In the 31 years since his untimely death, Marley still remains the most-popular figure in Reggae music. Succumbing to cancer at age 36 in 1981, Marley had become a global ambassador for the music he helped make famous.
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Marley’s passing shook the reggae and music community to its core; yet, his legacy remains intact through his timeless music catalog and talented children.
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Marley was born in the village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish in Jamaica (also the birthplace of Marcus Garvey). Marley’s father was a white Jamaican man of English descent and his mother was a native of Jamaica. Discovering music as a teenager, Marley befriended Neville “Bunny” Livingston (aka Bunny Wailer) who shared his dreams of becoming a musician. Through singer Joe Higgs, the pair met Peter McIntosh (aka Peter Tosh) who also had similar ambitions. Recording his first songs in 1962, Marley and his friends would eventually be renamed The Wailers, after being discovered by a local record producer.
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Marrying Rita Anderson (now Marley) in 1966, Marley and his bride made a sojourn to the United States to live near his mother in Wilmington, De. Marley soon teamed up with American singer Johnny Nash (“I Can See Clearly Now”) and nabbed a deal with CBS Records. Marley and the Wailers went on tour with Nash before their label deal went sour and the band ended up stranded in London in 1972. From there, Marley contacted Island Records’ founder Chris Blackwell and was advanced funds to record the hit album “Catch A Fire.”
Shortly after the release of their major-label debut, Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh went their
As would be expected from one of the most successful female singers of all time, Whitney Houston earned 26 Grammy nominations and six wins throughout her career. Here is a look back at some of her Grammy appearances over the years…
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Whitney Houston at the 36th Annual GRAMMY Awards on March 1, 1994 in New York City, New York. That year she won Album of the Year and Record of the Year for The Bodyguard Original Soundtrack and “I Will Always Love You.”
I have no idea why I am sitting here about to tell the world
about my situation, but maybe it will help someone.
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A little over a year ago I found myself back home, working two
jobs, single, feeling alone and pregnant.
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Now the reason for me being back home was so that I could save
some money so that I might be able to buy my first home. I was
working two jobs so that I could pay my current bills off.
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I also wanted to start a new career. I was a nail tech and an
intake person. I was 28 years old, a single woman longing to be
married but finding myself alone and pregnant which I thought
would never happen.
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My mother and step-father gave me the option to move in for one
year so that I could save a little faster. Well my year had
come to a close and it was time to go, if you know what I mean.
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One day I felt like I was sitting in a chair in the middle of
the room and looking above only to see the whirlwind of my
problems going around me. I was like “wow if I get pulled up
into this mess I’d just keel over.” Well you know what happened
next. Our words do have power because all of a sudden it seems
as though I became trapped in this whirlwind.
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I then began to give up until I remembered that God said that we
should cast all of our worries unto Him, so I began to pray a
prayer with all my heart. With faith I believed that He would
fix all of this, but I didn’t quite know how.
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The next day while working at the nail shop around 5 p.m.,
I began to tell a client of mine about my situation. After
crying all over myself at the end of her appointment, she gave
me a big hug and said that I was strong and everything would
work itself out. Now that was the last thing that I wanted to
hear. I was in trouble and needed major help.
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So by the end of my shift around 10 p.m. that client of mine who
Aretha Franklin is engaged to longtime friend William “Willie” Wilkerson.
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The Grammy-winning singer said in a statement Monday that she and Wilkerson are considering a summer wedding, perhaps in Miami Beach, Florida. The Queen of Soul wants to follow the ceremony with a reception on a private yacht.
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The 69-year-old jokes: “No, I’m not pregnant.”
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Franklin and Wilkerson became engaged over the holidays.
As the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama has become a role model in the awareness arena for healthy eating, sharing her homegrown recipes via her cookbook. Next celebrity chef? She has also become a fashion icon and has been named by Forbes Magazine as the eighth most powerful woman in the world.
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First lady Michelle Obama speaks at the Democratic National Committee’s Women’s Leadership Forum in Washington….
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First lady Michelle Obama speaks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 17, 2011, during an event to honor schools that met the first lady’s goal to double the number of participants in the HealthierUS School Challenge in year.
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Michelle Obama attends cultural performances in Brasilia, Brazil….
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Michelle Obama introduces President Barack Obama at a DNC fundraiser at Gotham Hall, New York-
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Michelle Obama gestures before introducing her husband President Barack Obama at a DNC fundraiser at Gotham Hall in New York. She’s mingled barefoot among Aspen’s elite, stirred a Vermont utility executive to tears and bucked up disenchanted New Yorkers. The 2012 presidential campaign is well under way for Michelle Obama, and the first lady is promising to put herself into the election effort like never before. More than a year from Election Day, she is hauling in millions in campaign cash and sketching a portrait of her husband drawn with an intimacy that no one else could duplicate.
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Michelle Obama speaks to children at Christ Church College in Oxford, England.- ..
Michelle Obama speaks to children from Elizabeth Garrett Anderson school in London as they visit Christ Church College in Oxford, England.