DJ CISCO

LaDonna Adrian Gaines, aka, Donna Summer, the Queen of Disco, has died at the age of 63 in Florida after a battle with cancer, the Associated Press confirmed with the singer's family Thursday morning.

Summer was a five-time Grammy Award winner, the first artist ever to score three back-to-back No. 1 double albums, and was nominated--but not chosen--for induction into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.

Summer was born Ladonna Adrian Gaines on December 31, 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts to parents Andrew a butcher and Mary Gaines a schoolteacher and was one of seven children. She and her family were raised in the Boston suburb of Dorchester.

She is survived by her adult daughters Mimi (by her first husband, actor Helmuth Sommer), Brooklyn and Amanda (by second husband Bruce Sudano).

Chuck Brown, godfather of go-go, the genre of music that has soundtracked life in black Washington for more than three decades, died May 16 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He was 75.
Mr. Brown had been hospitalized for pneumonia and died of complications from sepsis.
Brown's musical career began in the 1960s playing guitar with Jerry Butler and The Earls of Rhythm, Brown's early hits include "I Need Some Money" and "Bustin' Loose". "Bustin' Loose" is the Washington Nationals baseball team home run celebration song and Nelly created a rendition of it for his 2002 number one hit "Hot in Herre."
Brown resided in Brandywine, Maryland. He had 2 sons, Wiley, a musician and football player at Virginia Tech and Nekos Brown, who played a defensive end/linebacker for the Virginia Tech football team. While his son was in college, Brown scheduled concerts and other appearances around the Hokies home schedule to ensure that he would never miss a game, and became a fixture at Lane Stadium.

Mr. Brown limited his performing time but still took the stage as often as possible. He would often comment on his golden years in rhyme.

"I'm not retired because I'm not tired. I'm still getting hired, and I'm still inspired," he said in 2006. "As long as I can walk up on that stage, I want to make people happy. I want to make people dance.

TMZ is reporting that Don Cornelius, the man behind classic 1970's dance show Soul Train, was found dead in his Sherman Oaks, Calif., home this morning.

TMZ reports that law enforcement sources say he died from a gunshot wound to the head and officials believe it was self-inflicted. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Cornelius was 75

I decided to get a new cell phone. I have had the same one for 6 years. It works fine but depending where I am I may not get a signal. I attribute that to the replacement battery I purchased after the old one stopped holding a charge.

I went to Verizon and after looking at the choices I actually logged off and questioned what exactly I wanted in a cell phone. My friend has a crackberry. I didn't care for the look of it. I thought I wanted a Droid or an Iphone but then there was the question of how many gigs did I want? Did I want something that required Apps? What color phone? Do I want a QWERTY keyboard? Do I want a touch screen? Do I want the phone to be smart or dumb? Shit, when did getting a new phone equate to getting a new car?

So I wrote out a list of wants and needs. I need to take calls, can't miss a DJ gig. Gerald Olivari never answers his phone so I need to be able to text. I don't need to get online. I have that access all day and night. I don't want an mp3 or itune player. I'm a DJ so I have all the music on my hard drive or little mp3 player I keep with me. I don't need an app to tell me where I am going; I have a GPS for that.

I went back online and searched for a new phone and after looking at the replacements I chose one. I am proud to say I am sticking with my old ass phone. When that fucker stops working that's when I will get a new phone.

Etta James, whose assertive, earthy voice lit up such hits as "The Wallflower," "Something's Got a Hold on Me" and the wedding favorite "At Last," has died, according to her longtime friend and manager, Lupe De Leon. She was 73.

She died from complications from leukemia with her husband, Artis Mills, and her sons by her side, De Leon said.

She was diagnosed with leukemia in 2010, and also suffered from dementia and hepatitis C. James died at a hospital in Riverside, California. She would have turned 74 Wednesday. " This is a tremendous loss for the family, her friends and fans around the world," De Leon said. "She was a true original who could sing it all -- her music defied category. "I worked with Etta for over 30 years. She was my friend and I will miss her always."

2003: Etta James reflects on her career 2008: Etta James at 'Cadillac Records'The powerhouse singer, known as "Miss Peaches," lived an eventful life. She first hit the charts as a teenager, taking "The Wallflower (Roll With Me, Henry)" -- an "answer record" to Hank Ballard's "Work With Me, Annie" -- to No. 1 on the R&B charts in 1955. She joined Chess Records in 1960 and had a string of R&B and pop hits, many with lush string arrangements. After a mid-decade fade, she re-emerged in 1967 with a more hard-edged, soulful sound.

Throughout her career, James overcame a heroin addiction, opened for the Rolling Stones, won six Grammys and was voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Despite her ups and downs -- including a number of health problems -- she maintained an optimistic attitude.
"Most of the songs I sing, they have that blue feeling to it. They have that sorry feeling. And I don't know what I'm sorry about," she told CNN's Denise Quan in 2002. "I don't!"

Through it all, she was a spitfire beloved by contemporaries and young up-and-comers. "Etta James is unmanageable, and I'm the closest thing she's ever had to a manager," Lupe DeLeon, her manager of 30-plus years, told CNN in admiration. British songstress Adele named James as one of her favorite singers, along with Aretha Franklin. "If you were to look up the word singer in the dictionary, you'd see their names," Adele said in an interview.

Etta James was born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles to a teen mother and unknown father. (She suspected her father was the pool player Minnesota Fats.) Her birth mother initially took little responsibility and James was raised by a series of people, notably a pair of boardinghouse owners. But she was recognized from a young age for her booming voice, showcased in a South Central Los Angeles church.

In 1950, her mother took her to San Francisco, where James formed a group called the Peaches. Singer Johnny Otis, best known for "Willie and the Hand Jive," discovered her and had her sing a song he wrote using Ballard's tune as a model. "The Wallflower," with responses from "Louie Louie" songwriter Richard Berry, made James an R&B star.

Her signing to Chess introduced her to a broader audience, as the record label's co-owner, Leonard Chess, believed she should do pop hits. Among her recordings were "Stormy Weather," the Lena Horne classic originally from 1933; "A Sunday Kind of Love," which dates from 1946; and most notably, "At Last," a 1941 number that was originally a hit for Glenn Miller.

James' version of "At Last" starts out with swooning strings and the singer enters with confident gusto, dazzlingly maintaining a mood of joy and romance. Though the song failed to make the Top 40 upon its 1961 release -- though it did hit the R&B Top 10 -- its emotional punch has long made it a favorite at weddings.

James' career suffered in the mid-'60s when the Britis

Jimmy Castor, a funk and soul saxophonist, singer and songwriter whose tune, "It's Just Begun," was sampled by hip hop artists died of apparent heart failure in a Las Vegas hospital, family members said Tuesday. He was 71.

Castor formed the Jimmy Castor Bunch in 1972 and signed with RCA releasing several successful albums and singles. The group reached the peak of their commercial success in 1972 with the release of their album, It's Just Begun, which featured two hit singles: the title track and "Troglodyte (Cave Man). Castor continued the trend in 1975 with "The Bertha Butt Boogie" and later recorded "E-Man Boogie," "King Kong," "Bom Bom," and "Potential."

Many of the group's tunes have been heavily sampled in films and in hip-hop. Most notably are the saxophone hook and groove from "It's Just Begun" and the spoken word intro and groove from "Troglodyte" (namely, "What we're gonna do right here is go back...").

Max Warren aka, Maxamillion says Wiz Khalifa's chart-topper "Black and Yellow" was lifted from his own song "Pink N Yellow" and is suing for $2.3 million over allegations that he stole the hit song "Black and Yellow."

Warren says he copyrighted "Pink N Yellow" in 2008 and Khalifa copyrighted "Black and Yellow" in 2011.

The copyright infringement lawsuit was filed in federal court in Philadelphia and seeks at least $2.3 million in damages. It names Khalifa, two other songwriters and several record companies and music publishers.
Warren's lawyer declined to comment Thursday.

Khalifa and Atlantic Records have not issued a response to the allegation.

Ludacris

Grammy winning artist Ludacris is closing Straits Atlanta, a restaurant he has operated for four years with partner Chris Yeo.

Ludacris made the decision after winning a contract to open a restaurant at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

The restaurant's name is inspired by the artist's 2003 album of the same name. It will serve comfort food and craft beers using locally grown ingredients.

"I am extremely excited to put my restaurateur footprint into a new venture inside the busiest international airport in the United States, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport," Ludacris said in a release. "Straits was a great segue into the industry and with Chicken N Beer I can create my own concept. I look forward to expanding my creativity and driving to a much higher plane."

John Legend's publicist has announced that Legend proposed to his girlfriend, model Chrissy Teigen, recently in the Maldives.

They both took to their Twitter accounts to confirm the news, with Legend saying, "thanks for the well wishes everybody" and Teigen offering a simple "we are :) and thank you."

Legend has won nine Grammys and released four albums. Teigen was named "rookie of the year" in the Sports Illustrated's annual swimsuit issue last year. She also has a food blog.

The engagement marks an early birthday present for Legend, who turns 33 on Wednesday.

The sudden death of rapper Heavy D last month was caused by a pulmonary embolism following a long flight, according to a medical examiner's report released Tuesday.

Heavy D. AKA Dwight Arrington Myers, was found unconscious in the walkway of his Beverly Hills home on Nov. 8 and was later pronounced dead at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 44.

Craig Harvey, chief of the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner, said a blood clot formed in Myers' lung, most likely "during an extended airplane ride," according to the Los Angeles Times. Myers had flown home from London shortly before his death. Myers also suffered from deep leg vein thrombosis and heart disease, Harvey said.

While Harvey said the rapper had been treating himself with cough syrup, the coroner added the medication "was not contributory" to Myers' death.