The hearty baritone voice of the late Don CorneiIus is now silent. Cornelius, the man responsible for bringing Soul Train to the nation’s living rooms, is one of pioneering African Americans that people around the world have come to celebrate, particularly during Black History Month.
His vision to put a dance and performance-laden show on television that was largely comprised of black music artists, gave African Americans a chance to see a world they never knew existed.
Sure, African Americans got a chance to see big-time singers like Marvin Gaye, the Supremes, the Temptations, James Brown and Aretha Franklin on American Bandstand. But seeing those same artists and others perform on Soul Train was as big a highlight that African Americans could have hoped for.
They saw themselves looking good. They identified with the cool persona that exemplified the personalities they were watching on television.
Without Soul Train being their beacon outlet, so many black artists would have been left hanging in the wind when it came down to promoting their musical careers. Without the brilliance of Cornelius, who booked many unknown performers and groups, black music as we know it today would not have existed.
Cornelius and his Soul Train phenomenon opened the doors for many of these artists to have successful careers just by appearing on the show. Soul Train, which ran from 1971 to 2006, gave African Americans a sense of pride and culture identity. Coined the “hippest trip in America,” Soul Train paved the way for some of today’s music and dance-driven cultural TV channels such as MTV and BET.
The man with the deep-pitched voice and over-the-top Afro gave America a uniquely creative music and dance format that had never been seen before and hasn’t since. The uniqueness came from an all-black point of view on the music and dance creativity of African Americans. When someone mentions Soul Train it is hard for them not to mention the world famous Soul Train Line.
It can’t be duplicated, even though others have tried to mimic the popular choreographed dance routines put on by the Soul Train dancers. Cornelius and Soul Train gave us cool, funky soul and a self-assuredness that African Americans and others wanted to identify with. I started watching Soul Train in the late 1970s because I saw people who looked like me.
My brothers and sisters and I would gather around the family’s old color television every Saturday just so we could try to dance and imitate the cool-looking guys and fabulous to look at sisters.
If you missed out on the airing of Soul Train, you were missing out on the highlight of your week. Now the conductor of “Love, Peace and Soul,” has unceremoniously gone home after passing away from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. But the towering presence of Cornelius and Soul Train and what their contributions has meant to the music industry lingers around like a Kareem Abdul Jabbar sky hook. You can count on it being good.
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com
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