Sadly, Black History Month begins with the tragic lost of Soul Train host Don Cornelius, who was found dead in his Los Angeles home Wednesday morning. Authorities told TMZ that the cause of death appears to be suicide due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Hailed as "a black American Bandstand", Soul Train premiered in Chicago in 1970 and quickly became a hit with local urban teens. A year later, it moved to Los Angeles and went into syndication.
Every Saturday afternoon, viewers spent the next 60 minutes riding on "the hippest trip in America" and into the exciting world of soul and R&B with Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The O'Jays, The Jacksons, Barry White, Chaka Khan, and many more. Soul Train also brought hip-hop and rap to the forefront with artists such as Kurtis Blow, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, The Beastie Boys, Kool Moe Dee, and Snoop Doggy Dogg.
The show became the launching pad for regulars Jeffrey Daniel, Howard Hewlett and Jody Watley, who became Shalamar with hits such as "Second Time Around". Watley would leave the trio to find success as a solo artist in the late 1980s with chart-toppers like "Looking for a New Love" and "Real Love". Rosie Perez and Fred Berry were also several of the Soul Train dancers who found success in film and television, with the latter playing Rerun on the sitcom What's Happening! (1976-79, ABC).
Cornelius continued to host Soul Train until 1993, but it kept going with successors Mystro Clark, Shemar Moore, and Charmed's Dorian Gregory until the Train made its last stop in 2006 after 35 years -- becoming the longest-running, first-run syndicated series in television history.
I wish the survivors of Don Cornelius nothing but "love, peace ... and SOUL!"
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