unsung
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Misty Copeland On Unsung Heroes and Her New Foundation
American Ballet Theatre's Principal Dancer, Misty Copeland, spoke at The Root Institute about her new foundation and the Black ballet dancers who inspired her.
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Ice-T on Why He’s Hip-Hop’s Unsung O.G.
Most Law & Order junkies and millennials probably only know Ice-T affectionately as the gruff, no-nonsense NYPD Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. But the rapper Ice-T came well before his nearly 20-year run on the television show. The story of Ice-T the rapper, including his crime-ridden days and his…
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Shanice Isn’t Done Singing Just Yet
In the fall of 1991, the feel-good single “I Love Your Smile” set five-octave singer Shanice afloat with a music video in which her wholesome, girl-next-door charm and wide smile fit perfectly with what she was singing about. Although the single peaked at No. 2 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the U.K. Singles…
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Unsung: Before There Was DeBarge, There Was Switch
The story of Switch, the group that paved the way for the group DeBarge with sibling harmonizers Bobby and Tommy DeBarge, is a story as much about the journey for self-love as it is about their ability to seduce audiences with falsettos, rich love songs and lush harmonies. On Sunday, TV One’s Unsung tells the…
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Marvin Sapp’s Life Is More Than the Gospel on TV One’s Unsung
Marvin Sapp is more than a preacher who sings or a singer who preaches. Both singing and preaching represent spiritual experiences for him. On Sunday’s episode of TV One’s Unsung, he and family members outline his personal story—a fully lived story with high highs and particularly low lows—which provides insight into his inspiration for his…
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Is Wyclef Jean Really Unsung? There’s More to His Story Than You Know
For ’90s hip-hop heads, Wyclef Jean will always be known as one-third of the legendary group the Fugees. And anyone paying attention over the last few decades probably thinks he or she knows everything about Jean: how he became a sought-after producer, his near-presidential run in his home country and his starring role in a…
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Jagged Edge May Be Unsung, but They Haven’t Stopped Singing Yet
Twins Brian and Brandon Casey, along with their friends Richard Wingo and Kyle Norman, made up the 1990s R&B group Jagged Edge. Unlike boy groups like New Edition or Jodeci, the individual members didn’t become household names or branch out into solo careers, but their sound was so unusual that even traditional R&B balladeers like…
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TV One Announces Future Bobbi Kristina Documentary, Other Standouts
It’s been almost two years since the tragic death of Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of two R&B titans, and TV One is planning a made-for-TV movie about her brief, 22 years of life in the spotlight. The teaser clip from the film Bobbi Kristina, set to debut this summer, was one of the many…
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Unsung: How After 7 Made Grown Folks’ Music in the New Jack Swing Era
It was the summer of 1989 when the R&B trio After 7 dropped their infectious eponymous debut album with the lead single, “In the Heat of the Moment,” a mischievous dance tune about the wonders of lust. Even though that album went platinum and the following two went gold, After 7 disappeared from the scene.…
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Unsung: Gospel or R&B? Dave Hollister Won’t Let Anyone Box Him In
Chicago native Dave Hollister has always had vocal chops, straddling the secular and gospel worlds with seeming ease. But after a peak career in the ’90s with Teddy Riley’s group Blackstreet, and then as a solo artist, his name disappeared from the lips of fans who had reveled in his old-school-style love songs. Hollister is…