Zoe Saldana Talks BACKLASH Over Nina Simone Role In MONARCH Magazine Cover Story
Zoe Saldana landed the cover of the newest Monarch magazine issue and she opens up about the backlash she received since it was announced that she would be playing the late iconic Nina Simone and how she prepared for the role. Also, Jermaine Dupri, Ne-Yo and producer Mike WILL Made It were honored at the ASCAP awards. Peep Zoe’s cover and find out what awards the fellas took home inside…
As she gears up for the premiere of her role as Nina Simone in the upcoming biopic, Zoe Saldana talks about her portrayal of the late jazz musician and classical pianist in the latest issue of Monarch Magazine.
Some people were up-in-arms over the “Rosemary’s Baby” actress landing the role, saying she wasn’t “black” enough to play her. But, it doesn’t seem to have fazed her. She feels she did the role justice and that her performance will prove the naysayers wrong.
In the cover story, Zoe divulged on how she prepared to capture the legendary singer, songwriter, and civil rights activist and what inspired her to take on a project such as this. She also opened up about all of the negativity surrounding her being chosen to play the legend and how she feels about having to always define her heritage.
Here are the highlights:
Playing the late, great Nina Simone, what inspired you to do a project like this?
Nina was a true genius and an iconic artist. It was a dream job for me. It’s one of the scariest projects I’ve ever been involved with because it was about an iconic figure, and there were so many political [issues] around it from the beginning; but I really wanted it to be a love song to Nina Simone and I wanted it to just come from a place of absolute love. I loved the complexity of Nina and her beauty that she expressed with her music. I wanted to do right by her and knew it would be challenging. I feel so blessed to have such an amazing opportunity to play a true legend.
How did you prepare for the role?
I did a lot of research to prepare for Nina. I took piano lessons, voice lessons, worked with a dialect coach, and I really invested months of just doing research about Nina – her background, her story, her life. My research ranged from reading books about Nina, listening to her music, watching footage of her.
How did the controversy about you playing Nina affect you?
The Nina Simone story needed to be told, and I’m really blessed that I did it. I’m human. I wish I was made of steel and so certain things wouldn’t affect me. So it did affect me but I couldn’t let that deter me from doing what I needed to do. Just like everybody else I feel very strongly about Nina Simone, and that [this] was a story that needed to be told. I do believe that if everybody had more information about how this all came to be, it might help; but then again, I’m not here to get the acceptance of everyone – I’m here to be an artist first. Hopefully people will enjoy the film and I helped shed some light on this amazing iconic
Do you feel like your heritage and ethnicity is always questioned?
I find it uncomfortable to have to speak about my identity all of the time, when in reality it’s not something that drives me or wakes me up out of bed every day. I didn’t grow up in a household where I was categorized by my mother. I was just Zoe and I could have and be anything that I ever wanted to do … and every human being is the same as you. So to all of a sudden leave your household and have people always ask you, “What are you? What are you?” is the most uncomfortable question sometimes and it’s literally the most repetitive question. Because I can’t wait to be in a world where people are sized by their soul and how much they can contribute as individuals and not what they look like … I feel like as a race, that’s a minute problem against the problems we face just as women versus men, in a world that’s more geared and designed to cater towards the male species.
Bobby Womack, ICON of the Soul Era, Dies at 70
who spanned the American soul music era, touring as a gospel singer in the 1950s, playing guitar in Sam Cooke’s backup band in the early ’60s, writing hit songs recorded by Wilson Pickett and the Rolling Stones and composing music that broke onto the pop charts, has died, a spokeswoman for his record label said. He was 70.
Sonya Kolowrat, Mr. Womack’s publicist at XL Recordings, said further details about the death were not immediately available.
Mr. Womack, nicknamed the Preacher for his authoritative, church-trained voice and the way he introduced songs with long discourses on life, never had the million-record success of contemporaries like Pickett, Marvin Gaye, Al Green and Otis Redding. His sandpaper vocal style made him more popular in England, where audiences revere what they consider authentic traditional American music, than in the United States.
Bobby Womack The singer, 69, performed hits spanning his career at City Winery on Friday night.Music Review: Bobby Womack Reviews His Career at City WineryDEC. 22, 2013
But the pop stars of his time considered Mr. Womack royalty. His admirers included Keith Richards, Rod Stewart and Stevie Wonder, all of whom acknowledged their debt with guest performances on albums he made in his later years.
Mr. Womack’s 2012 album, “The Bravest Man in the Universe,” is an avant-garde collaboration with a new generation of musicians. It combines old and new material by Mr. Womack, which the British producer Richard Russell and the alternative rock songwriter Damon Albarn mixed with programmed beats, old gospel recordings, samplings of Cooke and other sounds, some played backward or sped up.
The album earned favorable reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. Rolling Stone ranked it No. 36 on its list of the 50 best albums of the year.
“I don’t understand a lot of the things they were doing,” Mr. Womack said of his collaborators in an interview with The Guardian. “I would never have dreamed of doing stuff like that, but I wanted to relate to the people today.”
Mr. Womack had his first major hit in 1964. He was under contract with Cooke’s SAR label when he wrote the song, “It’s All Over Now,” and recorded it with his group, the Valentinos, which consisted of him and four of his brothers. The song was slowly rising on the R&B charts when Cooke told him that a British band called the Rolling Stones had liked it so much that they planned to record it, too.
The song became the Stones’ first No. 1 single in Britain and their first international hit, while the Valentinos’ version sank.
“I was very upset about it,” Mr. Womack said in an interview. “It was like, ‘They stole my song.’ ”
Later, he said, as Cooke had predicted he would: “I stopped being upset when we got our first royalty check. That changed everything.”
Many of his songs were recorded by others, often with greater success than his own renditions. Janis Joplin included “Trust Me” on her album “Pearl,” the J. Geils Band recorded “Lookin’ for a Love,” which reached the Top 40 in 1972, and Pickett recorded “I’m a Midnight Mover” and 16 other Womack songs.
In 1971 Mr. Womack played guitar on, and helped produce, Sly Stone’s most ambitious album, “There’s a Riot Goin’ On,” now a soul classic.
Bobby Dwayne Womack was born on March 4, 1944, in Cleveland. His father, Friendly, was a steelworker and part-time Baptist minister. His mother, Naomi, played the organ for the church choir. Under their father’s direction, Bobby and his brothers Cecil, Curtis, Friendly Jr. and Harry formed a gospel group, the Womack Brothers, which began touring in 1953.
Sam Cooke, who spent the early ’50s as lead singer of a gospel quintet, the Soul Stirrers, first heard the brothers sing on a visit to Cleveland, when Mr. Womack was about 7. A decade later, Cooke invited the brothers to join him in Los Angeles, where he had his own record company and was a successful secular pop balladeer.
The Womacks were raised to believe that hell awaited gospel singers who sang pop music, Bobby told interviewers, and at first they resisted Cooke’s summons. They made several gospel records for SAR before changing their name to the Valentinos and recording their first secular songs, a decision that caused a lasting rift with their father, until shortly before his death in 1981.
By 17, Mr. Womack was the lead singer of the new group, the youngest guitarist in Cooke’s touring band, and an emerging hit songwriter. His song “Lookin’ for a Love,” a remake of a gospel composition, became a modest hit for the Valentinos on the R&B chart in 1961 (a decade before the J. Geils version). Royalties from “It’s All Over Now” alone reportedly made him financially secure for most of his life.
Then, when he was 20, Mr. Womack’s career hit a wall. The Dec. 11, 1964, shooting death of Cooke, during a dispute with a Los Angeles motel owner, left Mr. Womack without a mentor or a record label. By most accounts, his decision to marry Cooke’s widow, Barbara Campbell, just a few months after the shooting, made him something of a pariah in the music world.
Unable to land a new record contract, Mr. Womack left the Valentinos and settled into backup work for contemporaries like James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Joe Tex, Joplin and a young, little-known Jimi Hendrix. His solo career began to revive in the late 1960s and early ’70s. Two albums he recorded for United Artists in the 1970s are considered soul classics: “Communication” (1971), which yielded the hit “That’s the Way I Feel About ‘Cha,” and “Understanding” (1972), which included “Woman’s Gotta Have It.”
In 1981 he released two of his most critically acclaimed albums, “The Poet” and its sequel, “The Poet II,” which featured several duets with the soul singer Patti LaBelle. He joined the Rolling Stones to sing a duet with Mick Jagger on “Harlem Shuffle,” on the Stones’ 1986 album, “Dirty Work.”
In 2009 Mr. Womack was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His marriage to Ms. Campbell, as well as two subsequent marriages, ended in divorce. Although hip-hop stars frequently sampled the soul music of his era, Mr. Womack refused most requests by others to use his recordings in their work, he told a British interviewer in 2004. Despite his well-publicized marital problems and struggles with drugs and alcohol, he said, he remained a gospel singer at heart.
“Me being from the old school, I would not say ‘bitch’ on a record,” he said. “I couldn’t face my mother if I did.”
Box Office: "Transformers: Age Of Extinction" Blows Away The Competition
Taking the box office by storm, "Transformers: Age of Extinction" cruised to number one on the big screen for the weekend of June 27-29, 2014.
The latest installment in the franchise, which stars Mark Wahlberg, nabbed $41.3 million in sales on Friday and ends the weekend with $103 million plus in receipts, making the movie the biggest summer opening yet.
Coming in at number two was "22 Jump Street." The Channing Tatum/ Jonah Hill flick added $5 million to its total on Friday, and is on track to take in $15.2 million for the three day period.
DreamWorks "How to Train Your Dragon 2" continued its success, landing in the third spot with $13 million. Last week's number one, "Think Like a Man Too" took fourth place with $10.5 million, and "Maleficent" rounded out the top five with $8.4 million in sales.
Keyshia Cole Gets Sexy In Lingerie On Set Of “She” Video + Preps “Believer” Visuals
Earlier this week, Keyshia Cole debuted her provocative new single, “She,” from her upcoming album Point of No Return. The singer is now prepping the sultry visuals. She shared a few behind the scenes photos from the shoot; a couple of her rockin’ sexy white lace lingerie, some in which she’s practicing choreography, and others of her taking to the water on a boat.
Additionally, she’s also readying the video for another “PoNR” track – “Believer.” She was spotted on set of that soot, rockin’ black hotpants, a sheer tank, and sneakers, while posing with her crew.
Peep more BTS/rehearsal pics from Keysh’s “She” and “Believer” videos below..
“Believer”
Thoughts?
Chris Brown responds to BET reality show offer
Chris Brown says no thank you to BET and their less than grand desire to exploit his recent legal troubles.
As recently reported by TMZ, several sources claim that BET has notified a handful of production companies that they seek to feature Brown in a reality show of his own. Although the original word had us believe that Brown was considering the deal, the troubled R&B singer took it upon himself to silence the rumors.
“Chris and Karrueche Tran were heading out of 1Oak Friday night in L.A. when we asked about BET’s intense interest in signing him to a deal … but Brown straight out nixed the idea,” TMZ reports.
While we have no doubt that Breezy’s lifestyle would garner a huge following on the small screen, citing recent his legal trouble, we think this is a good call.
Why is Jay Z Flashing Celebrity Mugshots During Concert..or is He?
The Internet is buzzing trying to figure out if Jay Z and Beyonce are firing shots by flashing celebrity mugshots on screen during their concert….
During his performance of H to the Izzo a steady stream of celebrity mugshots flash in the background starting with fake Jay Z and Beyonce mugshots morphing into Bonnie and Clyde followed by the real mugshots of Diddy, Rick Ross, 50 Cent, Lil Kim, Rakim, Tupac and a host of other famous people.
The mugshot causing the most speculation is Justin Bieber's.
When Biebs mugshot flashes on the screen Jay Z has the crowd sing the lyric 'So poof...vamoose son of a bitch.
Angela Simmons Hosts Pretty Girls Sweat Kickboxing Party at BET Experience with Jeanette Jenkins and Jasmine Villegas!
The lovely Angela Simmons is lending her celebrity alongside Jeanette Jenkins and Jasmine Villegas to help teen age girls feel good about themselves and get their work out on at the Pretty Girls Sweat Kickboxing Party at the BET Experience. Pretty Girls Sweat is a great initiative for young women.
Find out which celebrity mommy to be wish she could participate in the Pretty Girls Sweat Experience.
Check out the details below.
Mommy to Be Kelly Rowland sent her best wishes to Angela Simmons, Jeanette Jenkins, and Jasmine Villegas on their big Pretty Girls Sweat Kick Boxing Party at the BET Experience this morning. We all know Kelly loves to get her work out on and that Angela lives for a good work out. The Pretty Girls Sweat Kick Boxing Party is for 300 teenage girls.
The party will take place on the Basketball court. If you are in Los Angeles and have a young daughter make your way to the South Expo Hall at 11:00 am for registration. There’s 15 spots left. The Pretty Girls Sweat Party is an initiative to get young women moving, and inspiring self esteem/wellness.
If you are not in Los Angeles you can support the Pretty Girls Sweat Movement by purchasing a tank at www.TeenDiaries.net.
David Muir To Anchor ABC World News
For journalists in the United States one of the biggest goals is to host an evening news program like ABC’s World News. David Muir has now achieved that goal as he will be welcomed in to the homes of millions of Americans daily as the new anchor of World News, replacing Diane Sawyer. Diane Sawyer will be stepping down from World News and David Muir will be taking her place, he is already the next logical choice thanks to his work as the weekend anchor for World News. Diane Sawyer will not be leaving ABC News completely but will focus on more original programming and ideas. Check out the original report below from the LA Times for all of the scoop on the changes at ABC News.
In a series of major changes at ABC News, Diane Sawyer will be stepping down from her role as anchor of “World News” after nearly five years on the job and will be succeeded by David Muir, the network announced..
In addition, George Stephanopoulos, co-host of the top-rated “Good Morning America” and host of the network’s Sunday public affairs program “This Week,” has been appointed to the newly created position of chief anchor for ABC News. The new lineup will begin after Labor Day.
According to a note sent by ABC News President James Goldston to staff Wednesday, Sawyer, 68, will continue to report for the network “for many years to come” but will shift to focus on “original reporting, big ideas and interviews for all platforms.”
Muir and Stephanopoulos had both been considered likely candidates to succeed Sawyer, whenever she decided to step down from “World News.” The division of labor represents a somewhat unprecedented arrangement — one that acknowledges Stephanopoulos’ leadership position within the news division and his pivotal role in the network’s lucrative morning show, but one that also could be seen as undercutting Muir’s status as “World News” anchor.
On Wednesday, some media observers suggested that the moves mark the further diminishment of the once-vaunted role of the evening news anchor.
“It seems to me the message ABC is sending its viewers by having Muir be junior to Stephanopoulos is that if you want serious news, don’t look to the evening news,” said TV news analyst Andrew Tyndall.
Kentucky native Sawyer joined ABC News in 1989 and succeeded Charles Gibson at “World News” in 2009, after an extended period of turnover that began with the illness and death of long-time anchor Peter Jennings in 2005. Bob Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas were installed as co-anchors in December of that year, a short-lived arrangement that abruptly ended when Woodruff was injured during a reporting trip to Iraq in January 2006.
Gibson became sole anchor in May 2006 but stepped down just three years later. By then, Sawyer had been co-anchor at “Good Morning America” for 10 years and was one of the network’s best-known news personalities.
For a short time before Katie Couric’s much-hyped stint at “CBS Evening News” concluded in 2011, two out of the big three network news anchors were women, but Muir’s ascension will mark a return to the status quo of solo white male anchors at the legacy broadcasters. (María Elena Salinas remains a co-anchor with Jorge Ramos at Univision.)
Under Sawyer, the broadcast, which is No. 2 in the ratings overall with a season-to-date average of 8.1 million viewers, has nearly caught up to ratings leader “NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams,” narrowing the overall gap to under a million viewers. It also easily outperforms “CBS Evening News With Scott Pelley.”
In recent months, Sawyer has also edged out Williams in the all-important 25- to 54-year-old demographic, winning May sweeps for the first time in seven years by a margin of 106,000 viewers in the age group.
But Sawyer has also been criticized for a perceived shift toward softer news and so-called infotainment — what Tyndall has decried as the “Disneyfication” of “World News.”
“ABC has radically cut back on the amount of hard news and increased its coverage of weather, human interest, celebrities, social media, show business and sports,” Tyndall said, though he noted that the change really did not take place until several years into Sawyer’s reign at the broadcast network.
Despite her ratings successes, Sawyer began to express interest in a new role to Disney/ABC Television Group’s co-president, Ben Sherwood (then president of ABC News), late last year, according to Goldston.
Muir, 40, who is the weekend anchor of “World News” and co-anchor of the newsmagazine “20/20,” will take over the weekday broadcast on Sept. 2. He will also continue to anchor “20/20″ with Elizabeth Vargas. Though he has been with the network since 2003, beginning as anchor of the overnight program “World News Now,” Muir is not as well known as some of his predecessors were at the time of their appointment to the anchor chair.
In his newly created position, Stephanopoulos will be the lead anchor for live coverage of breaking news and other major events and will also continue at “This Week” and “Good Morning America.”
The 53-year-old got his start as a Democratic strategist before moving into journalism and is seen as adept at both serious news as well as the lighter fare that has become a “Good Morning America” hallmark.
How do you feel about all of the changes at ABC World News? Do you like David Muir as the new anchor of World News?
R.I.P. Emmy-Nominated Actor Meshach Taylor, Dead At 67
"Designing Women" star Meshach Taylor passed away at the age of 67.
67-year-old Emmy-nominated actor Meshach Taylor, who rose to fame as "Anthony Bouvier" on the 1980s sitcom "Designing Women" died last night after a long battle with cancer.
Meshach was in hospice care at his family's home in Altadena, CA and was surrounded by his wife, children and mother. His son Tariq Taylor and agent Dede Binder confirmed his death to the LA Times.
On June 27, his family posted on Facebook,
"It is with love and gratitude that we sorrowfully announce that our darling, amazingly brilliant and dynamic, Meshach, the incredible father, husband, son and friend has begun his grand transition."
Meshach was nominated for an Emmy in 1989 for his role on "Designing Women" and will be remembered for roles on ""Hannah Montana", "The Drew Carey Show" and the 1987 cult classic "Mannequin."
R.I.P!
Ashanti ROCKS A Multi-Colored Onesie At NYC Pride Performance
Braveheart songstress Ashanti headlined 2014 MEGA PRIDE NYC with a performance at Stage 48 in Manhattan. And she brought the colorful revealing onsie out for the kids.
She rocked the stage in a custom-deisgned look from @JustDramatik and thigh high boots.
With her latest release Braveheart still riding the charts, Ashanti treated fans to a string of classics like
"Baby" and "Foolish" and new hits like "I Got It."
Hudson’s Bay Company Ditches Kate Moss Quote Tee
Ever since she first walked the runway, Kate Moss has been setting trends and inspiring modeling hopefuls the world over.
Years back, Ms. Moss uttered the phrase, “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels,” and ever since it’s been a popular motto for ladies trying slim down.
And HBC decided to put Kate’s credo on a new collection of casual t-shirts, though overwhelming backlash from offended consumers has put the kibosh on the whole thing.
Per a press release from HBC, "We truly value our relationship with our customers and take their concerns seriously and we recognize that many took offense to the item. In this particular instance, while we respect the designer's art, due to the overwhelming response and the sensitivity of the matter, we made the decision to promptly remove the T-shirts from our stores and from thebay.com."
Designer Christopher Lee Sauve, who created the shirt and is still selling it on his website, also weighed in- "Most, if not all of my designs showcase some type of statement pointing out the absurdity of fashion, and this one item is no exception. I fully understand and comprehend the severity of an eating disorder and I do not condone celebrating such pain."
The celebs come out for The 27th Annual ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards
The 27th annual ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los
A host of celebs like Usher, Ne-Yo, Sevyn Streeter, Tank, Bow Wow, Kelly Price, Terrence J, Miguel, Bridget Kelly and more – came out to the event which honored music producer Jermaine Dupri, singer-songwriter and producer Ne-Yo, and hitmaker Mike WiLL Made-It. Also honored were the songwriters and publishers of the most performed ASCAP songs on the 2013 R&B/hip-hop, rap and gospel charts.
The evening featured performances from Jennifer Hudson, Mario, Mike WiLL protégés Rae Sremmurd, a DJ battle between DJ Nabs and DJ SNS, and house band The Komposers. The Jermaine Dupri segment was highlighted by surprise performances by Usher and Bow Wow.
Catch more pics from the star-studded night below..
Cool
Angela Basset Explains Passing on Bobbi Kristina
From the moment the Lifetime network announced that a Whitney Houston biopic was in the works Whitney Houston's daughter Bobbi Kristna made it clear that she felt she was the only logical choice for the starring role .
First time director Angela Bassett explains why....
Entertainment Weekly asked Whitney Houston biopic director Anglea Bassett if she considered Bobbi Kristina for the starring role and she replied,
"No, I did not think about that. I did not think about casting her. And probably for a number of reasons, you know. One being that she’s not an actress. I know she’s acted here and there. I know she’s been on their family’s reality show, but she’s not an actress and acting is a craft. It’s an attempt to illuminate the complexities of human behavior and life. And this is a very fast-paced schedule; we have just 21 days to tell this story. It’s more than just saying lines and turning the light on. You have to drive the story—there’s a technical aspect."
In the interview Angela Bassett talks about meeting Bobby Brown for the first time on the set of Waiting to Exhale and says the Lifetime biopic is merely a trailer for a big screen effort being planned by the family.
Arrest Made in Reality Star Erica Pinkett of #LHHATL Stabbing
An arrest has been made in Love and Hip Hop Atlanta secondary castmember Erica Pinkett's stabbing...
A few weeks ago Lil Scrappy's side chick Erica Pinkett was punched in the face and cut on the arm with a razor during a bar fight a nightclub in Sandy Springs, GA.
From the start Erica P accused Lil Scrappy's girlfriend Bambi of putting a hit out on her. This week Bambi's sister, Stephanie Harp, was arrested for the June 9th incident.
Erica Pinkett's lawyers tells Atlanta local news they think Harp attacked in an effort to get cast on the show.
Stephanie Harp maintains her innocence claiming she acted in self-defense after Erica P threw a drink in her face.
Stephanie is being charged with aggravated assault.
DAMN!
T-Boz responds to Rihanna: ‘You know where to find me’
T-Boz of TLC isn’t interested in any kind of social media feud with pop star Rihanna. The two became embroiled in controversy earlier this month after T-Boz and her bandmate Chilli were asked about the singer’s penchant for appearing topless. While neither member of TLC mentioned Rihanna by name, T-Boz did bemoan the fact that so many stars are “posting half-naked pictures of themselves on Twitter and Instagram. It’s just crazy, almost like you are dying for attention.”
Rihanna responded, as she typically does, by posting retorts on Twitter and Instagram. One dismissed “an old thot” and another was an image of TLC posing topless in their younger days.
But T-Boz told TMZ she has no issue with Rih-Rih–unless Rihanna wants there to be one.
“I wasn’t talkin’ ‘bout her then and I ain’t talkin’ ‘bout her now,” T-Boz says in a TMZ interview. “That’s irrelevant. I ain’t even got time to waste on that.”
“There was just her exchange,” T-Boz added, in reference to Rihanna. “I don’t do Twitter beefs. I’m a grown-ass woman. OK. If you wanna holler, you know where to find me. It ain’t hard. It ain’t hard. Not at all and you know what I mean. OK?”
AND FINALLY FROM “THE CRAZY PEOPLE SHOPPING AT WALMART” FILES
BLOW IT UP
Is that my favorite blow up doll strutting her stuff again? Always great to see a Hall of Famer doing her thang.
HAVE A GREAT WEEK AHEAD EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!
EFREM
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