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"Soul Train" host Don Cornelius was the
arbiter of cool, a brilliant TV showman who
used his purring, baritone voice to seduce
mainstream America into embracing black
music and artists.
But the "love, peace, and SOUL!" he wished
viewers as he closed each show for decades
escaped him as his life descended into
marital trouble, illness and, finally, a fatal
self-inflicted gunshot wound on Wednesday.
Police said they went to his Mulholland
Drive home around 4 a.m. after receiving a
call from one of his sons, who became
concerned after being contacted by his
father. Cornelius, 75, was found shot and
was pronounced dead an hour later at a
nearby hospital.
Authorities ruled out foul play, but have not
found a suicide note and are talking to
relatives about his mental state.
To music-hungry viewers, he was a smooth,
sharp-dressed man who got them dancing
to the hottest tracks going. The pop world's
biggest stars recalled him as much more: A
cultural groundbreaker who advanced
African-American music and culture; a black
entrepreneur who overcame racism by
strength of will; a visionary who understood
rap's emergence but criticized its rawness.
Aretha Franklin, an early "Soul Train"
performer, called him "an American
treasure."
"God bless him for the solid, good and
wholesome foundation he provided for
young adults worldwide," she said, "and the
unity and brotherhood he singlehandedly
brought about with his most memorable
creation of 'Soul Train.'"
Donald Cortez Cornelius was born Sept. 27,
1936, in Chicago. After high school, he
served as a Marine in Korea. Cornelius was
working as an insurance salesman when he
spent $400 on a broadcasting course and
landed a part-time job in 1966 as
announcer, newsman and DJ on WVON
radio. That's where listeners first heard the
distinctively measured and rich Cornelius
rumble.
Cornelius began moonlighting at WCIU-TV
when Roy Wood, his mentor at WVON,
moved there, and won a job producing and
hosting "A Black's View of the News." When
the station wanted to expand its "ethnic"
programming, he pitched a black music
show, and "Soul Train" was born.
"You want to do what you're capable of
doing. If I saw (Dick Clark's) 'American
Bandstand' and I saw dancing and I knew
black kids can dance better; and I saw
white artists and I knew black artists make
better music; and if I saw a white host and
I knew a black host could project a hipper
line of speech, and I did know all these
things," then it was reasonable to try, he
said.
"Soul Train," which began in 1970, followed
some of the "Bandstand" format with its
audience and young dancers. But that's
where the comparisons stopped. Cornelius,
the suave, ultra-cool emcee, made "Soul
Train" appointment viewing.
"There was not programming that targeted
any particular ethnicity," he said in 2006,
then added: "I'm trying to use
euphemisms here, trying to avoid saying
there was no television for black folks,
which they knew was for them."
Debra Lee, who is chairman and chief
executive of Black Entertainment
Television, was one of those youngsters
who tuned in to the show. She said she
would finish her chores early so she could
check out the latest music, fashions and
dance moves.
"His reach is just amazing, and personally
he was such a charming man," she said,
calling Cornelius a role model and "a great
interviewer who knew how to connect to
artists" and had "the best voice in the
world."
With that voice, he helped bring the best
R&B, soul and later hip-hop acts to TV. It
was one of the first TV shows to showcase
African-American artists including Franklin,
Marvin Gaye and Barry White.
"You have to dream," Cornelius said in a
1995 interview. "I dreamed everything. I
used to introduce Marvin Gaye in my living
room. So when the time came that I was
going to really introduce guys like Marvin
Gaye and Steve Wonder, I had done it
before."
"Soul Train" had a whimsical cartoon train
and whistle that opened each show. And
Cornelius would close each show with his
sign-off: "Love, peace, and SOUL!" drawing
out the pronunciation of the last word with
his deep voice.
The show, with his sharp eye for talent,
became the cornerstone of his
entertainment empire. He acted as
independent producer-host-salesman to
bring "Soul Train" into partnership with
Tribune Entertainment Co., which became
the show's distributor in the 1980s.
The show chugged gradually onto TV
screens nationwide: Only a handful of
stations initially were receptive. Johnson
Products Co., maker of Afro Sheen and
other hair-care goods, was its major
sponsor and the first black-owned company
to sponsor a national weekly TV show.
Years later, major advertisers including
Coca-Cola and McDonald's joined.
"Soul Train" aired nationally from 1971 to
2006. Asked why it endured, he told The
New York Times in 1995: "There is an inner
craving among us all, within us all, for
television that we can personally connect
to." He stepped down as host in 1993, and
sold it to MadVision Entertainment in 2008.
"Don Cornelius was a pioneer & a
trailblazer," Earvin "Magic" Johnson wrote
on Twitter. "He was the first
African-American to create, produce, host &
more importantly OWN his own show."
Though "Soul Train" became one of the
longest-running syndicated shows in TV
history, its power began to wane in the
1980s and '90s as American pop culture
began folding in black culture instead of
keeping it segregated.
By that time, there were more options for
black artists to appear on mainstream
shows. And on shows like "American
Bandstand," blacks could be seen dancing
along with whites.
But even when Michael Jackson became the
King of Pop, there was still a need to
highlight the achievements of
African-Americans that were still
marginalized at mainstream events. So
Cornelius created the "Soul Train Awards,"
which would become a key honor for
musicians. The series also spawned the
Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards and the Soul
Train Christmas Starfest.
Along the way, however, Cornelius became
estranged from a changing music scene
that clashed with his relatively conservative
taste. But while he suggested violently or
sexually explicit gangsta rap should be
labeled "X-rated," Cornelius said the focus
should be on eliminating poverty and
violence from low-income black
communities.
DJ Scratch, the DJ from the rap act EPMD,
tweeted on Wednesday that Cornelius
"100% didn't like Hip Hop. But he realized
that it was what the youth wanted. So
again, I thank you Don."
Cornelius' world grew dark in recent years
as he faced fallout from a divorce and other
pressures. In 2009, he was sentenced to
three years' probation after pleading no
contest to misdemeanor spousal battery
and, in his divorce case that year, he also
mentioned having significant health
problems.
He has two children, Anthony and
Raymond, with his first wife, Delores
Harrison.
Cornelius, who was inducted into the
Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in
1995 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk
of Fame, said in 2006 he remained grateful
to the musicians who made "Soul Train" the
destination for the best and latest in black
music.
"As long as the music stayed hot and
important and good, that there would
always be a reason for 'Soul Train,'" he said.
arbiter of cool, a brilliant TV showman who
used his purring, baritone voice to seduce
mainstream America into embracing black
music and artists.
But the "love, peace, and SOUL!" he wished
viewers as he closed each show for decades
escaped him as his life descended into
marital trouble, illness and, finally, a fatal
self-inflicted gunshot wound on Wednesday.
Police said they went to his Mulholland
Drive home around 4 a.m. after receiving a
call from one of his sons, who became
concerned after being contacted by his
father. Cornelius, 75, was found shot and
was pronounced dead an hour later at a
nearby hospital.
Authorities ruled out foul play, but have not
found a suicide note and are talking to
relatives about his mental state.
To music-hungry viewers, he was a smooth,
sharp-dressed man who got them dancing
to the hottest tracks going. The pop world's
biggest stars recalled him as much more: A
cultural groundbreaker who advanced
African-American music and culture; a black
entrepreneur who overcame racism by
strength of will; a visionary who understood
rap's emergence but criticized its rawness.
Aretha Franklin, an early "Soul Train"
performer, called him "an American
treasure."
"God bless him for the solid, good and
wholesome foundation he provided for
young adults worldwide," she said, "and the
unity and brotherhood he singlehandedly
brought about with his most memorable
creation of 'Soul Train.'"
Donald Cortez Cornelius was born Sept. 27,
1936, in Chicago. After high school, he
served as a Marine in Korea. Cornelius was
working as an insurance salesman when he
spent $400 on a broadcasting course and
landed a part-time job in 1966 as
announcer, newsman and DJ on WVON
radio. That's where listeners first heard the
distinctively measured and rich Cornelius
rumble.
Cornelius began moonlighting at WCIU-TV
when Roy Wood, his mentor at WVON,
moved there, and won a job producing and
hosting "A Black's View of the News." When
the station wanted to expand its "ethnic"
programming, he pitched a black music
show, and "Soul Train" was born.
"You want to do what you're capable of
doing. If I saw (Dick Clark's) 'American
Bandstand' and I saw dancing and I knew
black kids can dance better; and I saw
white artists and I knew black artists make
better music; and if I saw a white host and
I knew a black host could project a hipper
line of speech, and I did know all these
things," then it was reasonable to try, he
said.
"Soul Train," which began in 1970, followed
some of the "Bandstand" format with its
audience and young dancers. But that's
where the comparisons stopped. Cornelius,
the suave, ultra-cool emcee, made "Soul
Train" appointment viewing.
"There was not programming that targeted
any particular ethnicity," he said in 2006,
then added: "I'm trying to use
euphemisms here, trying to avoid saying
there was no television for black folks,
which they knew was for them."
Debra Lee, who is chairman and chief
executive of Black Entertainment
Television, was one of those youngsters
who tuned in to the show. She said she
would finish her chores early so she could
check out the latest music, fashions and
dance moves.
"His reach is just amazing, and personally
he was such a charming man," she said,
calling Cornelius a role model and "a great
interviewer who knew how to connect to
artists" and had "the best voice in the
world."
With that voice, he helped bring the best
R&B, soul and later hip-hop acts to TV. It
was one of the first TV shows to showcase
African-American artists including Franklin,
Marvin Gaye and Barry White.
"You have to dream," Cornelius said in a
1995 interview. "I dreamed everything. I
used to introduce Marvin Gaye in my living
room. So when the time came that I was
going to really introduce guys like Marvin
Gaye and Steve Wonder, I had done it
before."
"Soul Train" had a whimsical cartoon train
and whistle that opened each show. And
Cornelius would close each show with his
sign-off: "Love, peace, and SOUL!" drawing
out the pronunciation of the last word with
his deep voice.
The show, with his sharp eye for talent,
became the cornerstone of his
entertainment empire. He acted as
independent producer-host-salesman to
bring "Soul Train" into partnership with
Tribune Entertainment Co., which became
the show's distributor in the 1980s.
The show chugged gradually onto TV
screens nationwide: Only a handful of
stations initially were receptive. Johnson
Products Co., maker of Afro Sheen and
other hair-care goods, was its major
sponsor and the first black-owned company
to sponsor a national weekly TV show.
Years later, major advertisers including
Coca-Cola and McDonald's joined.
"Soul Train" aired nationally from 1971 to
2006. Asked why it endured, he told The
New York Times in 1995: "There is an inner
craving among us all, within us all, for
television that we can personally connect
to." He stepped down as host in 1993, and
sold it to MadVision Entertainment in 2008.
"Don Cornelius was a pioneer & a
trailblazer," Earvin "Magic" Johnson wrote
on Twitter. "He was the first
African-American to create, produce, host &
more importantly OWN his own show."
Though "Soul Train" became one of the
longest-running syndicated shows in TV
history, its power began to wane in the
1980s and '90s as American pop culture
began folding in black culture instead of
keeping it segregated.
By that time, there were more options for
black artists to appear on mainstream
shows. And on shows like "American
Bandstand," blacks could be seen dancing
along with whites.
But even when Michael Jackson became the
King of Pop, there was still a need to
highlight the achievements of
African-Americans that were still
marginalized at mainstream events. So
Cornelius created the "Soul Train Awards,"
which would become a key honor for
musicians. The series also spawned the
Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards and the Soul
Train Christmas Starfest.
Along the way, however, Cornelius became
estranged from a changing music scene
that clashed with his relatively conservative
taste. But while he suggested violently or
sexually explicit gangsta rap should be
labeled "X-rated," Cornelius said the focus
should be on eliminating poverty and
violence from low-income black
communities.
DJ Scratch, the DJ from the rap act EPMD,
tweeted on Wednesday that Cornelius
"100% didn't like Hip Hop. But he realized
that it was what the youth wanted. So
again, I thank you Don."
Cornelius' world grew dark in recent years
as he faced fallout from a divorce and other
pressures. In 2009, he was sentenced to
three years' probation after pleading no
contest to misdemeanor spousal battery
and, in his divorce case that year, he also
mentioned having significant health
problems.
He has two children, Anthony and
Raymond, with his first wife, Delores
Harrison.
Cornelius, who was inducted into the
Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in
1995 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk
of Fame, said in 2006 he remained grateful
to the musicians who made "Soul Train" the
destination for the best and latest in black
music.
"As long as the music stayed hot and
important and good, that there would
always be a reason for 'Soul Train,'" he said.
| 'Soul Train' host Don Cornelius dead of suicide |
