Black Music Sunday is a weekly series highlighting all things Black music, with over 240 stories covering performers, genres, history, and more, each featuring its own vibrant soundtrack. I hope you’ll find some familiar tunes and perhaps an introduction to something new.
As we move into 2025, it’s time to pay homage to some musical artists who said goodbye to this earthly realm in 2024. They sang and played across the spectrum, whether gospel, R&B, disco, doo-wop, folk, blues, or jazz.
We often say in the Black community that our departed have “joined the ancestors.” The blessing we receive is that the gift of their music will be with us forever, until we too join them ourselves.
In January, we lost Marlena Shaw (Sept. 22, 1939–Jan. 19, 2024).
Rest in power, Marlena Shaw. https://t.co/IoOTFo4Wf2 pic.twitter.com/3ZcxpiB96n— Black Kudos (@blackkudos) September 22, 2024
James M. Manheim wrote Shaw’s biography for Musician Guide.
Marlena Shaw was a stage name, and prior to its creation she went by the names of Marlina Burgess and Marlene Bradshaw. Her introduction to music came from her uncle Jimmy Burgess. Burgess was a jazz trumpeter who performed with pianist Horace Silver and brought his niece on stage to sing during a program at the famed Apollo Theater in New York’s Harlem neighborhood when she was ten. “He introduced me to good music through records—Dizzy [Gillespie], Miles [Davis], a lot of gospel things, and Al Hibbler, who really knows how to phrase a song,” Shaw told the New York Times.
Shaw is probably best remembered for her 1969 cover of “California Soul,” written by Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson and first recorded by The Messengers in 1967.
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But NPR producer Phil Harrell dismisses “California Soul”—in favor of a Shaw song that did not receive popular attention.
The Overlooked Activist Power Of Marlena Shaw
Marlena Shaw is a really extraordinary soul/jazz singer. She was never quite as well-known as she might have been, in part because she was hard to categorize. “California Soul” is a cool song, but its lyrics are kind of ridiculous. They don’t really say anything except for, like, “California’s cool,” “People are in love,” you know? It’s almost insistently and buoyantly banal, particularly when we compare them to the lyrics of “Woman of the Ghetto,” which are really complex and layered and profoundly provocative.
On the one hand, “Woman of the Ghetto” offers a really powerful challenge to these reports that were coming out in the 1960s, often created by white urban sociologists who were talking about the conditions of the ghetto and what was wrong with Black America — often blaming Black people themselves. And Marlena Shaw’s song is remarkable in part because she speaks from the first-person’s perspective and she’s also speaking, significantly, from a woman’s perspective: “I am a woman of the ghetto.” That matters. She’s able to express concerns about domestic issues: How does somebody feed their children? What do you do about the rats that might be crowding in on your domestic space?
Here’s a live version of Shaw’s “Woman of the Ghetto,” recorded at the 1973 Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
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April brought the passing of Arthur Paul Tavares (Nov. 12, 1942-April 15, 2024), from the group Tavares.
Arthur “Pooch” Tavares of New Bedford’s legendary 1970s R&B group Tavares has passed away at the age of 81. https://t.co/LlUEjNH51g pic.twitter.com/9qInMDKHi6— WBSM (@WBSM1420) April 17, 2024
Chris Rizik wrote his obituary for SoulTracks.
Tavares founding member Arthur “Pooch” Tavares dies after ALS battle
Originally called “Chubby and the Turnpikes,” the Tavares brothers spent the late ’60s and early ’70s in their native New England covering tunes of R&B greats at various clubs, while trying to land a record deal. They finally scored a contract with Capitol Records’ then-new black music division and released their first single, “Check It Out,” in 1973. It soared to the top 10 on the R&B charts and became the group’s first top 40 pop hit. It also became the centerpiece for the their Johnny Bristol-produced debut album, an excellent example of early ’70s Soul that also featured the hit “The Sound That Lonely Makes.” The Check It Out LP gave the first glimpse of tight brotherly harmonies and alternating lead vocals that would become the Tavares trademark sound.
The group’s bio from their website dives into their Cape Verdean roots in Rhode Island:
The seven sons of Feliciano Tavares were born to their calling. John, Ralph, Arthur (nicknamed “Pooch”), Antone (known as “Chubby”), Victor, Feliciano Jr. (called “Butch”) and Perry Lee (as the youngest, dubbed “Tiny”) all received their earliest musical schooling right at home from their dad.
Here are two great performances from Tavares. First, enjoy a live performance of “Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel,” from a 1976 episode of the Dutch series “TopPop.”
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The brothers’ also recorded a version of the Bee Gees’ “More Than a Woman.” Both versions can be found in the film “Saturday Night Fever” and on its official soundtrack.
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June brought the news of the passing of Afro-Latina songstress Angela Bofill (May 2, 1954–June 13, 2024).
Rest in Peace Singer #AngelaBofil. The song was best known for her hits. I try, this time I’ll be sweeter, tonight I give in and many more classics.. she had been battling health challenges for many years, including two strokes in 2006 and 2007 Angela Bofill was 70 years old pic.twitter.com/QYxgGZMjfY— 105.3 WDAS (@wdasfm) June 15, 2024
Val Vacaro summarized Bofill’s story for Smooth Jazz Vibes.
Angela Tomasa Bofill was born to a white Cuban father and a black Afro-Latino Puerto Rican mother on May 2, 1954 in Brooklyn, New York. She grew up in the Bronx and in Harlem; she attended high school and college in Manhattan and a university in Connecticut. In an October 2017 interview, Angela Bofill said “My mother once told me that my crying sounded like music!” with her distinctively cheerful chuckle.
The Washington Post also chronicled her career.
Angela Bofill, R&B balladeer with a dreamy, dynamic voice, dies at 70
Eight of her singles made the R&B Top 40, beginning with her tender version of “This Time I’ll Be Sweeter,” a soul standard by Haras Fyre and Gwen Guthrie. The song was featured on her debut album, “Angie,” along with original compositions such as “Under the Moon and Over the Sky,” an idiosyncratic ode to love and happiness accompanied by strings, flute, electric piano and imitation bird calls.
“Under the Moon” was not exactly commercial, although it attracted fans including New York Daily News columnist Pete Hamill, who was inspired to track down Ms. Bofill for an interview at her family’s home in the West Bronx. Describing the song in his column, he wrote that “the music was a city dream: lyrical and defiant, with the congas rolling through the middle and the sounds of santeria adding a thread of the unearthly. You dream this kind of music on subways.”
I wore out my copy of her “Angie” album, and I agree with Hamill’s description. My favorite track was “Under The Moon And Over the Sky.”
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In July, we lost Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon (Oct. 4, 1942–July 16, 2024), a member of the first class of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s Freedom Singers, a civil rights activist, and the founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock.
I am sad to learn about Bernice Johnson Reagon’s passing. I was honored to profile her work as founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock, which she described as “a Black woman’s voice in the universe” in my 2005 documentary “Sweet Honey in the Rock: Raise Your Voice” for @PBSAmerMasters pic.twitter.com/Sc1Q1hktkl— Stanley Nelson (@StanleyNelson1) July 22, 2024
Reagon is no stranger to “Black Music Sunday” readers; she’s featured both in coverage of the SNCC Freedom Singers as well as her entire career.
One of the first songs I heard by Reagon was her rendition of the gospel hymn “Old Ship of Zion.” It still sends chills up my spine every time I hear it.
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About a week after Reagon’s passing, July also brought the departure of another major R&B vocalist, Abdul “Duke” Fakir (Dec. 26, 1935–July 22, 2024).
Duke Fakir (aka Abdul Kareem Fakir) of the last surviving member of the original Four Tops has passed away at age 88. 12/26/1935-7/22/2024🦋 May He Rest in Peace🕊️ pic.twitter.com/4yCxxNjmDp— Barbara’s Nostalgia (@nostalgiapix25) July 23, 2024
Jim Farber wrote Fakir’s obituary for The New York Times.
Abdul ‘Duke’ Fakir, Last Living Original Member of The Four Tops, Dies at 88
He sang tenor on hits like “Standing in the Shadows of Love,” “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” and “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch).”
Abdul Kareem Fakir was born in Detroit on Dec. 26, 1935, to Nazim Ali Fakir, a factory worker who was born in Bangladesh, and Rubyleon Wren, a minister’s daughter from Sparta, Ga., who worked as a domestic and a choir director and played the piano.
At Pershing High School, Duke Fakir excelled at sports; he met [fellow Four Tops member Levi] Stubbs at a neighborhood football game. The pair became good friends as well as musical partners, and they were soon joined by two other local singers, Lawrence Payton and Renaldo Benson, who was known as Obie.
The group grazed the Top 10 with their first single for Motown in 1964, “Baby I Need Your Loving.” The single remained Mr. Fakir’s favorite. “I thought it was the best song on the radio at the time,” he told the British newspaper The Express. “It changed my life completely. It even enabled me to buy my mama a house!”
Here’s the Four Tops performing Fakir’s fave in 1966.
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In August, we lost doo-wopper and soul singer Maurice Williams (April 26, 1938-Aug. 6, 2024).
Maurice Williams, the singer/ songwriter whose 1960 single, Stay, recorded with his group, the Zodiacs, died August 6, at 86. The 96-second long single, shot to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, & was featured in the 1987 huge hit movie, Dirty Dancing. Do you know it? #obit #cremstar pic.twitter.com/KTO9Gq99ml— MemoryBox (@memorybox) August 19, 2024
Alex Williams (no relation) wrote Williams’ obituary for The New York Times.
Maurice Williams, 86, Dies; His ‘Stay’ Was a Hit for Him and Four Seasons
A chart topper in 1960 for his doo-wop group the Zodiacs, it inspired popular cover versions and was heard in the 1987 film “Dirty Dancing.”
Maurice Williams, the singer and songwriter whose 1960 single “Stay,” recorded with his doo-wop group the Zodiacs, shot to No. 1 and became a cover-song staple for a long line of musical acts, including the Four Seasons, the Hollies and Jackson Browne, died on Aug. 6 in Charlotte, N.C. He was 86.
[…]
Mr. Williams recalled the origins of “Stay,” his only chart-topping single, in a 2018 video interview. “This young lady I was going with, she was over to my house, and this particular night, her brother was supposed to pick her up at 10,” he said. “So he came, and I said, ‘Well, you can stay a little longer.’ And she said, ‘No, I gotta go.’”
The next morning he woke up and wove that and other snippets from their conversation — “Now, your daddy don’t mind/And your mommy don’t mind” — into song form, building to its indelible signature line, which, seven years later, the Zodiacs’ Henry Gaston would render in a celestial falsetto: “Oh, won’t you stay, just a little bit longer.”
As noted above by the Times, “Stay” was introduced to a new generation through the film “Dirty Dancing.”
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September was a month to remember with sadness in the R&B world, bringing the loss of both Frankie Beverly and Tito Jackson.
First to depart was Frankie Beverly (Dec. 6, 1946–Sept. 10, 2024).
His voice filled our homes, his rhythm filled our hearts. In a heartfelt message, the family of Frankie Beverly announced his passing. From his all white style to his unifying mantra, we salute the legendary Frankie Beverly – an incomparable artist. A job well done. 🤍 pic.twitter.com/lstLXFDEFW— BLACK GIRLS ROCK! (@BLACKGIRLSROCK) September 11, 2024
A voice that’s united generations, songs that capture the ESSENCE of the Black experience, and a heart that was as pure as Gold as the records we spun. Frankie Beverly’s artistry wasn’t just about sound; it was the very thread that stitched together our collective memories and… pic.twitter.com/pY4N6wNj5v— ESSENCE (@Essence) September 11, 2024
From Beverly’s obituary in the Associated Press:
Frankie Beverly, the Maze singer who inspired generations of fans with lasting anthems, dies at 77
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Frankie Beverly, who with his band Maze inspired generations of fans with his smooth, soulful voice and lasting anthems including “Before I Let Go,” has died. He was 77.
[…]
Beverly, whose songs include “Joy and Pain,” “Love is the Key,” and “Southern Girl,” finished his farewell “I Wanna Thank You Tour” in his hometown of Philadelphia in July. That same month, the Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans included a special tribute to Beverly and Maze, who closed out the event for its first 15 years. His performances at the festival — the nation’s largest annual celebration of Black culture — would turn the crowd into a sea of dancing fans, many wearing white clothing like Beverly himself often donned.
Here’s a 1986 performance of “Joy and Pain” in Los Angeles.
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Just a few days after Beverly’s passing, we lost Tito Jackson (Oct. 15, 1953–Sept. 15, 2024).
Tito Jackson’s love for music was greater than his fear of his father, which drove him to become a SELF-TAUGHT guitarist and that led to the creation of the Jackson 5, reshaping music and pop culture forever 👑#ThankYouTitoJackson pic.twitter.com/pNBHjDjYIh— 𝓥𝓮𝓻𝓸𝓷𝓲𝓬𝓪💫 | MJ fan (@iamveronica777) September 16, 2024
From his website:
Born Toriano Adaryll Jackson, Tito has spent his entire life enchanting music lovers with soulful harmonies interwoven with curvaceous rhythms as a member of Motown’s greatest discovery, The Jackson 5, and presently as a multi-faceted solo artist. Tito’s unyielding passion for blues, R&B, pop, and other music forms is the secret to his boundless energy and rare achievements in the ever-changing entertainment spectrum.
In 1962, before the Jackson 5 and the Jacksons, Tito performed in a local group called The Jackson Brothers. After competing and winning local talent shows in and around Gary, the precocious brothers were victorious again on the most prestigious amateur stage of all — Manhattan’s Apollo Theater. In that same year Tito and his brothers made their first studio recording (local label), titled “Big Boy.” Not only did it turn out to be a local hit, but it set the stage for a partnership with Motown Records (1969) and subsequent appearances on the top-rated Ed Sullivan Show, American Bandstand, Soul Train, and later, their own primetime television series in 1976, on CBS. In addition to this, Tito and his brothers’ soaring popularity with America’s youth was so captivating that they were captioned in a Saturday morning, ABC TV animation series.
Jackson’s 2021 song, “Love One Another,” features dozens of members of the Jackson clan.
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October marked the passing of Cissy Houston, who was born Emily Drinkard (Sept. 30, 1933–Oct. 7, 2024).
K. Michelle Moran wrote her Musician Guide biography.
The youngest of the eight children born to factory worker Nitch and homemaker Delia Drinkard, Cissy Houston started singing as a child. As a five-year-old, she began singing with siblings Anne, Nicky, and Larry in the family gospel act the Drinkard Singers in her hometown of Newark, New Jersey. Houston and nieces Dee Dee and Dionne Warwick who were also Drinkard Singers for a time later sang backing vocals for the likes of Wilson Pickett and Solomon Burke, among others.
From 1965 to 1970, Houston was the lead vocalist for the pop group Sweet Inspirations, which she formed with Sylvia Sherwell, Myrna Smith, and Estelle Brown. The group performed on hundreds of songs for other artists, including Neil Diamond, Aretha Franklin, and Elvis Presley before recording on its own. In 1968, the group released its only two albums Sweet Inspirations and What the World Needs Now is Love and earned a top 20 hit and a Grammy nomination with the single “Sweet Inspiration.” Houston soon left for a solo career, however, while her former bandmates continued as backup vocalists for other artists.
Here’s Houston with “Sweet Inspiration” in 1968.
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This undated video shows Houston singing with her fellow congregants at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey:
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Houston’s “going home” ceremony was held in the same church.
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In November, we lost both Quincy Jones (March 14, 1933–Nov. 3, 2024), and Roy Haynes (March 13, 1925–Nov. 12, 2024).
Their careers were covered in “Black Music Sunday: Remembering the late, great Quincy Jones” and “Black Music Sunday: Thank you, Roy Haynes,” respectively.
I hope you will join me in the comments to share some of your favorite songs and memories of these artists, and others we lost this year.
May they all rest in peace and power after lifetimes of making music that will outlive us all.
Wishing you all the best in 2025.
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