MORE WELL-LOVED ICONS AND SPOUSES ENTERING HEAVEN

Last Saturday, we lost Comedy King Bernie Mac to pneumonia. The following day, we lost soul pioneer and actor Issac Hayes, and Reverand Wiley Burton, the husband of Grammy Award winning Jazz legend and songstress Nancy Wilson. Hayes was found unconsciouss near his treadmill by his cousin in his Memphis home, and was later pronounced dead an hour later at Baptist East Hospital. The singer had died from a stroke. While he was an iconic figure to many, to us he was husband, father and friend. We will ever miss his love, wisdom, humor and the familiar comfort of his voice" his family said in a press statement. Hayes was a Soul music pioneer, who's music and smooth sexy baritone voice laid down the music foundation that would later become urban comtemporary music, that many aritsts would emulate and sample. He also made history by becoming the first Black artist to win an Oscar for hit top charting single "Shaft" which feature the famous line 'he's a bad..shut yo mouth. Hayes had penned songs for the Soul duo Sam & Dave, who scored with the R&B top charter "Hold On, I'm Coming" and "Soul Man" as well as Dionne Warwick's 1979 comeback hit "Dejavu." Prior to working with Warwick, he had recorded a funky version of her classic "Walk on By" which has been sampled by many artists including The Sounds of Blackness and Alicia Keys, who sampled the song for her version of the Gladys Knight & The Pips classic "If I Was Your Woman."
A memorial will be held Monday at Hope Presbyterian Church in Cordova, Tennessee.
Services were held on August 8 for Wilson's late husband had died seven days earlier after a long and brave battle with renel cancer. Burton was a Presbyterian Minister, who in addition to pastoring his chruch had wrote a best selling book titled "Divided We Stand." He had met the legendary songstress backstage at her concert in Pittsburg, and married shorty after and became the parents of three children. "I continue to receive an outpouring of love and support not only from family and friends, but from fans all over the world" Wilson wrote on her offical website. This message is to all of you who have sent well-wishes and prayers my way. I have always known your love and I am so grateful that you have kept me in your hearts these many years."