Remembering Don Cornelius: Chicagos Dean of Entertainment
Since Don Cornelius death was announced last week, the constant stream of public memorials and dedications from Chicago area fans and friends of the entertainment icon has been non-stop. After all, Cornelius, a Chicago native was the founder of one of the most noted television shows in Black culture, Soul Train, which originated out of Chicago. The Chicago Citizen caught up with some of the biggest names in entertainment, all from Chicago, to help recall the ingenuity of the fallen legend.
Carl Davis, legendary music producer who has worked with international superstars such as Curtis Mayfield, The Chi-Lites and Mary Wells, told the Chicago Citizen that Cornelius was a police officer when they first met. Davis owned a night club on 87th and Ashland in Chicago and said Cornelius would help him with booking the live entertainment for the establishment with acts including Jackie Wilson and Gladys Knight and the Pips.
There was a lot of entertainment going on, Davis told the Chicago Citizen. He would come by there with his company. When they would get ready to charge him, hed say, I know Carl Davis. Id let him in and get him a bottle of wine for his table, said Davis.
Davis also said that once Cornelius began at working at WVON he told him that he was putting together a pilot show for Soul Train.
I was working at Columbia Records at the CBS Building and I helped him get a sound stage so he could do his pilot show, said Davis.
Davis was saddened by the news of Cornelius passing and said he was a really good friend. Davis became worried about Cornelius, however, after seeing pictures of him at an event.
I wondered what was going on that he was so thin. I knew years ago he had an aneurism and they operated on his brain, Davis said. I heard later on that he had gotten married and his wife left. Maybe with all those things combined it got to him. I would like to think that they didnt but your health can make you do a lot of things you might not ordinarily do.
Ill remember him as a fantastic man, very intelligent. [He] actually saved the day for Black entertainment by creating that Soul Train show.
Marshall Thompson, of the soulful crooning group The Chi-Lites, was not only one of Cornelius running buddies, but also Cornelius launch Soul Train. The two had been friends since the 1960s. And when his WVON-AM disc jockey friend Cornelius decided to start Soul Train Thompson helped book talent for the show.
When he ran out of talent (for the show) he always called me to get him somebody. I always got him somebody but when I couldnt get anyone, I got the Chi-Lites. Thats why we played on there about nine times.
Thompson said he also called on singer Minnie Ripperton and the Impressions and encouraged them to appear on the show for Cornelius.
Doing the show was tough. Money was tight, but friendships and a will to help Cornelius and Soul Train succeed were even tighter.
We made it work, Thompson said.
Thompson said people travelled from all over the city dressed to impress the shows viewing audience, ready to boogie down on the show.
Thompson also remembers some of the first performerances which were taped downtown at WCIU television studio. Among the local talent; The Chi-Lites, Jerry Butler, the Emotions. We were the first to go down there and do his Soul Train show, Thompson explained.
Then Cornelius wanted to get the show syndicated. Thompson said he helped his friend shop the show around with Hollywood executives. Cornelius and his supporters corralled as many people as they could down to the television studio to create a video of the show to give to executives and before long Soul Train moved to the West Coast.
He and Cornelius kept in touch over the years. Though many in Chicago recall last seeing Cornelius when he was here last summer for the citys celebration of Soul Trains 40th anniversary, Thompson said the two of them hung out frequently with other mutual friends mostly at Los Angeles events.
News of Cornelius death came early in the morning. Thompson heard about it on a local television station. Then when word came that the Soul Train founders mortal wounds were self-inflicted, Thompson said he was skeptical but then reflected on how he knew his friend was grappling with personal strife.
People are going through what theyre going through in their private moment, he said. I was very, very disturbed about it (news of a suicide).
Why he chose to end his life in that way, nobody knows but him and God, Thompson said.
Cook County Commissioner and singer Jerry Butler said when he heard on the radio while driving to work that his friend had died and said he had to pull over on the side of the road and take a breather.
I met Don Cornelius in the mid- to late-60s when he was working at WVON. He was doing news and some stuff like that. And then I heard he was going to take over some little dance show at WCIU. So he called me up one day and asked me if I would come and do his show, Butler, also known as the Ice Man, told the Chicago Citizen.
He did the show and was part of the local pool of talent that helped Cornelius take the program to a national audience. Soul Train started in Chicago in 1971 and was initially taped at WCIU television station. Within two years the show was on a fast track that had it move to the West Coast and national television. Locally, the likes of the O-Jays, the Impressions and Al Green performed on the show. James Brown, Marvin Gaye and others appeared on the national program.
Butler said he gladly obliged his friend in appearing on the show, but he noted that being on Soul Train was a little awkward for me because I was a balladeer.
Butler said ballads didnt always go over well with the dancers on the show who preferred up-tempo tunes, he said. Still Butler boasts appearing on Soul Train (in both Chicago and Los Angeles) nearly a dozen times total.
What the commissioner didnt realize when he saw his friend last summer was just how affected Cornelius was by things going on in his life. Friends say he had some health issues, including suffering a stroke, and had recently been through a bitter divorce.
I knew when he was here for the 40-year tribute to Soul Train in Millennium Park that he didnt look well, but I didnt know that he was carrying that kind of load around, said Butler.
Another Chicago pal also recalled Cornelius not looking himself last summer.
Jerome Simmons was a Cornelius bosom buddy and an official photographer for Soul Train. He shot images for the show during the time it was taped in Chicago and for the first five months of its move to Los Angeles. The photographer was already pretty well-known in the local entertainment industry when Cornelius tapped him to take pictures for the show.
Entertainment was a small community in Chicago and therefore everybody was close-knit when Soul Train was founded, Simmons said.
He didnt get a chance to hang out with Cornelius during his visit here last summer. But Simmons could still tell something was a little off about him.
He wasnt a well person. He looked sick, the photographer said. When he was here he was wobbly and they were constantly watching him to make sure he didnt fall down.
Those in Cornelius friends circle express that they arent completely shocked that the former Chicago police officer and WVON radio news announcer took his own life.
He just couldnt deal with it anymore, Simmons added.
Cornelius stopped hosting Soul Train in 1993. The street outside WCIU was named in his honor last year. He is survived by two ex-wives and two sons.
Johnsons Products, a long-time sponsor of Soul Train, issued a statement on Cornelius death.
Eric Brown, CEO of Johnson Products Company said the news was a discouraging.
For us, it was a deep blow, because his company and our company, then led by Dons friend and mentor George Johnson, grew side-by-side with the advent of JPCs joint project Soul Train, the first nationally syndicated TV show for, by, about and sponsored by African-Americans, said Brown. The two companies made history together Don provided the content and taught America how to dance, while Johnson Products provided the sponsorship through our never before seen commercials featuring black beauty and black products. Many take it for granted because today it is quite common to see black reporters, show hosts, and actors/actresses in shows and commercials, but when Don Cornelius and Johnson Products started Soul Train, it was virtually unheard of.
It has been reported that Cornelius died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He had suffered from health problems, a difficult divorce, and had pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor spousal battery charge in 2009.
The music legend was born Sept. 27, 1936 in Chicago and raised on the citys South Side. He graduated from DuSable High School in 1954 and worked several jobsincluding being a Chicago police officer. Cornelius began his media career as an announcer at WVON. He then began to develop a pilot for a music show at WCIU-TV. In 1970, Soul Train hit the airwaves and a few years later the show gained national syndication and moved to Los Angeles.
Cornelius hosted the show until 1993, and continued working behind the scenes.
His innovative vision for Soul Train allowed Black artists to display their talents on a national stage. The show offered exposure for numerous musicians including James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and The Jackson 5.
Don Cornelius, was the quintessential Dean of Entertainment, the epitome of pure genius. May he rest in peace.
A local, public memorial is planned for him at the Museum of Broadcast Communications.
By Rhonda Gillespie and Thelma Sardin
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