spokesman for the Shelby County Sheriff's Department. Paramedics attempted to revive him and took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after 2 p.m., the sheriff's department said. No foul play is suspected, the agency said in a written statement.I never got the pleasure of meeting Bernie Mac but I did get a chance to meet Isaac Hayes during my NY Magazine days. And after chewing his head off for trying to ignore a sister on the red carpet at Studio 54 (lol...I believe my exact words were "Uh...'Scuse me my brother but there ain't but 3 or 4 of US in this entire place....YOU NEED TO ACKNOWLEDGE ME!!!") and after he and his wife finished laughing...he apologized for the slight and I found him to be a very nice & kind man.
Hayes was a longtime songwriter and arranger for Stax Records in Memphis, playing in the studio's backup band and crafting tunes for artists such as Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Carla Thomas and Johnnie Taylor in the 1960s. Among the songs he wrote for Stax artists, often with his partner David Porter, were "Hold On, I'm Comin'," "Soul Man," "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby" and "B-A-B-Y."
"Isaac Hayes embodies everything that's soul music," Collin Stanback, an A&R executive at Stax, told The Associated Press on Sunday. "When you think of soul music you think of Isaac Hayes -- the expression ... the sound and the creativity that goes along with it." Hayes released his first solo album in 1967, and his 1969 follow-up, "Hot Buttered Soul," became a platinum hit. "Hot Buttered Soul" was notable for its lengthy, richly orchestrated covers of "Walk On By" and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," and became a hit on underground FM radio. Hayes won a third Grammy for pop instrumental performance with the title track to his 1972 "Black Moses" album.
As you all know Isaac Hayes was the composer of the score of one of my all time favorite movies....Shaft! In 1971, the theme from "Shaft" topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks and won an Academy Award for best original theme song. The song and the movie score also won Grammy awards for best original score and movie theme. Isaac Hayes made history as he became the first African American composer to win the Grammy for Best Original Score.
And he absolutely KILLED the remake of Dionne Warwick's "Walk On By" (which was revived this year on "The L Word") You know a soundtrack is good when you can listen to each and every track on it! (The Theme from Shaft, Cafe Regio's & Soulsville are my favorite tunes).
In addition to his music, Hayes forged a successful career as an actor, with roles in over 30 movies including 'Robin Hood: Men In Tights', 'It Could Happen To You' and 'Reindeer Games'. His TV career also flourished as the voice of Nickelodeon's 'Nick At Nite' and acting roles in 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air', 'Sliders', 'Tales From The Crypt' and 'Girlfriends'. In 1997 he landed the voice of Chef on animated TV show 'South Park', voicing the popular character from the show's inception until 2006. In character, he scored a UK Number single in 1999 with 'Chocolate Salty Balls (PS I Love You)'. Hayes left the show acrimoniously after reportedly being unhappy with an episode which criticised his religion Scientology, with the star reportedly saying at the time "There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins."
Just last weekend TV One broadcast all three of the Shaft movies (Shaft, Shaft's Big Score & Shaft in Africa) hosted by Richard Roundtree it was a slow day for me and I got a chance to watch all three! lol...back in '71 my dad had the John Shaft thing down pat!!! Chocolate skin, Leather coat, turtle neck sweater, moustache, sideburns and the swagger to boot!!!
Bernie Mac & Isaac Hayes will both be sorely missed!
"Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone."
No comments:
Post a Comment