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Bob Marley.Heilemann/Camera Press/Redux
Reggae legendBob Marley, who died in 1981 at age 36, was Jamaica’s greatest musical export. Seven of his 11 children followed him into music, including Stephen Marley, 49, an eight-time Grammy-winning producer and musician.
My father’s music was his greatest gift as an artist. It has always and will continue to bring many people together from around the globe and from all walks of life. The music and his words have remained relevant to the times in which we are living — listen to “400 Years” and think about what’s happening today. He made timeless music and represented a way of life that has inspired people to be better, be stronger and be more conscious. My father was a superhero dad. He could be mild mannered one minute, and the next minute, he’s off saving the world. I try to honor him every day.
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Harry Belafonte Adrienne Belafonte and Shari Belafonte.Martha Holmes/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
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Donna Summer.Harry Langdon/Getty
My mother was known as the Disco Queen. She was like, “Hey it’s great to be the queen of something.” However, her music transcended disco. She won five Grammys in four different musical categories. She was theBeyoncéof her time. The dance floor in the ’70s and ’80s was the great equalizer. Her music brought people together: Black, white, Latino, gay, straight, men, women. She grew up in a time where it was really tough being a Black woman. But she taught me and my sisters to only look forward. Through her life experiences and her voice, she was able to touch people in a way where they felt loved and accepted, regardless of who they were.
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Martin Luther King III, Martin Luther King Jr. and Yolanda King.Marvin Koner/Corbis/Getty
Nobel Peace Prize winnerMartin Luther King Jr.was assassinated in 1968 at age 39. Human rights activist Martin Luther King III, 64, is the second of his four children.
I remember our father being so loving. Dad was fun. He was like our buddy, like our playmate. I remember one time, him coming up the steps as we looked out of the window to see him. It was amazing to see the transformation. As he was coming up the stairs, he seemed to be pulling 100-pound iron weights on his legs. He was exhausted. But as soon as he saw us, an exhilaration came over him, because we were so excited to see him: “Daddy’s home! Daddy’s home!” When he got up to the top of the stairs and the door was open, a renewed energy came across him.
I hope that he would be proud of the fact that our family is still engaged. I’m sure he’d be proud of his granddaughter [Yolanda, 13]. She says, “I want to continue in my grandfather’s and grandmother’s footsteps, but I want to create my own footsteps.” It’s in her DNA.
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Muhammad Ali and Laila Ali.Paul Harris/Online USA, Inc.
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The Jacksons.John Olson/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The foundation of our family is being kind to others, and I’m so thankful for that. It’s one of the things that I think helped differentiate us, and that stems from my grandmother Katherine. We’ve had our stones thrown at us, and she has always been a place of safety and a place of stability, and that gives you an inner rhythm of calmness that I think has been able to help us get through. Her strength was focusing on character and love. That balance has been a baseline for all of us.
I’m proud of my family. When Black people talk about my family, there’s joy and excitement — there’s an underlying message about the impact my family has had. That’s something my grandparents, my father, my uncles and aunts have been very humble about. They just wanted us, the second generation, to be respectful and to believe in ourselves.
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To my two sisters and me, our parents were our heroes. From my mom, I learned focus and drive. From my dad, I learned how to be strong enough to be gentle. From both of them, I learned that the people who come to see me entertain deserve every bit of integrity and energy I’ve got.
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Audre Lorde.Jack Mitchell/Getty
Poet and LGBT activist Audre Lorde was one of the most prominent Black feminists of the ’60s ,’70s, and ’80s and the author of 15 books, including 1980’sThe Cancer Journalsand 1984’sSister Outsider. She died of breast cancer in 1992 at age 58. Her daughter, Dr. Elizabeth Lorde-Rollins, 58, is a New York-based OB-GYN.
There wasn’t a single place that my mom traveled that she didn’t home in on the most marginalized populations in that area — women championing women’s rights, gay folks championing gay rights. I think she’d be very pleased that her words have become the rallying cry for LGBT folks fighting against people being beaten in the street and killed on their way home, and that her words are on the lips of the warriors of the Black Lives Matter movement.
She had so many identities, but I always considered “mother” her primary identity, because that’s who she was to me. I didn’t really understand how big she was in the world in terms of being a poet and a writer until I was 16 and started to read her work. She sent me to San Francisco for the summer, and I had the luxury of distance. Reading her books really changed the way I saw my mother. She belongs to the canon of American poets, in the same way Adrienne Rich belongs to the canon of American poets, in the same way Gwendolyn Brooks belongs to the canon of American poets. Her work is going to continue to reverberate as long as there is oppression and activity against it. Her words are going to continue to be used, and that’s what she wanted most of all.
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Isaac Hayes.Anthony Barboza/Getty
A Best Original Song Oscar winner for his 1971 smash “Theme from Shaft,“Isaac Hayes, who died in 2008 at age 65, became a star to a new generation with his role as Chef onSouth Park.His namesake son, 45, one of the late superstar’s 14 children, is a record producer, voice-over artist and tech CEO.
My dad promoted standing in your Blackness and being authentic to who you are. He was a trailblazer in fashion and culture: a Black man with a bald head and a beard, with gold chains and his shirt off, flamboyant with his clothes. I think that had an impact on the perception of Black male strength and sexuality. He was the inventor of modern R&B. Before him, you never heard really heavy drums and organs and bass guitars mixed with flutes and strings. You don’t think of these lush orchestral arrangements as not being Black anymore, but before Isaac Hayes, they weren’t Black. That was classical music. That was white music. Black people didn’t do strings and orchestras and all that kind of stuff. He definitely broke the mold.
As a dad, he was a disciplinarian, very strict on education, knowledge, but also manners — being respectful to people: “Yes, sir. Yes, ma’am. Thank you, sir. Thank you, ma’am.” His work ethic was probably the most influential thing. It was a work ethic I hadn’t seen before. I’ve always had that in my mind as I work and build things. That’s probably one of the biggest influences he had on me.
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Whitney Houston and Cissy Houston.Timothy White/Trunk
A Grammy-winning singer,Cissy Houston, 88, grew up in a musical family. She and her siblings — including Lee Drinkard,Dionne Warwick’s mom — formed the groundbreaking gospel group the Drinkard Singers in the late fifties. Cissy’s daughter,Whitney Houston, who died in 2012 at age 48, was a global superstar, and her niece Dionne Warwick, 81, is a five-time Grammy winner.
The voice, the dedication — she had a presence that is still very much with us. I come from a family where we understand our purpose: to connect with people on a level that everyone understands. Opera superstar Leontyne Price, 95, is a cousin on my mother’s side. When I heard her singAida, it was overwhelming. Oh my God, I’m related to you? She carried that legacy the same way Whitney did. And now with my sons David, 53, a songwriter, and Damon, 48, a music producer, all this talent is bursting out of my babies. And the beat goes on.
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Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
Nat King Cole, who died of lung cancer in 1965 at age 45, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. His five children include the late Grammy-winning singer Natalie Cole and twin daughtersCasey and Timolin Cole, 60, who establishedNat King Cole Generation Hope, Inc., to provide music education to underserved children.
The holidays are a particularly sentimental time, and for us, they start when we hear “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire).” We get both excited and sad when we hear it. Mom used to say the holiday season was the happiest time of year because it was guaranteed that dad would be home with us. His voice continues to be the gift that keeps on giving. Of course, it was our sister Natalie who reintroduced him to a new generation with the “Unforgettable” duet in 1991. We will never forget the emotional experience of hearing that for the first time. It’s hard not to shed a tear every time we hear it.
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The Emmy- and Grammy-winner who influenced several generations of comedians, died in 2005 at age 65. His daughter Rain, 52, is an actress and comic.
Richard Pryorwas a truth teller — he paved the way, he’s the reason we haveKevin Harts andDave Chappelles. But my father was very humble about who he was and what he meant to other people. It always shocked him if someone recognized him. In his latter years when he had MS, he was in a wheelchair, and a Vietnam vet approached him and said what his comedy meant while the guys were in the trenches. That really touched my dad. He looked at me and said, “I didn’t know I meant that much to people.”
He wasn’t just a Black comedian. He was everyone’s comedian. We heard it all the time from whites, Blacks, Asians: “Your dad was so funny. Your dad was a genius.” I was always close to Daddy. I was a daddy’s girl. I never saw him as Richard Pryor until I was older. He was just a dad. Was he good at it? Sometimes, no, he wasn’t. But he was mine.
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Ethel Waters.Movie Star News/Zuma
My father was a jazz musician, so she directly influenced him. When I was eight years old, I started going on tour with my father every summer, and all he had were jazz albums, including her music. That’s all I’d listen to. Her biggest influence in my life was the jazz singing she passed down to me.
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Jesse L. Jackson.Mark Mann
Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, 80, was the first Black person to run a national presidential campaign (in 1984 and 1988) and win state primaries and caucuses. His daughter Santita, 58, the oldest of his six children, is a singer, television personalityand radio producer and host.
I was so excited that my father was there. He said, “I can’t believe I’ve been so privileged to see this, because Martin [Luther King Jr.] didn’t get a chance to see his daughter go to prom. Malcolm [X] didn’t do that. Medgar [Evers] didn’t. I can’t believe that God has blessed me to see this moment.”
source: people.com
