Don Cornelius, creator and host of the legendary “Soul Train” series was found dead in his Sherman Oaks, CA home on Wednesday morning in an apparent suicide.

“Soul Train,” which Cornelius hosted until 1993, changed the landscape of television on its debut in 1971, and ran until 2006 with massive influence and success around the globe, helping to launch names as illustrious as James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, and Michael Jackson.

Law enforcement sources confirm that the 75 year old Cornelius died from a gunshot wound to the head and officials believe the wound was self-inflicted.

Don’s was reportedly suffering from “significant health issues” in the years leading up to his death, including a stroke, and a bitter divorce marred his later years – he was arrested in 2008 for beating his wife, pleading no contest to misdemeanor domestic violence.

Shawn Holley — Don’s lawyer and good friend — tells TMZ, “This is devastating news. Don was a kind, funny and brilliant man. Even though his many health battles had left him frail, he remained vibrant, courtly and always sharp as a tack.”

Roots drummer Questlove wrote a stream-of-consciousness tribute post about the importance of Cornelius and “Soul Train” on Okayplayer - it’s most definitely worth taking the time to read.

[SOURCE]

STAMFORD, CONN. — A coast-to-coast grifter was arrested Tuesday after police say he passed himself off as the son of pop star Jermaine Jackson and bilked a Connecticut woman out of $20,000 in cash.

Andre Vann, 27, who goes by the stage name of “Mr. Vann,” was arrested at a library in downtown Stamford, Conn. and charged with second-degree larceny and held in lieu of $50,000 bond. He was scheduled to be arraigned at state Superior Court in Stamford Wednesday.

Property Crimes Bureau Sgt. Peter diSpagna called Vann a “true grifter” who survived by traveling from place to place while hiring known rappers to appear with him in videos that he would use to dupe unsuspecting people who wanted to be close to the Jackson family mystique.

That fact that Vann recently recorded a new video called “Justice Will Be Served” and uploaded up to youtube is a notable irony that diSpagna pointed out less than a day after his arrest.

DiSpagna said police were contacted in early October by a woman who met Vann at a Jermaine Jackson book signing in New York City on Sept. 21. The two got into a long conversation where Vann told her that he was the former Jackson Five member’s son.

The woman, who police say was extremely excited to meet Vann because she idolizes Michael Jackson, exchanged numbers with Vann and left the event, police said.

The next day, police say Vann called the woman and said he really enjoyed talking to her and he had some business to do in the area. He hoped to meet her again, he said, so she invited him to stop by her apartment and visit her while he was in Connecticut.

Excited to host Vann, the 34-year-old woman cleaned her home and invited her sister over to meet him.

Talking for hours, the woman served Vann lunch and then dinner. When it got late and Vann said he had to go back into New York City, she invited him to spend the night, diSpagna said.

The visit ended up lasting four days, police said. Nearing the end of his stay, Vann talked to the woman and told her he was having some business problems because his cash was frozen in a Paypal account after the IRS had made a mistake.

Asking her for a $20,000 loan, Vann told the woman he would return the cash in a few days. She ended up taking him to her bank and withdrawing $20,000 in cash and gave it to him, diSpagna said.

She ended up taking him to her bank and withdrawing $20,000 in cash and gave it to him, diSpagna said.

When the money wasn’t returned, the woman researched Vann on the Internet and became suspicious.

Vann’s picture and personal information come up on a Florida law enforcement website because he was arrested for stealing a car.

On Oct. 1, the woman called police to report that she had been scammed. Police began checking Vann’s identity and were able to reach a couple of his relatives to get more information.

On Monday, Vann called the Stamford woman and accused her of going to the police to check up on him.

She denied the allegation and acted as if she was still enthralled with being around him and that is when Vann told her that he needed between $7,000 and $14,000 more for his business expenses, diSpagna said.

After the woman hung up the receiver, she called police to report that Vann was trying to get more money.

Vann then called the Property Crimes Unit and diSpagna answered. When Vann gave his name and asked why anyone from that number had called his relatives and were asking questions about him, diSpagna played dumb and insisted that Vann had reached the police department’s lost and found bureau.

When diSpagna asked if he had been in Stamford recently, Vann answered yes and diSpagna suggested that someone was trying to reach him to return something that had been found.

Vann, apparently believing diSpagna, then called the Strawberry Hill Avenue woman back and made a date with her at the Ferguson Library for Tuesday at 3 p.m.

The woman accompanited police investigators John Russell and Mike Stempien to the library on Tuesday. Just after 3 p.m., Vann appeared and struck up a conversation with the woman while one police officer was sitting on a computer terminal next to the woman and the other officer standing close by.

“I scammed the scammer,” diSpagna said following the arrest.

DiSpagna said Stempien and Russell have found as many as three other people who were conned into believing Vann was a Jackson relation and the investigation is on going.

[SOURCE]

The guy who’s is labeled as a “Doctor”, birth name “Conrad Murray”, I’ll assume …… has been found guilty of  murder of  the musical Icon Michael Joseph Jackson by involuntary manslaughter for his reckless use of propofol to treat Jackson’s insomnia in his home was criminally negligent. Sentence to 4 years in jail, but there’s a new that in been effected since October 1st, 2011 in that state of California, which can be a major possibility that “Doctor” Conrad can be placed on house arrest or even jail time in the county, Are you kidding me!!!! that’s not JUSTICE!!! Some reflect this to the OJ case.

Here are profiles of the seven men and five women who convicted Dr. Conrad Murray of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson.

—Hispanic man, 51, from Whittier. A U.S. Postal Service supervisor who oversees 30 people and has some college education. Believes celebrities bend the rules and feel they can act as they please. Considers himself a fan of Jackson’s music. First-time juror. Has five children, five grandchildren.

—White woman, 57, born in Spain, lives in Alhambra. Account manager who supervises others and has some college. Watches “CSI” and followed the O.J. Simpson case on TV. Has been on five juries and was once a forewoman. All those juries reached verdicts. Believes celebrities feel they can act as they please. Not a fan of Jackson. Divorced, with two children, two grandchildren.

—White man, 45, management consultant from West Los Angeles with an MBA. Was a classical musician. Watches “Law and Order,” follows radio and TV news, visits a few Internet sites and has seen “This Is It” but is not a Jackson fan. Was on two previous juries that reached verdicts. Wife is a pediatric nurse. Two children.

—White man, 32, actor and part-time bookseller from Eagle Rock. Some college. Studied philosophy and theater. Watched the O.J. Simpson trial in school as an educational experience. Believes celebrities get away with crimes because of their status. Was a Jackson fan as a child and owns the “Bad,” “Thriller” and “Dangerous” albums. Thinks Jackson was probably a good person. Was juror on a civil trial.

—White woman, 48, paralegal from Temple City. High school graduate. Watched the Casey Anthony case occasionally. Feels celebrities get off because the system can’t afford security for them in jail. Not a Jackson fan. First-time juror. Married with two grown children.

—Hispanic male, 39, from Tujunga. Bachelor’s degree in sociology. Works in product management. Listens to Howard Stern. Believes celebrities use status to get what they want. A Jackson fan who saw last few minutes of “This Is It” on TV. Served on one civil jury. Married with two children.

—Hispanic woman, 54, from San Gabriel Valley. High school graduate and office manager at husband’s moving van business. Said the Casey Anthony case showed a jury that saw evidence differently than the public majority. Was juror on two civil cases that ended with verdicts. Watches Fox News, listens to talk radio. Not a Jackson fan but loved his music as a young girl. Has four grown children.

—Hispanic man, 52, from Lynwood. School bus driver with some college. One prior jury experience. Believes celebrities get away with crimes because of their status. Not a Jackson fan but thinks he was a good artist. Spouse is mail carrier. Four children and one stepchild.

—Black man, 54, from North Hollywood. TV technical director with associate’s degree in TV production. Watches “Forensic Files” and “American Justice.” Served on three juries. Was a Jackson Five fan as a kid, now more of a Jay-Z fan. Says celebrities don’t excite him and he’s only interested in justice. Single. No children.

—White woman, 43. Born in England, lives in Monrovia. Bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and medical laboratory sciences. Works in international medical marketing. Watches “NCIS.” Served on jury in England. Not a Jackson fan but bought the “Thriller” CD. Thinks celebrities sometimes bend the rules. Married with two young children.

—Hispanic woman, 36, from Whittier. Workers compensation service representative. Some college. Followed the Casey Anthony case because it involved a child. Wounded in a drive-by shooting in 1993. Once served on jury that reached a verdict. Single with two children, lives with boyfriend who has three kids.

—White male, 54, from Altadena. College professor who was a supervising animator creating characters for motion pictures at Disney and elsewhere. Had brief interactions with Jackson at Disney when the star was making “Captain EO” film. Thinks Jackson was gifted performer. No prior jury service. Followed the O.J. Simpson case, asks “Who didn’t?”

In celebration of “Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon” Blu-ray and DVD release, Universal Studios Entertainment wants to take you to the World Premiere in London LIVE on Nov. 2nd.

Chris Brown has often been compared to Michael Jackson, and while the two never met, the “Forever” singer did get a glowing endorsement from his daughter. Paris Jackson made a heart shape with her hands while watching Chris perform last night at his “F.A.M.E.” tour stop at Los Angeles’ Staples Center, the same venue where the King of Pop’s memorial was held. The 13-year-old sat front row with her friends, wearing snapbacks from Tyga’s Last Kings merchandise line.

“Staples Center Sold out show!!!!!!! First time ever to do my own concert here!! So excited!” tweeted Chris, who dyed his hair blond again.

T-Pain shared a photo of himself posing with Paris backstage. “The spawn of greatness. Seems like yesterday when I took a pic with her dad. R.I.P. the greatest of all time MJ,” wrote the Auto-Tune King, who remixed MJ’s “P.Y.T.” for Quincy Jones’ Q: Soul Bossa Nostra album.

“(Murray) reached over and grabbed a handful of vials, and reached out to me and said, ‘Here put these in a bag,’” Alvarez told jurors of the critical minutes before an ambulance arrived at Jackson’s rented Holmby Hills mansion on June 25, 2009.

Murray cleared the vials from a nightstand while Jackson lay on a bed unresponsive – his arms outstretched, his palms up, his mouth and eyes wide open, Alvarez said.

The cardiologist, 58, then pointed toward an IV stand, Alvarez said, and told him to grab a saline bag hanging from it that held a glass bottle of propofol – the surgery-strength anesthetic Murray has admitted he pumped into Jackson.

“When I took it off, he instructed me to put it in a blue bag,” Alvarez said.

It was only after the scramble to scoop up evidence that Murray told him to call 911, Alvarez said, noting that he didn’t question Murray’s instructions because he deferred to the doctor’s authority.

“I believed Dr. Conrad Murray had the best intentions for Mr. Jackson,” he said. “I didn’t question his intentions at the time. I knew it was a medical emergency … I thought we were packing, getting ready to go to the hospital.”

Prosecutors hope Alvarez’s testimony will support their contention that Murray accidentally killed Jackson with a drug overdose and then deceived paramedics and emergency room doctors by not telling them about the propofol when specifically asked.

Murray’s defense team wants jurors to believe that after the doctor gave Jackson a small amount of the drug and left to use the bathroom, the music icon woke up and gave himself a much larger dose that killed him “so instantly he didn’t even have time to close his eyes.”

Defense lawyer Ed Chernoff used phone records to argue that the events related by Alvarez – including ushering Jackson’s kids out of the room – would have taken place over just 30 seconds.

“Do you think you could have performed all these events that are listed here in half a minute?” Chernoff asked.

“That’s what happened, sir,” Alvarez responded. “I’m very efficient, sir.”

“I guess so,” Chernoff added.

Jackson’s personal chef later took the stand and described seeing Dr. Murray in a panic at the foot of the stairs between 12:05 and 12:10 p.m. the day Jackson died – a time-frame before Murray’s first phone call seeking help from Jackson’s personal assistant.

“He was flustered, his eyes were big, he was screaming and he was panicked,” chef Kai Chase told jurors. “He yelled: ‘Go get help, go get security, go get Prince.’”

Chase said she ran to a nearby den, retrieved Jackson’s 12-year-old son Prince and returned to cooking.

“You never told Dr. Murray you were not going to get security?” defense lawyer Michael Flanagan asked.

“No,” Chase replied.

She earlier told a prosecutor that Murray never asked her to call 911 and she didn’t know what was going on upstairs.

She admitted she received about $7,000 from paid media interviews after Jackson’s death.

[SOURCE]

Michael Jackson’s iconic red jacket from the “Thriller” video is hitting the auction block in Beverly Hills in a few weeks — and it could be yours … if you’ve got a spare $400,000 to blow.

The jacket — which MJ personally autographed to his former costume designers — is expected to fetch between $200k and $400k … though we wouldn’t be shocked if it soared past half a mil.

The jacket is one of several MJ items featured in the Julien’s Auction event on June 25 and 26. Among the more interesting pieces — the wig Michael wore at his “This Is It” news conference in London and a glove he wore at the American Music Awards.

The wig is expected to haul in between $4,000 and $6,000 — and the glove is valued between $20k and $30k.

Get Wit It Magazine Brings you  pop star Yolanda Sterk.  A natural born performer who thrives on the energy of fans. Her soul, heart and passion for creating engaging tunes are infused in her music. Yolanda writes with purpose and enthusiasm from experience and creativity. She has the unique ability to pull you into her lyrics and beats to live the story of the song and feel its emotion. She enjoys connecting with people, helping people by using her love and compassion to make a difference in the lives of others. Inspired by the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, Yolanda cultivated her skills at a young age by listening to, learning from and loving the music, soul and dance of the legend. Yolanda’s life has been guided by her faith in God and she is a true believer in the Power of Prayer.

Recently, Yolanda achieved top spot by fan votes in Toronto-based Indiscover Records “Starsearch” contest after seven months and three rounds of voting earning praise for her range of styles and melodies that make you want to dance. Yolanda’s talent and creativity has recently been recognized by Triumph Music Publishing in London, England who will be publishing and promoting Yolanda’s works throughout 2011. Yolanda is looking forward to collaborating with talented artists across the globe and is currently involved in various exciting new projects (stay tuned!)

Get Wit It All Stars

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Turns out it’s pretty important to pay these debts before getting a passport because when you owe a lot of child support. The FBI gets involved and when the FBI gets involved, they like to do annoying stuff like make it hard to renew a passport. Which means once again for the umpteenth time since little Michael joined The Jackson 5, it sucks to be Jermaine.

Actually I’m glad it sucks to be Jermaine because I have a very low tolerance for parents who won’t at least try to pay child support. As previously mentioned last September at MamaPop, Jermaine Jackson owes a wheelbarrow of cash (aka $90,000+ USD) to his boys Jaafar and Jermajesty by the former Mrs. Jackson, Alejandra Oaziaza, despite the fact he had his monthly child support payment reduced from $3,000 to a mere $215.

Then this past December, Jermaine deservedly felt the squeeze of owing so much child support debt when he had his driver’s license confiscated because like the FBI, the DMV hates it when someone is delinquent in child support payments.

Yet somehow the very broke Jermaine managed to get himself over to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso where he found himself with an expired passport. Apparently if Jermaine goes to the American embassy to renew, they can make it difficult for him to get his documents without paying his debt. Jermaine could hope for some mercy from the embassy that comes with temporary travel documents to return to the US but I’m sure those come with strings attached and require a lot of begging.

Mind you his lawyers had his child support payments reduced by over 90% so who knows what they could achieve. Good luck to Jaafar and Jermajesty, methinks you won’t be seeing any of your money anytime soon.

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R&B singer Ne-Yo has publicly opened up about his disapproval of the new posthumous Michael Jackson album, Michael, and why he will not support the late pop star’s project.

From Ne-Yo’s perspective, the late Jackson would not have released Michael.

“I haven’t heard it yet,” Ne-Yo told New York paparazzi. “I’m not really trying to hear that. Nah. I’m gonna stick to my old Mike. He was definitely a perfectionist. Mind you, if Michael was still alive, I don’t think that album would be out yet. I don’t think it would be out yet.”

Police have charged a New Jersey man in connection to the 2004 murder of AKON’s road manager.

Robert ‘Screw’ Montanez was gunned down outside a New Jersey bar six years ago after attempting to stop rapper Capone from being robbed of his jewellery. Akon had been filming a promo with Capone at the venue.

Montanez was fatally shot twice in the chest.

Cops launched an investigation into the murder but witnesses have only recently come forward to formally identify Almalik Ward as the gunman.

He was taken into custody last week (ends21Nov10) and has been charged with Montanez’s death, reports AllHipHop.com.

Police have charged Almalik Ward, 34, with the shooting death of Montanez. According to police, Ward has been a suspect in the investigation, but witnesses only came forward recently to positively identify Ward as the shooter.

Almalik Ward’s bail has been set at $1 million in cash (£666,700) bail.

Janet Jackson is mad at Oprah and she’s going to let her know it.

Janet is furious for having her brother’s children on the show saying she only used them as “pawns” to get ratings. The two had a conversation before the show and Janet said that Oprah made her “sick”.

Well, Janet has already planned her revenge, the two are both friends with Tyler Perry and apparenlty Tyler has been very candid with Janet about Oprah’s secrets and I guess she has a lot.  OOOOO my goodness, I don’t know how true this is but if Janet is going to spill the beans I wonder what it is.  Yea like we don’t already know. I don’t see Janet doing that she’s so not like that, so I don’t see anything like that happening anytime soon.

When Kanye West sings about “jerk-offs that’ll never take work off,” you’d best believe he means himself. Being crazy is this guy’s job, and judging from the sound of his music, business is booming. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is his most maniacally inspired music yet, coasting on heroic levels of dementia, pimping on top of Mount Olympus. Yeezy goes for the grandeur of stadium rock, the all-devouring sonics of hip-hop, the erotic gloss of disco, and he goes for all of it, all the time. Nobody halfway sane could have made this album.