JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to Marvin Gaye.
Category: 70s soul
Throwback: Black History Month: Earth, Wind & Fire
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to Earth, Wind & Fire.
Throwback: Black History Month: James Brown
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to the legendary James Brown.
Throwback: Black History Month: The Isley Brothers
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to the legendary Isley Brothers.
Throwback: Black History Month: Aretha Franklin
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to the legendary Aretha Franklin.
Throwback: Black History Month: Al Green
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Black History Month — and pays tribute to the legendary Al Green.
Throwback: Happy 71st Birthday, Stevie Wonder!
JOVM celebrates Stevie Wonder’s 71st birthday.
Musings: Happy Mother’s Day!
JOVM wishes all the moms — including his — a very Happy Mother’s Day.
Throwback: Happy 75th Birthday, Al Green!
JOVM celebrates soul legend Al Green’s 75th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 77th Birthday, Diana Ross!
This week is a rather auspicious week in music history: Yesterday Elton John and Aretha Franklin shared a birthday. And today, the legendary Diana Ross turns 77, I firmly believe that we should celebrate our legends while we have them — and Diana Ross is one of the most influential and important out of the entire Motown Records universe.
So I thought the best to celebrate her birthday would be to post some throwback live footage of Ms. Ross doing her thing.
Throwback: Black History Month: Barry White
Time does what it usually does: it flies by faster than what you’d expect or even want.Today is February 14. It’s Valentine’s Day and the 14th day of Black History Month. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been proudly featuring Black artists across a wide and eclectic array of genres and styles with the hopes that these artists can guide you towards further understanding of the Black experience.
As the month goes on, I hope that you’ll be reminded of these urgently important facts:
Black culture is American culture — and Black music is American music.
America’s greatest and beloved contributions to the world are Black music styles — the blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll and hip-hop.
Black art matters.
Black lives matter — all of them, all of the time.
So because it’s Valentine’s Day, I felt it was necessary to feature yet another patron saint of love, the legendary Barry White, one of the kings of Quiet Storm R&B.
Throwback: Black History Month: Al Green
Time does what it usually does: it flies by faster than what you’d expect or even want.Today is February 14. It’s Valentine’s Day and the 14th day of Black History Month. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been proudly featuring Black artists across a wide and eclectic array of genres and styles with the hopes that these artists can guide you towards further understanding of the Black experience.
As the month goes on, I hope that you’ll be reminded of these urgently important facts:
Black culture is American culture — and Black music is American music.
America’s greatest and beloved contributions to the world are Black music styles — the blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll and hip-hop.
Black art matters.
Black lives matter — all of them, all of the time.
So because it’s Valentine’s Day, I felt it was necessary to feature one of music’s patron saints of love and of heartache, the Rev. Al Green.
If you haven’t seen it before, check out the footage of Al Green on Soul Train in 1974. It’s one of the most transcendent and uplifting TV performances I’ve ever seen.
Throwback: Black History Month: James Brown
Amazingly, the month has managed to fly by: Today is February 13, the 13th day of Black History Month. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been proudly featuring Black artists across a wide and eclectic array of genres and styles with the hopes that these artists can guide you towards further understanding of the Black experience.
As the month goes on, I hope that you’ll be reminded of these urgently important facts:
Black culture is American culture — and Black music is American music.
America’s greatest and beloved contributions to the world are Black music styles — the blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll and hip-hop.
Black art matters.
Black lives matter — all of them, all of the time.
James Brown is without a doubt, one of the most important and influential artists of the past century. Rock, soul, R&B, dance music, pop, funk and hip-hop all are indebted to the legendary godfather of soul, the soul brother #1. Sadly, I never got a chance to see Brown live — but if you saw him in the height of his powers, Brown was a transcendent performer.
Seriously, can you think of anything more righteous than James Brown playing “Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud)” in Kinshasa? Probably not.
Throwback: Black History Month: Stevie Wonder
The month is flying by: Today is February 11, the 11th day of Black History Month. And if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past month, I’ve been proudly featuring Black artists across a wide and eclectic array of genres and styles that I think can guide you towards further understanding of the Black experience. Of course, I hope that throughout this month you’ll remember — and appreciate the following:
Black culture is American culture — and Black music is American music.
America’s greatest and beloved contributions to the world are Black music styles — the blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll and hip-hop.
Black art matters.
Black lives matter — all of them, all of the time.
Simply put, Stevie Wonder is a genius and a treasure. We should appreciate him, love him and protect him for the rest of his days. This post is centered around live footage — and the live footage from the 70s is transcendent. Seriously.
Throwback: Black History Month: Aretha Franklin
February 10 is the tenth day Black History Month. And if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past month, I’ve been proudly featuring Black artists across a wide and eclectic array of genres and styles that I think can guide you towards further understanding of the Black experience. Of course, I hope that throughout this month you’ll remember — and appreciate the following:
Black culture is American culture — and Black music is American music.
America’s greatest and beloved contributions to the world are Black music styles — the blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll and hip-hop.
Black art matters.
Black lives matter — all of them, all of the time.
Tonight I thought it would be best to write about Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul. You can Google any pertinent biographical information but I have a story about ‘retha that I’ve mentioned on several occasions: I landed in Amsterdam Schiphol Airport early in the morning one mid-January Sunday. After going through customs and retrieving my suitcase — a suitcase that I had gratefully borrowed from a girlfriend — I took the commuter train into Amsterdam Centraal Station to discover that I had a couple of hours before anything was open.
A smiling, blonde waitress waved me in a few minutes before they were about to open. They had an oldies radio station on the air, playing familiar and beloved hits from a variety of decades. Within about two hours of being in Amsterdam, I was reminded of how ubiquitous Black music and culture are, and how important the Queen of Soul is when this radio station started playing ‘retha — and the waitress happily sung along in slightly accented English. Now, whenever I hear ‘retha, I think of that Dutch waitress singing along.