News — brooklyn

Beginning as the Chesters in 1957, Little Anthony and the Imperials are a legendary Doo-Wop rhythm and blues/soul vocal ensemble founded in Brooklyn, New York by tenor Clarence Collins, Countertenor/Falsetto and principal singer Jerome Anthony “Little Anthony” Gourdine, Ernest Wright, bass Glouster “Nate” Rogers, and tenor Tracey Lord. The teenage boys were born in the early 1940s and attended Boys’ High School in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn.

The group changed its name in 1958 and began producing a string of chart hits, including their first hit, “Tears On My Pillow” (1958) on the End label. It entered Billboard’s Top 100 chart and peaked at #4, spent 19 weeks on the Top 100. It also reached #2 on Billboard’s R&B Singles chart selling more than one million copies. The flip side of the record, “Two Kinds of People,” also became a hit as well.

The ensemble briefly separated in 1961 but reunited in 1963. In 1964 they released, “I’m on the Outside Looking In” which was a Billboard Top 20 Pop hit, peaking at # 15. During that same year, “Goin’ Out of My Head” entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #75 and peaked #6. Additionally, the song peaked at #8 on Cashbox magazine’s R&B chart.

In 1965, Little Anthony and the Imperials released another hit, “Hurts So Bad.” This single entered Billboard’s Hot Top 100 chart and peaked at #10 for one week before spending eight additional weeks in the Top 100. It also reached #3 on Billboard’s R&B Singles chart.

A decade later, in 1975, Little Anthony and the Imperials released the album Hold On on Avco’s label. While the musical composition was appealing, it was not a financial success.

In 1993, Little Anthony and the Imperials were awarded the Rhythm and Blues Foundation’s Pioneer Award. Six years later in 1999 they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. They were inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2006. The following year, 2007, they were inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame. In 2009, Little Anthony and the Imperials were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In 2008 the ensemble released the album You’ll Never Know and performed on the Late Show with David Letterman. However, Tracey Lord, one of the original members, died on March 19, 2008, at 68. 

As of 2021, all of the still living original members of Little Anthony and the Imperials are in their eighties with plans to perform at the Willwood Convention Center in Willwood, New Jersey, on October 16, 2021.

A 29-year-old New York man who was arrested for allegedly attacking women unprovoked at a subway stop in Brooklyn is facing a 52-count indictment and could be sentenced to up to life behind bars if found guilty.

According to New York Post, Khari Covington allegedly attacked five women at the Morgan Avenue subway station somewhere between November and January. He also allegedly assaulted two other women around the vicinity on August 5 and January 4 respectively. Covington faces a slew of charges including burglary as a hate crime, strangulation as a hate crime and assault as a hate crime. Asked about the motive behind his attacks, Covington allegedly told investigators he targeted the women because they were light-skinned.

“This defendant’s alleged violent and unprovoked attacks endangered the women he targeted and caused widespread fear in the community,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement on Wednesday. “I am committed to prosecuting all hate crimes where victims, including as alleged in this case, are targeted because of their gender, skin color or race.”

One of the victims who earlier spoke to the news outlet condemned the police for not doing enough to warn women of Covington’s unprovoked attacks at the subway when they got to know about the pattern.

“I was stunned that this had happened so many times. I didn’t see any police stationed there. There were no flyers,” Bianca Fortis said in January. “There’s not enough security. After it happened the first time, or certainly the second, there should have been more information. Even just a flyer saying be on alert.”

Elizabeth Wakefield, another victim, also narrated her ordeal to NBC New York, saying: “He was coming down behind me, and he must have — from the angle and from what I’ve gathered — kicked me in the side of the face and head from behind. My immediate thought after it happened to me was, I really hope this doesn’t happen again to somebody else.”

And though police did not confirm to NBC New York if the attack on Wakefield was connected to the other incidents, she said it was possible Covington was behind them following conversations she had with the other victims.

“It sounds like similar descriptions of what he looked like and pretty much the exact same style of attack, and the same exact subway stop,” Wakefield said.

Covington was arraigned in court on Wednesday and his bail was continued at $150,000.

A Brooklyn 7th grader, Grace Moore, has become one of the youngest composers to create original music for the famous symphony orchestra, the New York Philharmonic. The orchestra performed the piece on the streets of New York last month.

Moore composed the piece for the orchestra as part of efforts by the music group to introduce original composing to a broader spectrum of people including children.

The 12-year-old is part of the Very Young Composers program, an initiative by the New York Philharmonic which teaches children as little as age eight how to create music. Moore is very excited for the opportunity to create music for the esteemed symphony orchestra.

She said she has not seen many people like her composing for the orchestra. “I haven’t really seen many people who look like me on stage,” she told CBS News.  It’s her hope that her achievement will bring aboard more people of color into this genre of music.

“She was very excited about the fact that she could represent as a Black female composer and also such a young person,”, Clara Stewart Moore, her mother added. 

According to Philharmonic President Deborah Borda, the Very Young Performers program is an initiative to expose as many new people as possible to classical music irrespective of their age, class or color.

Times have changed and many institutions have had to adjust their modus operandi which includes the New York Philharmonic. The coronavirus health and safety measures have prevented the group from performing inside the Lincoln Center.

To keep the music alive, the Philharmonic’s “Bandwagon Series” was introduced so musicians and opera singers get to perform from pick up trucks.

Moore’s debut performance with the orchestra was in October near the Brooklyn Bridge and in front of Lincoln Center. Not only did they play her music, but she also directed the group from start to finish.  

“Music is universal,” Moore said. “It doesn’t matter where you are or where you’re from or what language you speak. Everyone can understand it.”

A lot of New Yorkers were able to enjoy the performances from their balconies and Moore had the opportunity of a lifetime to share her talent with the world regardless of the new normal imposed by the pandemic.

There have been a lot of conversations within recent years about how Black entrepreneurs have been shut out of the market when it comes to beauty stores and wholesale. However, there have been a few that have managed to bypass traditional roadblocks and secure commercial spaces to open stores in their local neighborhoods. One young teenager living in Brooklyn managed to achieve her goal and make history at the same time.

Paris McKenzie is the owner of Paris Beauty Supplyz, a Brooklyn-based beauty supply store. The teenager became a viral sensation on social media after announcing the opening of her shop with thousands of retweets and comments of support. McKenzie credits her mother, Senica Thompson, for working with her and letting her observe how she ran her own business from childhood.

“I do have a lot of business experience. I’ve been helping my mom run her business since I was very, very young. So I know how to handle finances and how to market products in the store,” McKenzie told CBS2 about the venture. “I had enough money saved to invest in this.”

The young entrepreneur says that she still tries to enjoy moments of being a normal teenager with friends and learning to balance between time with her girlfriends and running a business full-time, hoping to inspire the next generation of young female business owners. “I don’t really have any more free time, but when I do, I try to go out with my friends,” added McKenzie. “Walking in here every morning, it makes me feel awesome.”

Via: Black Enterprise