On August 2nd, in 1939, Edward Patten (right)-first cousin of Gladys Knight and the lead Pip vocalist for Gladys Knight & the Pips was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Patten and the rest of the group were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. They were the first Motown act to have a number one hit with the song ‘I Heard it Through the Grapevine’. Marvin Gaye reissued his version, and it also went to number 1. Patten had diabetes and was bound to a wheelchair from legs being amputated. He died in 2005 from a stroke in Livonia, Michigan. He’s buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan.
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On August 2nd, in 1949, “Fat” Larry James (center) of Fat Larry’s Band was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He assembled his own band in 1976. Before that, he was a session musician for The Delfonics and Blue Magic. His tracks have been sampled by a few notables like Run DMC, the Jungle Brothers, N.W.A., De La Soul and Ice-T. He died December 5th, 1987 in Philadelphia from a heart attack. His work ethic was high caliber. He put out nine albums with his band from 1976 to 1986. The band stopped recording after his death in ’87. He was 38.
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On August 2nd, in 1969, Jamaican born reggae singer Max Romeo (Maxwell Livingston Smith) AKA Adulfus Dulfile, The Son of Selassie, Maxie Smith, had a single called “Wet Dream” that was rising the UK singles chart. It gained a lot of street cred from its explicit lyrics. Romeo claimed the song was about a leaky roof, but the BBC and other radio stations disagreed and banned the song. As a result, its notoriety grew even more. Romeo was known for his risqué-sexual subject matter (like Blues, Rock, Punk & Hip Hop). He’s still alive today! S.O. to him for pushing the boundaries on freedom of speech.
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On August 2nd, in 1991, the Super Freak, Mary Jane’s lover, Mr. ‘It’s a celebration bitches!’, the man famous for saying: ‘Cocaine’s a powerful drug’-Rick James and his then girlfriend Tanya Hijazi, were arrested and charged with assault, false imprisonment, aggravated mayhem torture and forced oral copulation at his hillside home in Hollywood, California. Rick was released on $1 million bail. As the story goes, a woman staying with them (crackhead) brought the charges against the couple. Rick would go to jail for this one.
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For more information on any musician or event reviewed in posts, or for additional information on The Wandering Eyes Blog overall, use the search bar and search the artist or event using keywords. It’s like a Google search for the site. A wide variety of information, covering several topics exists on this site going back to 2013 when it was created. PEACE
Honorable Mention: On August 2nd, in 2017, an original pioneering emcee-Kidd Creole (Nathaniel Glover) was arrested for attempted murder. He stabbed a homeless man that he thought was making sexual advances towards him, fatally injuring the man. He was a founding member of Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007 (1st Hip Hop group to do so). He also did work under ‘Kidd Creole & the Coconuts’-a collaboration group with Dr. Buzzard’s Savannah Band. The Bronx native is most known for “The Message”, one of the first socially conscious Hip Hop songs.
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