Tag Archives: stephanie-mills

Rejected! Legendary Singer Stephanie Mills Says She Has No Interest In Being Part Of TVOne’s “Unsung”

Well damn… Stephanie Mills Says She Does Not Want To Appear On TV One’s Unsung Despite the wild success of TV One’s Unsung series, highlighting many of music’s most treasured voices from Tina Marie to Teddy Pendergrass and Minnie Ripperton, Stephanie Mills refuses to do the show. The ESSENCE Music Festival performer says she doesn’t like the show. “They have approached me quite a few times, but I [won’t] do that show,” she tells the Huffington Post. “I’ve always been very private, and at 55 I don’t want to open up my life to that.” Three times married and a single mom of a child with special needs, Mills is adamant about keeping things private. “I don’t want to get on these shows and open up my life; I don’t think it’s anyone’s business.” Admittedly, many of the show’s highlighted artists have passed on or have had limited success for various reasons. But Mills says, that’s not her story. “I don’t feel unsung. I feel like I’ve had a wonderful career. I’ve done wonderful things and met so many wonderful people. So I don’t feel like I’m unsung at all.” The iconic singer even refuses to participate in the Unsung episodes of her friends. “They’ve done Angela Winbush and they even wanted me to say something about her on that show, and I love Angela, we’re sisters. But I had to tell her, ‘I don’t want to do that.’ I’m not that girl.” This upcoming season will feature stories of Angela Bofill, Kool Moe Dee, The Marvelettes and the late Gerald Levert. We get it if you don’t want to appear in your own show, but you couldn’t take a couple minutes to say something nice about your “sister” Angela Winbush? Shaaaaaaady! Image via WENN Source

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Rejected! Legendary Singer Stephanie Mills Says She Has No Interest In Being Part Of TVOne’s “Unsung”

Kanye West, Mary J. Blige To Headline Essence Festival In New Orleans

Trey Songz, Fantasia, Boyz II Men also on the bill for July event. By Gil Kaufman Kanye West Photo: Shirlaine Forrest/ WireImage Kanye West’s joint 2010 tour with Lady Gaga may have been a nonstarter, but the rapper is making up for lost time by adding his name to a growing string of major festivals. In addition to bringing My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy to the indie masses at the upcoming Coachella festival, West will also topline this year’s Essence Music Festival at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. The 17th annual gathering of hip-hop and R&B glitterati will take place July 1-3 and also feature sets from Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott and Trey Songz; Charlie Wilson, Fantasia and Boyz II Men will also perform on the main stage. Other stages will host Stephanie Mills, George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, Macy Gray, Dwele, Alexander O’Neal & Cherrelle, Mavis Staples, Mint Condition, M.C. Lyte, Kourtney Heart, Tank, Soul Rebels Brass Band and the Rebirth Brass Band. There will be plenty of other local talent on display as well, including Irma Thomas, Charmaine Neville Band and the TBC Brass Band. “We listen to our audience and these are the musicians they want to see under one roof for three days,” said Michelle Ebanks, president of Essence Communications Inc. in a statement announcing the lineup. “Our mission this year was to celebrate community through the prism of the art form that continues to tell our readers’ stories: R&B.” Headline sponsor Essence magazine is also running a contest called R&B Star, in which 1980s singer Pebbles will be on the lookout for the next great soul singer. The winner will get a one-year management contract as well as a spot on the stage at the 2011 Essence Music Festival. Tickets for the festival are not yet on sale. Related Artists Kanye West Mary J. Blige

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Kanye West, Mary J. Blige To Headline Essence Festival In New Orleans

Teddy Pendergrass: A Look Back At His Career

Here are some of the highlights from the R&B legend’s nearly 40 years in the music business. By Neil Gladstone Teddy Pendergrass Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/ Getty Images Teddy Pendergrass , the 59-year-old Philadelphia soul legend who died on January 13 from complications due to colon cancer surgery, may be best remembered for a few things: gravelly ballads delivered sweat-drenched and bare-chested, quiet-storm mainstays such as “If You Don’t Know Me by Now” and “Close the Door” and a 1982 accident in his Rolls Royce that left him paralyzed from the waist down. After that life-changing moment, he went through a gauntlet of surgeries and wrenched his way back to the recording studio (1984’s Love Language ) and the stage (notably a Live Aid in 1985 and later in a late-’90s production of “Your Arms Too Short to Box With God.”) But he had many other memorable moments

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Teddy Pendergrass: A Look Back At His Career