By Darlene Donloe
2020 has been a year that will down in history – for all the wrong reasons. A deadly coronavirus was unleashed that caused massive casualties around the world. No one was immune. No one was safe.
A number of noteworthy people of color closed their eyes for the last time in 2020. They were writers, actors, directors, musicians, activists, community leaders, and politicians. All were influential in their own way. And, before leaving the planet, they all made their mark and touched the lives of so many. This column pays tribute to those who passed this way. Rest in Paradise!
JANUARY
Jan. 1 – Nick Gordon, the former boyfriend of the late Bobbi Kristina. He was 30.
Jan. 1 – Lexii Alijai rapper. She was 21.
Jan. 2 – Martha Levert, mother of the late R&B singers Sean and Gerald Levert.
Jan. 5 - Cliff Hall, an inventor who photographed Los Angeles high society. He was 94.
Jan. 6 – Richard Maponya, South African businessman. He was 99.
Jan. 15 - Rocky Johnson, WWE Hall of Famer and father of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. He was 75.
Jan. 19 - Jimmy Heath - Jazz saxophone player. He was 93.
Jan. 19 - Robert Parker, singer/songwriter scored a 1960s hit with ‘Barefootin’. He was 89.
Jan. 24 – Leila Janah, social entrepreneur who employed thousands of poor people in Africa and India. She was 37.
Jan. 28 - Thomassina Carrollyne Smith, aka Toni Smith, singer/songwriter. She worked with a number of great artists and did her own thing, i.e., “Funkin in Jamaica” with Tom Browne.
Jan. 28 - Chris Doleman, pro football Hall of Famer. He was 58.
Dec. 31, 2019 - Woody Phillips, owned Woody’s Bar-B-Cue in Los Angeles. He was 78.
FEBRUARY
Feb. 2 - Johnny Lee Davenport, Chicago stage actor. He was 69.
Feb. 6 – Gary Jackson, one-time editor of Urban Network Magazine.
Feb. 7 – Ronny Drayton, guitarist, writer, singer. He was 66.
Eric Stringfellow, former Clarion-Ledger columnist.
Feb. 9 - Paula Kelly, dancer, and actress. She was 76.
Feb. 11 - Joseph Shabalala, Ladysmith Black Mambazo founder. He was 78.
Feb. 12 - James Carmichael, Instant Funk lead singer. He was 71.
Feb. 13 – Charles Hobson, Emmy Award-winning producer who helped shatter racial stereotypes by delivering a black perspective that had been missing from early television programming. He was 83.
Feb. 15 - Nikita Pearl Waligwa, star of Disney’s ‘Queen of Katwe.” She was 15.
Feb. 18 – Ja’Net DuBois, Good Times actress and singer/songwriter for The Jeffersons. She was 74.
Feb. 19 – Bashar Baraka Jackson, rapper known as Pop Smoke. He was 20.
Feb. 20 – Rita Walters, first Black woman elected to Los Angeles City Council and former member of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education. She was 89.
Feb. 20 – Gerald Krone, a Negro Ensemble Company Founder. He was 86.
Feb. 22 – B. Smith, model, TV host, restaurateur, and lifestyle guru. She was 70.
Feb. 24 - Katherine Johnson, NASA pioneer whose life was featured in the movie, ‘Hidden Figures.’ She was 101.
Feb. 25 – Grace F. Edwards, noted author. She was 87.
MARCH
March 2 – Justice Charles E. Freeman, first African American on Illinois high court. He was 86.
March 6 - McCoy Tyner, Jazz piano great, He was 81.
March 6 – Danny Tidwell, ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ star. He was 35.
March 12 - Danny Ray Thompson, saxophonist with Sun Ra Otherworldly Band. He was 72.
March 17 - Roger Mayweather, uncle and legendary boxing trainer to Floyd Mayweather. He was also a two-division boxing world champ. He won world titles at super featherweight, super lightweight and welterweight. He was 58.
March 20 - Oliver Stokes Jr., popular New Orleans DJ better known as Go DJ Black N Mild. Due to coronavirus. He was 44.
March 23 - Zororo Makamba, a television journalist in Zimbabwe. Due to coronavirus. He was 30.
March 24 – Manu Dibango, veteran Afro-jazz star. Due to coronavirus. He was 86.
March 26 - Fred “Curly” Neal, Harlem Globetrotters. He was 77.
March 27 - Joseph Lowery, civil rights leader. He was 98.
March 30 – Bill Withers, singer, and songwriter. He was 81.
March 31 - Wallace Roney, jazz trumpeter. Due to coronavirus. He was 59.
March 31, Louis Johnson, dancer-choreographer. He was 90.
APRIL
Apr. 1 - Ellis Marsalis, pianist and the patriarch of the first family of jazz. He was 85.
Apr. 2 - David C. Driskell, tireless advocate for black art history. He was 89.
Apr. 4 - Cheryl A. Wall, Champion of Black Literary Women, author, and longtime professor at Rutgers. She was 71.
Apr. 6 - Onaje Allan Gumbs, pianist, composer, arranger, and producer. He was 70.
Apr. 6 – Earl Graves, Sr., founder of Black Enterprise. He was 85.
Apr. 8 – Chynna Rogers, model turned rapper. She was 25.
Apr. 8 - Charles Gregory Ross, Emmy-nominated hairstylist. Due to coronavirus.
Apr. 9 - Darren Simon, Washington Post journalist. He was 43.
Apr. 10 - Diane Rodriguez, champion of theater artists of color. She was 69.
Apr. 11 - Minister Abdul Hafeez Muhammad, leader of the Eastern Region Headquarters of the Nation of Islam.
Apr. 12 - Ernest Collins, fashion and beauty photographer, and makeup artist.
Apr. 12 - Theodore Gaffney, photographed the 1961 Freedom Riders. Due to the coronavirus. He was 92.
Apr. 13 - Sarah Maldoror, pioneer of Pan African cinema. Due to the coronavirus. She was 90.
Apr. 13 - Gil Bailey, Godfather of reggae radio. Due to the coronavirus. He was 84.
Apr. 13 - Roland L. Wirt, Los Angeles promoter. He was 68.
Apr. 13 – Tarvaris Jackson, who played with Minnesota Vikings and won Super Bowl with Seattle. He was 36.
Apr. 15 - Henry Grimes, bassist, and violinist known as an Avant-Garde player. (coronavirus). He was 84.
Apr. 15 – Willie Davis, owner of All-Pro Broadcasting (KACE FM) and All-Pro defensive end of the Green Bay Packers and pro football Hall of Famer. He was 85.
Apr. 15 - Akin Euba, father of African pianism. He was 84.
Apr. 16 - Eugene Kane, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist. He was 63.
Apr. 17 - Larry Griffin, bandleader, Seriuex.
Apr. 17 – Alhaji Abba Kyari, the chief of staff to President Muhammad Buhari Due to the coronavirus.
Apr. 17 - Lila Fenwick, the first Black woman to graduate Harvard Law in 1956. Due to the coronavirus. She was 87.
Apr. 20 – Milton McGriff, journalist, author, poet, former Black Panther. He was 81.
Apr. 22- Irene Johnson Ware, gospel radio personality.
Apr. 23 - Rapper Fred The Godson Due to the coronavirus. He was 35.
Apr 23 - Willie Mae Sheard, wife of Bishop John H. Sheard, pastor of Greater Mitchell Temple Church of God in Christ in Detroit. She was 84.
Apr. 24 - Hamilton Bohannon, artist and producer who created the iconic dance jam, Let’s Start The Dance. He was 78.
Apr. 27 - Troy Sneed, Grammy-nominated gospel singer. Due to the coronavirus. He was 52.
Apr. 29 – Irrfan Khan, Bollywood actor, Slumdog Millionaire star. He was 52.
Apr. 29 – Randy ‘O’Jay’ Brooks, St. Louis radio legend. He was 61.
MAY
May 1 - Tony Allen, Fela Kuti’s drummer.
May 5 - Hillard “Sweet Pea” Atkinson, soul singer, Was (Not Was). He was 74.
May 6 - Lloyd Cornelius Porter, Brooklyn actor and entrepreneur. Due to the coronavirus. Owned a bakery called Bread Stuy. Also the brother of jazz great Gregory Porter. He was 49.
May 8 - Andre Harrell, founder of Uptown Records. He was 59.
May 9 - Little Richard, “architect of rock and roll’ superstar. He was 87.
May 10 - Betty Wright, R&B singer best known for The Cleanup Woman. She was 66.
May 16 – Larry Aubry, community activist, Los Angeles Sentinel columnist. He was 86.
May 17 – Gregory Tyree Boyce, The actor, who played Tyler Crowley in Twilight, and his girlfriend, Natalie Adepoju.
May 17 - Judge “Lucky” Peterson, bluesman. He was 55.
May 21 - Marty McNeal, former Kings beat writer. He was 64.
May 19 – Wilson Roosevelt Jerman, the White House’s longest-serving employees (cleaner, doorman and butler). Due to the coronavirus. He was 91.
May 24 - Reginald Keith “Pepe” Brown, brilliant attorney, former child actor, my friend. He was 63.
May 24 - Jimmy Cobb, a legendary jazz drummer. He was 91.
May 25 – George Floyd, Minneapolis murder victim. He was 46.
JUNE
June 5 - Tyrone ‘The Bone” Proctor, Soul Train dancer. He was 66.
June 7 - Lynika Strozier, Field Museum Scientist. Due to the coronavirus. She was 35.
June 8 – Bonnie Pointer, singer was part of The Pointer Sisters. She was 69.
June 10 - Jas Waters, “This Is Us” writer. She was 39.
June 10 - Kimberly C. Roberts, entertainment reporter at Philadelphia Tribune. She was 63.
June 16 - Louie Patton, Side Effect singer, and co-founder. He was 71.
June 16 - Ola Mae Spinks, a retired librarian who helped organize 'Slave Narratives.' She was 106.
June 16 - Galyn Gorg, The Fresh Prince, RoboCop 2 and Twin Peaks actress, dancer, model. She was 55.
June 17 - Larome Powers, singer, songwriter. He was 67.
June 27 – Freddy Cole, an American jazz singer, and pianist. He is the brother of musicians Nat King Cole and Ike Cole. He was 88.
June 27 - Khari Parker, popular Chicago drummer. He was 46.
June 27 – Sandra Feva, singer. She was 73.
JULY
July 3 - Earl Cameron, Black pioneer in British film and television. He was 102.
July 5 – Sharon Paige, an R&B singer with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. She was 67.
July 8 – Naya Rivera, actress. She was 33.
July 10 - Eddie Gale, trumpeter. He was 78.
July 10 - Rev. Vickey Gibbs, Houston pastor, and activist. She was 57.
July 11 - Nicole Thea, YouTube star. Thea was pregnant at the time. She was 24.
July 13 – Zindzi Mandela, daughter of Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. She was 59.
July 17 – Rev. C.T. Vivian, Martin Luther King’s Field General. He was 95.
July 17 – John Lewis, civil rights icon and freedom fighter. He was 80.
July 22 - Charles Evers, civil rights activist, and brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers. He was 97.
July 26 - Mimi Jones, a civil rights activist in a historic St. Augustine swim-in. She was 73.
July 27 – Joseph B. Jefferson, songwriter “Mighty Love”. He was 77.
July 27 - Richard Wallace, singer, and guitarist, Mighty Clouds of Joy. He was 80.
July - Ben Vereen Jr., son of actor/dancer Ben Vereen. He was a dancer and choreographer. He was 55.
July 29 – Malik Abdul Basit, known as Malik B., a founding member of The Roots. He was 47.
July 30 – Herman Cain, businessman, and former presidential candidate. Due to the coronavirus. He was 74.
AUGUST
Aug. 6 - LaFayette Dorsey Jr., Nicholls State University basketball standout. He was 23.
Mel Swint, a.k.a. “Uncle Mel,” provided CSS Security Protection Services to Black music and the Hollywood entertainment industry. Due to the coronavirus.
Aug. 6 - Jack Carter, Fort Worth musician. He was 90.
Aug. 17 – Quinn ‘DJ Spicoli’Coleman, son of former BET CEO Debra Lee. He was senior director of A&R at Capitol Records. He was 31.
Aug. 22 - Producer and 70s soul singer, DeWayne Julius ‘D.J.’ Rogers. He was 72.
Aug. 27 – William Harbour, freedom rider and civil rights activist. He was 78.
Aug. 28 – Chadwick Boseman, actor, star of ‘Black Panther.’ He was 43.
Aug. 28 - Clarence Burke, Sr., ex-Chicago detective who managed his kids, The Five Stairsteps. He was 90.
Aug. 29 - Clifford Robinson, former Portland Trail Blazers star. He was 53.
Aug. 31 – John Thompson Jr., legendary Georgetown coach. He was 78.
SEPTEMBER
Sept. 2 - Mother Betty Price, ran Englewood soup kitchen.
Sept. 2 - Esther E. McCready, first African American admitted to University of Maryland School of Nursing. She was 89.
Sept. 4 - The Rev. Leon Finney Jr., a longtime power player in Chicago politics. He was 82.
Sept. 6 – Lou Brock, baseball Hall of Famer. He was 81.
Sept. 6 - Bruce Williamson, lead singer of the Temptations (2006-2015). He was 49.
Sept. 9 – Ronald ‘Khalis Bayyan’ Bell, co-founding member of Kool and the Gang. He was 68.
Sept. 11 - Danny Webster, singer/guitarist/composer of the band SLAVE. He was 60.
Sept. 11 – Frederick ‘Toots’ Hibbert, Reggae artist credited with naming the genre. He was 77.
Sept. 12 - Edna Wright, song stylist and former lead singer of the R&B group “Honey Cone.” She was 76.
Sept. 16 - Stanley Crouch, jazz critic. He was 74.
Sept. 18 –Pamela Rose Hutchinson, member of The Emotions. She was 61.
Sept. 18 – Georgia Dobbins Davis, an original member of The Marvelettes and the co-writer of their classic hit, “Please Mr. Postman.” She was 78.
Sept. 19 – Major George W. Biggs, Tuskegee Airman, and retired Air Force Major. He was 95.
Sept. Maudell ‘FXXXXY’ Watkins, Dallas rapper and producer. He was 25.
Sept. 20 - Robert S. Graetz, white minister who backed bus boycott. He was 92.
Sept. 23 – Gale Sayers, legendary Chicago Bears running back. He was 77.
OCTOBER
Oct. 2 - Sweet Lou Johnson, Los Angeles Dodgers legend. He was 86.
Oct. 2 - Bob Gibson, Hall of Famer and Cardinals legend. He was 84.
Oct. 3 - Thomas Jefferson Byrd, actor in Spike Lee films. Also a Tony Award-nominee for revival of August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” He was 70.
Oct. 4 – Armelia McQueen, ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’ actress. She was 68.
Oct. 6 – Johnny Nash, singer (I Can See Clearly Now). He was 80.
Oct. 12 - Joyce Dinkins, the wife of former New York Mayor David Dinkins. She was 90.
Oct. 15 - Dr. Irving Pressley, McPhail, president of Saint Augustine University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Due to coronavirus. He was 71.
Oct. 16 – Anthony Chisholm, stage, television, and film actor. Veteran of August Wilson’s plays, including Jitney, Two Trains Running, Radio Golf, and Gem of the Ocean. He was 77.
Oct. 26 – ‘Fast’ Eddie Johnson, two-time Atlanta Hawks NBA All-Star. He was 65.
Oct. 29 – David Rodriguez, producer, and director for “The Chi,” “Animal Kingdom” and “Chicago P.D.” He was 50.
NOVEMBER
Nov. 6 - King Von, rapper. He was 26.
Nov. 8 – Cliff Joseph, artist. He was 98.
Nov. 11 – Lawrence Clayton, Broadway actor and ‘Dreamgirls’ star. He was 64.
Nov. 12 – Jerry Rawlings, former president of Ghana. He was 73.
Nov. 13 - Terry Duerod, legendary Detroit basketball player and city firefighter. He was 64.
Nov. 16 – Ben Watkins, MasterChef Junior. He was 14.
Nov. 19 - Dr. Lloyd T. Bowser Jr., podiatrist. Due to coronavirus. He was 56
Nov. 21 – John C. White, NABJ founder, and journalist.
Nov. 23 – David Dinkins, New York City’s first Black mayor ( 1989). He was 93.
Nov. 28 - Othella Dallas, Keeper of Katherine Dunham’s Flame. Dancer, singer. She was 95.
DECEMBER
Dec. 2 – Rafer Johnson, Olympic Champion, sports icon. He was 86.
Dec. 4 – Ganxsta Ridd, real name Paul Devoux of the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. He was 52.
Dec. 7 – Natalie Desselle, ‘Eve’ and “B.A.P.S.’ actress. She was 53.
Dec. 7 – Lillie Fort, former Ray Charles Raelets singer. She was 78.
Dec. 9 - Marguerite Ray, the actress is best known for being the first Black character on The Young & The Restless. She was 89.
Dec. 10 – Carol Sutton, actress. She was 76. Due to the coronavirus.
Dec. 11 – Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister, actor best known for playing ‘Deebo’ in the ‘Friday’ franchise. He was 62.
Dec. 12 – Charley Pride, pioneering Black country music star. He was 86. Due to the coronavirus.
Dec. 12 – James Reynolds, former Detroit King head football coach. Winningest coach in PSL history. He was 75.
Dec. 18 - Adál Maldonado, a Puerto Rican photography pioneer, and master surrealist. He was 72.
Dec. 23 - John Fletcher, a.k.a. ‘Ecstasy’ vocalist and co-founder of the hip-hop group Whodini. He was 56.
Dec. 23 – John Outterbridge, a key figure in L.A.'s Black assemblage art movement. He was 87.
Dec. 25 - K.C. Jones, head coach of the Boston Celtics. He was 88.
Dec. 26 – Ty Jordan, Pac-12 running back from Utah. He was 19.
Dec. 29 - Joe Clark, baseball bat and bullhorn-wielding principal of Eastside High School in Paterson. He was 82.
Dec. 30 - Adolfo 'Shabba-Doo' Quinones, hip-hop dancer and 'Breakin' star. He was 65.
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