Black Celebrity Birthdays Blog

Born:  December 9, 1987 Place of Birth:  Millen, GA Zodiac Sign:  Sagittarius  Kountry Wayne (born Wayne Colley) is an American comedian, actor, and content creator. Wayne is known for his digital sketches featuring original characters and cameos from actors, music artists, and athletes, including Ludacris, Mike Epps, and Lamar Odom. Wayne released his first book, Help Is On the Way: Stay Up and Live Your Truth, in April 2023. The foreword was written by actor and comedian Cedric the Entertainer. Wayne made his television debut in September 2018 on MTV's battle rap improv television series Wild 'N Out, created and hosted by Nick Cannon. He starred in the BET original Christmas movie Holiday Heartbreak, released December 16, 2020. Wayne executive produced and starred in the comedy feature film Strange Love, which premiered on Amazon Prime on February 14, 2022. In April 2023, he portrayed Painted Duck DJ in the Peacock original film Praise This, pro...

  Born:  December 8, 1976 Place of Birth:  Virginia Beach, VA Zodiac Sign:  Sagittarius Jarvis W. George is an American actor known for his work in Dave (2020), A.P. Bio (2018), Desperate Housewives (2012), and The Wire (2002).

  Born:  December 7, 1963 Place of Birth:  Greensboro, NC Zodiac Sign:  Sagittarius Barbara Weathers is an American R&B/soul singer and former R&B vocal group Atlantic Starr lead singer. Weathers joined up at 13 with an R&B band known as Covacus. This band was from her native area of Greensboro, North Carolina. In 1984, she left Covacus to join Atlantic Starr, replacing female co-lead singer Sharon Bryant, who had embarked upon a solo career. Weathers' arrival heralded a new era of mainstream success for Atlantic Starr, beginning with her debut on the 1985 album As the Band Turns. A song from the album, "Secret Lovers," reached No. 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (becoming the band's first major Hot 100 hit), No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary Songs chart, and No. 4 on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart. The album spun off four additional top-40 singles on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart, including two other top tens- the debut single "Frea...

  Born:  December 7, 1972 Place of Birth:  Houston, TX Zodiac Sign:  Sagittarius Kimberly Hébert Gregory is an American actress. She began her career in theatre before her breakthrough role as Dr. Belinda Brown in the HBO comedy series Vice Principals in 2016. Kimberly Hébert graduated from The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in her native Houston. She was educated at Mount Holyoke College where she received a BA in Psychology, and at the University of Chicago where she was awarded her Master's degree in Social Work. She also spent a quarter at DePaul University in the school's MFA program. She was married to Chester Gregory with whom she has a son, but the couple since divorced. She appeared in a number of Chicago Theatre Company productions as of late 1990s. She received a Joseph Jefferson Award nomination for performance in Shakin' the Mess Outta Misery. In 2012, Hébert Gregory was nominated for Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress...

  Born:  December 6, 1961 Place of Birth:  North Miami Beach, FL Zodiac Sign:  Sagittarius  Eugene Wilde (born Ronald Eugene Broomfield) is an American R&B singer who had two No. 1 hits on the US Billboard R&B charts in the 1980s. Broomfield was born in North Miami Beach, Florida, and raised in Miami. He grew up in a family group, La Voyage, playing in local clubs. In the 1970s, the group became Tight Connection, later known as Simplicious. Broomfield also recorded an album with Curtom Records in 1979 as a Today, Tomorrow, Forever member. On learning Broomfield's middle name was Eugene, his manager insisted that he go by that name professionally; the last name was inspired by Broomfield seeing an advertisement for a New York club named Wildflower's. In 1984, Eugene Wilde joined Philly World Records and wrote and recorded his first hit, "Gotta Get You Home Tonight." It rose to No. 1 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and also made No. 18 on th...

  Born:  December 6, 1964 Place of Birth:  Queens, NY Zodiac Sign:  Sagittarius Joyce Melissa Morgan (usually spelled Meli'sa; born December 6, 1964) is an American R&B/Soul songwriter. Morgan had a string of urban contemporary hits from the mid–1980s to the mid–1990s. Most notable include her cover version of Prince's "Do Me, Baby" (1985), "Do You Still Love Me" (1986) and "Still in Love with You" (1992). Her initial chart entry was as the lead singer of the dance group Shades of Love. They had a single access at #26 on Billboard magazine's Hot Dance Club Play chart in 1982 with "Body to Body (Keep in Touch)." This was re-popularized in 1994 by new remixes and reached number 1 on the same chart. That same year, music entrepreneur Jacques Fred Petrus asked her to join his newly created studio group, High Fashion, which featured Morgan and two other New York vocalists, Eric McClinton and Alyson Williams. High Fashion's sole hit...

  Born:  December 5, 1870 Place of Birth:  Jenks Branch, Texas, U.S. Died:  April 2, 1932 Zodiac Sign:  Sagittarius Willie M. Pickett was an American cowboy, rodeo performer, and actor. In 1989, Pickett was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. Pickett was born in the Jenks Branch community of Williamson County, Texas, in 1870. (Jenks Branch, also known as the Miller Community, is in western Williamson County, five miles southeast of Liberty Hill, and near the Travis County line.) He was the second of 13 children born to Thomas Jefferson Pickett, a former enslaved man, and Mary "Janie" Gilbert. Pickett had four brothers and eight sisters. The family's ancestry was African-American and Cherokee. By 1888, the family had moved to Taylor, Texas. In 1890, Pickett married Maggie Turner, the formerly enslaved daughter of a white southern plantation owner. The couple had nine children. Pickett left school in the fifth grade to become a ranch hand; he s...

  Born:  December 2, 1947 Place of Birth:  Philadelphia, PA Zodiac Sign:  Sagittarius Valerie Holiday is the longest-serving Degree with almost 56 years of continuous service to her name. Helen Scott is the only active member during the Swan Records era.  The Three Degrees is an American female vocal group formed circa 1963 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Although 16 women have been members, the group has always been a trio. The current line-up comprises Valerie Holiday, Helen Scott, and Freddie Pool. Tabitha King is filling in for Helen Scott, who suffers from coronavirus. The group succeeded in the UK, achieving 13 Top 50 hit singles between 1974 and 1985. The original members were Fayette Pinkney, Shirley Porter, and Linda Turner. Janet Harmon, Helen Scott, Sheila Ferguson, and Valerie Holiday eventually replaced Porter and Turner. The line-up from 1967 to 1976 was Pinkney, Valerie Holiday, and Sheila Ferguson, who would go on to sing lead on most of the...

Born:  November 30, 1953 Place of Birth:  Oakland, CA Died:  April 11, 2006 Zodiac Sign:  Sagittarius June Antoinette Pointer was an American singer best known as the youngest of the founding members of the Pointer Sisters vocal group. Born the youngest of six children to minister parents Reverend Elton and Sarah Pointer, June shared a love of singing with her sisters. In 1969, she and her sister Bonnie founded the Pointers. The duo sang at numerous clubs, then became a trio later that year when sister Anita quit her job as a secretary to join them. The group officially changed its name to the Pointer Sisters. The trio signed a record deal with Atlantic Records and released a few singles, none of which substantially impacted the music charts. In 1972, sister Ruth joined the group, making it a quartet. The sisters then signed with Blue Thumb Records, and their careers began to take off. Releasing their self-titled debut album in 1973, the Pointer Sisters fou...

Born:  November 30, 1953 Place of Birth:  Los Angeles, CA Zodiac Sign:  Sagittarius Johnny Shuggie Otis (born Johnny Alexander Veliotes Jr.) is an American singer-songwriter, recording artist, and multi-instrumentalist. Otis's composition "Strawberry Letter 23," as recorded by The Brothers Johnson, topped the Billboard R&B chart and reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1977. He achieved commercial success with his 1974 single "Inspiration Information" (from the album of the same title), reaching #56 on the R&B chart. Born in Los Angeles, California, Otis is the son of rhythm and blues musician, bandleader, and impresario Johnny Otis, who was of Greek descent, and his wife, Phyllis Walker, who was of African American and Filipino descent. The name "Shuggie" (short for "sugar," according to his mother) was coined by Phyllis when he was a newborn. Otis began playing guitar when he was two years old and performing professionally w...

Born:  November 30, 1912 Place of Birth:  Fort Scott, KS Died:  March 7, 2006 Zodiac Sign:  Sagittarius  Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks was an American photographer, composer, author, poet, and film director, who became prominent in U.S. documentary photojournalism in the 1940s through 1970s—particularly in issues of civil rights, poverty and African Americans—and in glamour photography. He is best remembered for his iconic photos of poor Americans during the 1940s (taken for a federal government project), for his photographic essays for Life magazine, and as the director of the films Shaft, Shaft's Big Score and the semiautobiographical The Learning Tree. Parks was one of the first black American filmmakers to direct films within the Hollywood system, developing films relating the experience of slaves and struggling black Americans, and helping create the "blaxploitation" genre. The National Film Registry citation mentions it as "the first...

  Born:  November 29, 1963 Place of Birth:  Brooklyn, NY Zodiac Sign:  Sagittarius Wilfred "Will" Downing is an American singer and songwriter. He is married to singer Audrey Wheeler, a R&B group Unlimited Touch member. Downing enrolled in Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, New York. Alumni of the school include record label executives Clive Davis (who founded Arista Records), Kedar Massenburg (who later became president of Motown), Stephanie Mills, and singer Barbra Streisand. Downing, who eventually recorded for Motown, graduated with Massenburg in the class of 1981. Downing then attended college at Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia. In the mid-1980s, he moved back to New York City. He worked on albums by Mariah Carey, The O'Jays, Billy Joel, Gerald Albright, Billy Ocean, Regina Belle, Rachelle Ferrell, and Mica Paris. Later, he sang with Arthur Baker's Wally 'Jump' Junior group. Downing then used Baker as a producer after he signed with...

  Born:  November 29, 1984 Place of Birth:  Washington, DC Zodiac Sign:  Sagittarius Nahum Thorton Grymes, J. Holiday, is an American R&B singer and rapper. He became prominent in 2007 with his breakthrough hit "Bed", peaking at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100. His debut album, Back of My Lac', was released in October 2007 and peaked at number 5 on the US Billboard 200. The album would also hit number 32 in the United Kingdom. Back of My Lac' has sold just over 700,000 copies worldwide. His second album, Round 2, was released on March 10, 2009. It peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 and contains only one single, "It's Yours." After label changes and several release delays, Holiday's third album, Guilty Conscience, was released in January 2014. It peaked at number 42 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart, making it his lowest charting album in that entry. He released his fourth studio album, Time, on February 7, 2022. Nahom Thorto...

  Ernest Harden, Jr Born:  November 25, 1952  Place of Birth:  Detroit, MI Zodiac Sign:  Sagittarius  Ernest Harden Jr. is an actor known for Good Times, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, White Men Can't Jump, Hollywood Homicide, and Three Days of the Condor.

Born:  November 25, 1950 Place of Birth:  Kinston, NC Zodiac Sign:  Sagittarius  Jocelyn Lorette Brown, aka Jocelyn Shaw, is an American R&B and dance singer. Although she has only one Billboard Hot 100 chart entry solely in her name, she has an extensive background in the music industry and is well known in the world of dance music. Brown sang on 23 hit singles from the Official UK Singles Chart, 8 of which have reached the top 20. Brown was born into a musical family in Kinston, North Carolina on November 25, 1950. Her aunt, Barbara Roy, was a singer in the female group Ecstasy, Passion & Pain, while her mother, two aunts, cousin, and grandmother were all accomplished singers. She spent her pre-school years being looked after by her grandmother in Kinston. However, it was her aunt's musical success that gave her the inspiration to become a singer herself. She began singing with gospel choirs in the church in Brooklyn and became a favorite soloist in Wa...

  Born:  November 25, 1966 Place of Birth:  Washington, D.C. Zodiac Sign:  Sagittarius  Stacy Lattisaw Jackson is an American R&B singer from Washington, D.C. The 1979 song "Ring My Bell" was initially written for then-twelve-year-old Lattisaw as a teenybopper song about kids talking on the telephone. When Lattisaw signed with a different label, Anita Ward was asked to sing it instead, and it became Ward's only major hit. Lattisaw recorded her first album for Cotillion Records at the age of 12 in 1979, under the direction of record producer Van McCoy. However, it was only when she affiliated with Narada Michael Walden, a former drummer with the Mahavishnu Orchestra who was just beginning a career as a producer, that she found more significant success. Under Walden's direction, she scored several R&B hit albums between 1981 and 1986. She also opened for the Jacksons' Triumph Tour in 1981. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Lattisaw had several US...

 Born:  November 23, 1949 Place of Birth:  Kingston, Jamaica Zodiac Sign:  Sagittarius  Marcia Llyneth Griffiths OJ OD is a Jamaican singer.  Griffiths started her career in 1964, performing on stage with Byron Lee and the Dragonaires at the behest of Phillip James of The Blues Busters, who had heard her singing in her home neighborhood. Her performance was sufficiently impressive that Ronnie Nasralla and Clement Dodd offered her recording contracts the following day. She chose to record for Dodd's Studio One label, where she recorded a series of duets with male singers such as Tony Gregory ("You're Mine"), Bob Marley ("Oh My Darling"), Jeff Dixon ("Words"), and Bob Andy ("Always Together"), with whom she would have a relationship lasting several years. In 1968, she had her first success as a solo artist with "Feel Like Jumping", which, like her other early Studio One solo hits (including "Truly" and "Melody Life...