Florida Sentinel Bulletin

MOUNT VERNON, NY — A private funeral for rap legend Heavy D will be held at a historic black Baptist church in a northern suburb of New York City.  Grace Baptist Church of Mount Vernon announced Friday that the funeral for Heavy D had been scheduled for Nov. 18.

The New York-born rapper died at a Los Angeles hospital Tuesday after collapsing outside his home. He was 44.

Dwight Arrington Myer was the titular member of Heavy D and the Boyz, which had hits with “Now That We Found Love,” “Who’s the Man” and “Somebody for Me.”

Eric Sermon is the latest rapper to endure health problems after suffering a heart attack.

News of Sermon’s health scare broke on Twitter when his close friend, DJ Scratch wrote, “Erick Sermon had a heart attack today. He’s ok, but still send your prayers. He is not on Twitter.”

Sermon, 42, is one half of the legendary New York group EPMD along with Parrish Smith who rose to fame in the late 1980s with their debut album “Stricly Business.”

The hip-hop community has been hit hard when it comes to rappers and their health.

LOS ANGELES – It’s another boy for Nia Long.

A representative for the 41-year-old actress says Long gave birth last Monday to son, Kez Sunday Udoka.

Kez is the first child for Long and Ime Udoka. Long has a 10-year-old son, Massai, from a previous relationship.

Long’s credits include the films “Soul Food,” “Love Jones” and “Big Momma’s House” and TV shows such as “Boston Legal,” “Judging Amy” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.”

Gayle King, the OWN host and BFF of Oprah Winfrey, may soon be taking her TV hosting duties to new heights.

Early reports are saying that King, along with Charlie Rose, will be joining CBS’s The Early Show as co-hosts.

The morning news show, which has forever trailed NBC’s Today and ABC’s Good Morning America in the ratings is said to be getting a complete makeover in 2012.

King currently has a morning show on OWN, the network founded by her best friend Oprah Winfrey.

Diddy’s Bad Boy Records and media conglomerate Viacom have agreed to fork over $7.5 million dollars to settle a lawsuit over the MTV series “Making The Band”.

A bankruptcy judge awarded the hefty sum to the bankruptcy trustee of Trans Continental Television Productions founded by Lou Pearlman. Pearlman starred, in the inaugural season of Making The Band, when the format was geared towards forming the next great boy band. The first two seasons aired on ABC before transitioning to MTV when Diddy took over the helm changing the search to a hip hop group.

Following his removal from the show, Pearlman’s end soured and he was convicted of a huge Ponzi scheme in 2008. Trans Continental then filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The company’s lawyer filed a breach of contract lawsuit last year, claiming that they were cut out of profits for the series’ final seasons.

Heavy D died Tuesday after collapsing in his California home. He was 44.

The Westchester County-raised entertainer was taken by ambulance to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles about 11:25 a.m. and died 90 minutes later, cops told the Daily News.

Heavy D was conscious and talking when officers responded to a 911 call from his Beverly Hills condo, said Lt. Mark Rosen of the Beverly Hills Police Department.

Rosen said the portly rapper, whose real name was Dwight Arrington Myers, was having difficulty breathing as paramedics rushed him to the hospital.

The performer had just returned from Europe and was battling pneumonia, KTLA news in Los Angeles reported.

Rosen said Heavy D had come home from a shopping trip Tuesday and began laboring for breath as he walked into his condo building.

“He collapsed in an exterior hallway,” Rosen said. “There doesn’t appear to be any foul play. We believe it was medically related.”

The actual cause of death is pending an autopsy.

Born in Jamaica and raised in Mount Vernon, Heavy D rose to stardom in the 1990s as the frontman for Heavy D & the Boys.

CLEVELAND — Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin has been honored with a star-studded tribute at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
Lauryn Hill, Dennis Edwards of the Temptations and Chaka Khan were among those who entertained. The 69-year-old soul singer was not scheduled to perform, but toward the end of the three-hour event she took a seat at a piano and traded verses with Edwards in a rendition of “A Song for You.”

Franklin received a key to the city from Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson during the Saturday event and an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Case Western Reserve University.

The show ended a weeklong American Music Masters tribute to her.

Broadway, New York’s great white way, is getting a splash of color this season.

A record number of shows by Black playwrights and directors, all featuring a multi-cultural, cast of actors, are slated to open between early October and well into next year.

Among them is a new production called “Stick Fly,” which is expected to draw Black audiences, both locally and nationally.

Walker International Communications Group has contracted to help the Alicia Keys backed production succeed when it makes its debut in December.

LOS ANGELES — Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman is taking home a new prize — a lifetime-achievement honor at the Golden Globes.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced Wednesday that Freeman will receive the group’s Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 69th annual Globes ceremony on Jan. 15.

The 74-year-old Freeman is a five-time Oscar nominee who won the supporting-actor prize for 2004’s “Million Dollar Baby.” Freeman’s Oscar nominations include best actor for 1989’s “Driving Miss Daisy,” for which he won a Golden Globe.