Happy Birthday DON CORNELIUS! An American television ICON, who was best known as the creator of the nationally syndicated dance/music franchise Soul Train, which he hosted from 1971 to 1993. Cornelius sold the show to MadVision Entertainment in 2008. .Cornelius joined Chicago television station WCIU-TV in 1967 and hosted a news program called A Blacks View of the News. In 1970, he launched Soul Train on WCIU-TV as a daily local show. The program entered national syndication and moved to Los Angeles the following year. Originally a journalist inspired by the civil rights movement, Cornelius recognized that in the late 1960s there was no television venue in the United States for soul music, and introduced many African-American musicians to a larger audience as a result of their appearances on Soul Train, a program that was both influential among African-Americans and popular with a wider audience. As writer, producer, and host of Soul Train, Cornelius was instrumental in offering wider exposure to black musicians such as James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and Michael Jackson, as well as creating opportunities for talented dancers that would presage subsequent television dance programs. Cornelius said, We had a show that kids gravitated to, and Spike Lee described the program as an urban music time capsule. Besides his smooth and deep voice, Cornelius was best known for the catchphrase that he used to close the show: ... and you can bet your last money, its all gonna be a stone gas, honey! Im Don Cornelius, and as always in parting, we wish you love, peace and soul! After Corneliuss departure, it was shortened to ...and as always, we wish you love, peace and soul! and was used through the most recent new episodes in 2006. Another introductory phrase he often used was: We got another sound comin out of Philly thats a sure nough dilly. He had a small number of film roles, most notably as record producer Moe Fuzz in 1988s Tapeheads. The 2008 Soul Train Music Awards ceremony was not held due to the WGA strike and the end of Tribune Entertainments complicating the process of finding a new distributor to air the ceremony and line up the stations to air it. The awards show was moved in 2009 to Viacoms Centric cable channel (formerly BET J), which now airs Soul Train in reruns.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 12:20:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015