Don Cornelius, creator and host of the tv show SOUL TRAIN has left us.
There’s a lot of great articles on the legacy of Mr. Cornelius and his Soul Train TV show, but here’s a few key points that I thought were especially worth mentioning:
Don Cornelius was the first Black owner of a nationally syndicated TV franchise. Starting with one TV station in Chicago, Soul Train spread to dozens of markets and lasted for 35 seasons.
Soul Train was a great showcase for Afro-centric perspective, broadcasting to a wide audience of Americans — Black, white, Latino and Asian.
The Soul Train brand was expanded to other business areas, such as the Soul Train award shows.
In 1981 Barry White appeared on Soul Train to perform LOUIE LOUIE, fully acknowledging Richard Berry, another black man, as the writer of his iconic song.
I’m almost tempted to post the Soul Train video clip with Barry White, but I’d rather not annoy the folks I’m working with to properly license this footage, so you’ll probably have to wait until my documentary comes out to see this thing, or maybe just wait until someone else gets around to doing that sort of thing….
In meantime, I’ll share a YouTube clip that features the audio of Barry White’s version from the Beware album.
We’ll call it this week’s LOUIE of Week..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj6M4Mz0O68
EP
RELATED LINKS:
Five Ways “Soul Train” Changed America
VH1 Rock Docs – Soul Train: The Hippest Trip in America