Tag Archives: Berry Gordy

Berry Gordy’s son, Redfoo, and his nephew/group member, SkyBlu, were probably letting out a sigh of relief win they won their legal battle with rapper, Rick Ross a few years ago. On the other side, Rick Ross lost out on his big opportunity to come out on top, much like Marvin Gaye’s kids did against Pharrell and Robin Thicke. Ross could have been millions of dollars richer than he is right now, had he played his cards right and had his paperwork in order, but things just didn’t work out that way for him.

Ross sued the famous group, LMFAO, which includes Berry Gordy’s son and grandson, SkyBlu, because he said they bit his 2006 hit, “Everyday I’m Hustlin'” with their 2011 hit, “Party Rock Anthem.” The problem that Ross pointed out is that the hooks for both songs are similar- Ross’ hook included the phrase “Everyday I’m hustlin’ and LMFAO’s hook included the phrase, “Everyday I’m shufflin.'”

This possibly could have been an easy win for Ross, but Ross slipped up with his copyright protection. The judge threw Ross’ case out after looking over his paperwork and determining that Ross actually had no copyright protection at all and here’s why: Ross had three different copyright applications and every last one of them were ‘inconsistent and incomplete!’ What the…?!! How in the world did Rick Ross and/or his team manage to get a simple copyright application wrong not on one, but THREE occasions?!!

Don’t get me wrong, we all make mistakes, but I tell ya, sometimes certain mistakes are so crazy and avoidable that the plaintiff almost doesn’t even deserve to get what they rightfully deserve for being so careless…almost.

Ah well, so much for that one Rick Ross, I’m sure the ’80s drug kingpin, “Freeway” Rick Ross, who sued you and loss after you borrowed his name is jumping for joy right about now.

When talking about a masterpiece like Lady Sings The Blues, it’s easy to get caught up in the actual story of the life of iconic jazz great, Billie Holiday. But oftentimes, the stories of what happened behind the scenes of the film are usually just as intriguing.

In researching this film, we found out that one of those stories, in particular, came directly from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Billy Dee Williams revealed an interesting tidbit of info about a few tense, awkward moments between himself, Diana, and Berry Gordy during filming. Maybe you can already tell where we’re going with this, but let’s continue.

Remember how Billy Dee’s character, “Louis McKay,” was deeply in love with Diana’s character, “Billie Holiday?” Well of course capturing their love for each other also entailed them getting lovey-dovey on camera. The only problem, according to what Billy Dee revealed in the book, Diana Ross: A Biography, was that our man, Berry Gordy, wasn’t cool with the love scenes at all. Although Berry and Diana were supposedly not seeing each other at the time of the filming (although 6 months prior to filming ‘Lady Sings,’ Diana had just given birth to she and Berry’s daughter, Rhonda Ross…that’s a whole ‘notha story), Billy Dee said that didn’t stop Berry from getting jealous, understandably so.

Billy Dee Tells What Happened Between Him, Gordy, & Ross On Set

As a result of his reported jealousy, Berry -who funded the entire movie- did everything he could to cut those kissing scenes short. Those interruptions eventually took a toll on Billy and Diana’s groove. Here’s what Billy Dee had to say about that:

“Well, it was clear to me from the beginning that they [Berry and Diana] had this psychodramatic, complex love affair going on, even though she was married to someone else. I don’t mean they were having sex; everyone knew that was over. But, just because you’re not having sex with a woman doesn’t mean you don’t still feel territorial where she’s concerned, and Berry did.”

Billy Dee continued:

“I think there was only one scene in the whole film where Diana and I really kissed, and Berry made it very tough on us. It sounds silly in retrospect, but he really did not want the kiss to take place. We’d get to that place in rehearsal and he’d stop it. He was saying he wanted the real kiss to take place on camera, but we knew that he just didn’t want the real kiss to make out more than once. Diana was beyond frustrated. “Jesus Christ, Berry,” she said, “it’s only a kiss.” I have to tell you, I truly believed that he had never seen her kiss another man before in his life, and he did not want to see it. So I thought that was kind of sweet.

And kind of weird, too. In the end, we did the kiss, obviously. Diana has the best mouth in show business, and kissing her was…well, magical. An I was only acting. So, after that kiss, i was like, okay- I get it- if this was my woman, no way would I want her kissing another man.” -Quote from Billy Dee Williams in the book, ‘Diana Ross: A Biography by J. Randy Taraborelli’

Diana Ross seemingly had Berry Gordy hooked, and from the sounds of it, Billy Dee got a hit of her sensual spell too (although it was just acting). There’s nothing like a woman who knows how to truly own her sensuality…Berry was obviously worried about his ex-woman sharing that sensuality with anyone else- acting, or no acting.

To Berry’s credit, his worry was justifiable because after Billy Dee said that classic line to Diana, “Do you want my hand to fall off?” women all across America were trying to get a piece of the brotha!  Pretty sure Berry didn’t wanna witness his ex falling into that same spell. However, there’s no denying that the chemistry Billy Dee and Diana had in Lady Sings The Blues allowed them to create on-screen magic, catapulting the film into an Old School cult classic. So glad Berry Gordy didn’t sabotage it.

Remember “Bruce Leroy” from the ’80s movie, The Last Dragon? Well you probably never knew his real name, but almost all old schoolers know his face. His name is Taimak and nope there is no last name…it’s just Taimak. Well, dude is back on the scene after taking a long hiatus from the movie industry. He’s part of the cast of Twelve Angry Men and lately, he’s been making his rounds promoting the new project, as well as his upcoming autobiography, Taimak: The Last Dragon.

In a 2015 “Breakfast Club” interview (prior to Vanity’s passing), Taimak chatted it up with co-hosts, Angela Yee, Charlamagne the God, and DJ Envy. During the interview, they asked him to confirm some inside information they’d heard about himself; the beloved late Vanity 6 lead singer, Denise “Vanity” Matthews; and Motown creator (and executive producer of The Last Dragon), Berry Gordy. Taimak tried his best to be modest and play it cool, but he ultimately answered the questions as honestly as he could at that time.

Embed from Getty Images

Basically what he revealed was that while Berry Gordy and the rest of the production team for The Last Dragon were still casting for the roles in the film, Gordy asked Taimak in a more explicit way, ‘What entertainer would Taimak like to get with’ (get with, as in have sexual relations of some sort), because that’s who Gordy would then attempt to cast as “Bruce Leroy’s” love interest.  Taimak confessed  that he’d told Gordy he had a thing for Vanity and as you can see, Gordy pulled some strings and made it happen.

Now, here’s where the interview got even more interesting – aside from learning that Mr. Gordy is obviously a lil’ more raw than we publicly know him to be – when they tried to get more info out of Taimak, he very politely implied that he and Vanity did, in fact, end up “getting with” each other. When Charlamagne directly asked Taimak if he and Vanity took things to that next level, Taimak tried to avoid the question. However, after more pressing by Charlamagne, Taimak finally confessed, “Well…I’m gonna leave it as…we were affectionate.”

It would have been cool to see Taimak and Denise “Vanity” Matthews continue a relationship after the film, they probably would’ve made a good couple.

Taimak also touched on the topic of being in Janet Jackson’s video for “Let’s Wait A While” and how it was “awkward” because her husband at the time, Rene’ Elizondo, was all in his grill and standing about six feet from the camera throughout the entire process. Geesh, Rene’ wasn’t trying to let nobody get next to his woman!

Interestingly, The Breakfast Club has removed Taimak’s interview from their Youtube channel, but not before many media outlets were able to grab the Old School gems he’d already divulged. He later discussed some of these topics in a Vlad TV interview as well.

A lot of people take interest in Jermaine’s and his ex-wife, Hazel Gordy’s, three kids because early on in his career, Jermaine did what several of his siblings did not: he created non-biracial African American children with his then wife, Hazel. FYI: Nothing is wrong with having biracial children, we are merely stating a fact about three of Jermaine’s kids and the rest of the Jacksons’ kids that’s all, moving on…

Hazel, the lovely daughter of music mogul, Berry Gordy, was married to Jermaine for 15 years (1973 to 1988). Their marriage was filled with happiness, public cheating (on Jermaine’s part), highs and lows. But some of their greatest times were the births of their children- two many knew about back then, but may have forgotten about now; and one whom most never knew existed.

Jermaine Jackson Jr., 44

Let us introduce you to the three super private Jackson-Gordy kids now. The first born of the trio is one we’ve reported on several times, here at ILOSM, Jermaine Jackson Jr…

• Jermaine lives life away from the cameras, with the exception of a few times. In the mid 90’s he did a helluva job starring as his Pops in the TV biopic, The Jacksons: The American Dream.
• In recent years he’s resurfaced as a result of his Persian-American long-time girlfriend, Asa Soltan Rahmati, who lives her life in front of the cameras as a reality TV star on Bravo’s The Shahs of Sunset.
• Jermaine Jr. and Asa welcomed their first child, Soltan Jackson, on January 20, 2017, just 17 days after Jermaine Jr.’s aunt Janet and estranged hubby, Wissam Al Mana, welcomed their son, Eissa, on January 3rd. Jermaine Jr. is close with his siblings and the rest of the Jackson fam’ and that’s pretty much all we know about this private Jackson man. Onto his beautiful sister and his younger brother…

Jermaine & Hazel’s Gorgeous Daughter, Autumn Jackson, 41

Autumn has become even more private than her big bro,’ Jermaine Jr. Here’s what we know about her:

• She’s the second born child of Hazel and Jermaine
• Autumn is married to her husband, Nape Singh, who’s last name  is originated in India.
• Autumn also shares the same smile as her ‘ti Janet

  

• She, too, is close with her siblings and Pops. Jermaine shared this photo of himself having a fun time with four of his kids- Jermasty, Autumn, Jermaine Jr. and Jafaar.

Jermaine’s & Hazel’s Youngest Child (together), Jaimy Jackson, 34

Jaimy Jackson is the most reclusive of all three kids between Hazel and Jermaine. Some of us Old Schoolers may recall how their other two kids- Autumn and Jermaine Jr. – were often photographed out with their parents at various events in the ‘70s and early ‘80s. However, you probably never recalled seeing Hazel and Gordy photo’d together with their third child, Jaimy, and there is a solid explanation for that…

Jaimy was conceived during a rough patch in Jermaine’s and Hazel’s marriage in March of 1987, just before they divorced in 1988. So he never had the opportunity of being photographed out with his complete family back then, because his parents were split for almost his whole life. That didn’t stop any shortage of love from either of them though. From what we know, Jermaine and Hazel have been there for Jaimy since his conception, and nothing has changed to this day…

And of course grandpop, Berry Gordy, is proud of them all. Check him out with his daughter Hazel Gordy, son Kerry Gordy, and three of his grandchildren…

The Jackson and Gordy families are quite a complex, diversified bunch, but at the end of the day, they all love each other ’til the end.

Diana Ross’ first born, 49 year old Rhonda Ross, did an interview a while back, where she discussed how she eventually discovered that her Dad was not a tall, Jewish-American man, but rather an African American Motown Records head honcho. For those who don’t know, Rhonda had often been referred to as Diana’s and Berry Gordy’s “love child” throughout the years. She was the product of their undercover relationship that lasted for many years while ‘The boss’ Ms. Ross was with the Supremes and also during her solo career.

The identity of Rhonda’s real father was kept a secret, although we’re not quite sure why. My guess is that it was because the public didn’t know about Berry’s and Diana’s relationship and maybe they thought it would have tainted Diana’s rep, although many people in the music industry knew. Diana and Berry didn’t completely hide their relationship, but they didn’t publicize it to the world either. Any person on the face of this earth can take one look at Rhonda and clearly see that she is Berry Gordy’s baby, but I guess it is much harder to notice that just by looking in the mirror when you have been lead to believe that someone else was all of your life. Anyways, here’s what Rhonda explained about how she learned Berry Gordy was not “Uncle Berry” but he was ‘Daddy’…

Via NYPost:
“The bottom line was, I looked just like [Gordy], and my sisters looked just like their father, a 6-foot-tall Jewish American man,” [Rhonda Ross] says. Even so, she’s still close to the man who raised her as his daughter, “though he knew I wasn’t his when my mother was pregnant.” 

The oldest of the diva’s five children, Rhonda was nearly 13 when she was told the man she knew as Dad — her mother’s husband and manager, Robert Ellis Silberstein — wasn’t.

Discovering who she really was came as a relief, she says. Gordy was already so close to the family that she and her sisters called him “uncle.” And while it took her awhile to learn the truth, others had guessed it long ago. “I’d meet fans on the street who’d say, ‘Oh child, we knew you were Berry Gordy’s daughter — you look just like him!’ ”

Diana was preparing for “Lady Sings the Blues” while pregnant, and Rhonda thinks that experience led to her own lifelong love of Billie Holiday.

She’s amazed at how her mom juggled five kids and a career. “We were not raised by nannies,” she says. “She’d do a gig in Atlantic City and helicopter back and forth to be there in the mornings to get us off to school. My grandmother was around till I was 13, so we had that support, but my mother didn’t work on Christmas, New Year’s or any of our birthdays.” […]

She’s never lacked for advice, and it’s Gordy who gave her the impetus she needed to sing again. “Recently, he’s advised me that direction is more important than speed,” she says. “I’ve been at this for a while, and now I feel I’m finding my voice and my purpose, and the music I really want to share.”

So as you can see ILOSM family, Diana, Rhonda, Berry and the rest of the Ross clan are all one big happy family now…all’s well that ends well.

Berry Gordy’s son, Redfoo, and his nephew/group member, SkyBlu, were probably letting out a sigh of relief win they won their legal battle with rapper, Rick Ross a few years ago. On the other side, Rick Ross lost out on his big opportunity to come out on top, much like Marvin Gaye’s kids did against Pharelle and Robin Thicke. Ross could have been millions of dollars richer than he is right now, had he played his cards right and had his paperwork in order, but things just didn’t work out that way for him.

Ross sued the famous group, LMFAO, which includes Berry Gordy’s son and grandson, SkyBlu, because he said they bit his 2006 hit, “Everyday I’m Hustlin'” with their 2011 hit, “Party Rock Anthem.” The problem that Ross pointed out is that the hooks for both songs are similar- Ross’ hook included the phrase “Everyday I’m hustlin’ and LMFAO’s hook included the phrase, “Everyday I’m shufflin.'”

This possibly could have been an easy win for Ross, but Ross slipped up with his copyright protection. The judge threw Ross’ case out after looking over his paperwork and determining that Ross actually had no copyright protection at all and here’s why: Ross had three different copyright applications and every last one of them were ‘inconsistent and incomplete!’ What the…?!! How in the world did Rick Ross and/or his team manage to get a simple copyright application wrong not on one, but THREE occasions?!!

Don’t get me wrong, we all make mistakes, but I tell ya, sometimes certain mistakes are so crazy and avoidable that the plaintiff almost doesn’t even deserve to get what they rightfully deserve for being so careless…almost.

Ah well, so much for that one Rick Ross, I’m sure the 80’s drug kingpin, “Freeway” Rick Ross, who sued you and loss after you borrowed his name is jumping for joy right about now.

We all know and love Tina Knowles and Richard Lawson as a couple. Tina oftentimes posts pics of her and Richard in marital bliss, and they are in love! In researching that story, we noticed that Richard’s daughter was linked to a wealthy music family!

Bianca Lawson Is Richard Lawson’s Daughter…

Bianca Lawson’s now a 42 year old actress best known for her roles on Saved by the Bell, Sister, Sister, and The Steve Harvey Show, and most recently in Oprah Winfrey Network drama series, Queen Sugar. But it’s her mom that Richard Lawson married back in 1978.

If Her Mom Doesn’t Look Familiar…

 

Her face may not be familiar, but Bianca’s mom is the niece of the famed Berry Gordy. Denise Gordy, is the daughter of George and Rosemary Gordy and she’s the biological mother of Marvin Gaye III (born 1966) by Marvin Gaye!

In case you missed our prior report, here it is:

Anna Gordy’s niece, Denise Gordy – the woman who was allegedly underaged when she reportedly gave birth to Marvin Gaye III, the ‘adopted’ son of singer, Marvin Gaye, and his then-wife, Anna Gordy.

Anna Gordy’s and Marvin Gaye’s pregnancy/birthing scandal was supposedly pre-arranged by the couple, because Anna — who was 17 years older than husband, Marvin — reportedly couldn’t conceive by that time.

According to the biographies, Anna Gordy — with her husband’s approval — faked her pregnancy for the media and claimed that she’d given birth to Marvin III. However, years later Marvin Gaye revealed in his biography, “Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye,” to author David Ritz, that their son, Marvin III, was really “adopted.” The book released in 1985, a year after Marvin’s death. According to several reports, that’s when Marvin Gaye III learned his true identity – that allegedly: his biological mother, Denise Gordy, is not his ‘cousin’; his ‘adoptive mom,’ Anna Gordy, is his great-aunt; and his ‘adoptive father,’ singer Marvin Gaye, is his biological father…allegedly.

Thus, Marvin Gaye III is actually the (alleged) biological brother of “Queen Sugar” actress, Bianca Lawson. Bianca is the daughter of legendary actor, Richard Lawson. Richard is the husband of Tina Knowles, and the step-dad of Beyonce and Solange! Ain’t that some tea…or shall we say, some “Lemonade” for ya?!!

I tell, we learn something new ’round here everyday, ILOSM fam.’

Remember “Bruce Leroy” from the ’80s movie, The Last Dragon? Well you probably never knew his real name, but almost all old schoolers know his face. His name is Taimak and nope there is no last name…it’s just Taimak. Well, dude is back on the scene after taking a long hiatus from the movie industry. He’s part of the cast of Twelve Angry Men and lately, he’s been making his rounds promoting the new project, as well as his upcoming autobiography, Taimak: The Last Dragon.

In a 2015 “Breakfast Club” interview (prior to Vanity’s passing), Taimak chatted it up with co-hosts, Angela Yee, Charlamagne the God, and DJ Envy. During the interview, they asked him to confirm some inside information they’d heard about himself; the beloved late Vanity 6 lead singer, Denise “Vanity” Matthews; and Motown creator (and executive producer of The Last Dragon), Berry Gordy. Taimak tried his best to be modest and play it cool, but he ultimately answered the questions as honestly as he could at that time.

Embed from Getty Images

Basically what he revealed was that while Berry Gordy and the rest of the production team for The Last Dragon were still casting for the roles in the film, Gordy asked Taimak in a more explicit way, ‘What entertainer would Taimak like to get with’ (get with, as in have sexual relations of some sort), because that’s who Gordy would then attempt to cast as “Bruce Leroy’s” love interest.  Taimak confessed  that he’d told Gordy he had a thing for Vanity and as you can see, Gordy pulled some strings and made it happen.

Now, here’s where the interview got even more interesting – aside from learning that Mr. Gordy is obviously a lil’ more raw than we publicly know him to be – when they tried to get more info out of Taimak, he very politely implied that he and Vanity did, in fact, end up “getting with” each other. When Charlamagne directly asked Taimak if he and Vanity took things to that next level, Taimak tried to avoid the question. However, after more pressing by Charlamagne, Taimak finally confessed, “Well…I’m gonna leave it as…we were affectionate.”

It would have been cool to see Taimak and Denise “Vanity” Matthews continue a relationship after the film, they probably would’ve made a good couple.

Taimak also touched on the topic of being in Janet Jackson’s video for “Let’s Wait A While” and how it was “awkward” because her husband at the time, Rene’ Elizondo, was all in his grill and standing about six feet from the camera throughout the entire process. Geesh, Rene’ wasn’t trying to let nobody get next to his woman!

Interestingly, The Breakfast Club has removed Taimak’s interview from their Youtube channel, but not before many media outlets were able to grab the Old School gems he’d already divulged. He later discussed some of these topics in a Vlad TV interview as well.

Gladys Knight did a prior interview with The Insider, where she revealed that for 37 long years, Diana Ross didn’t like her. Apparently this feud stemmed from when Gladys Knight & The Pips were signed to Motown Records…and it didn’t end until 2005! Wow! They sure did a great job at keeping this beef on the hush. It wasn’t until Gladys made it public knowledge in her memoir, that folks really started finding out about it. *Scroll down for video*

Knight pretty much revealed that Diana was apparently hatin’ on her voice when they went on tour together during their Motown Days. Though, Gladys also admitted that she was confused as to why Diana was hatin’ on her, being that Diana “had all the attention in the world from Mr. Gordy and everyone else.”

According to the “Midnight Train To Georgia” songstress, Motown’s founder, Berry Gordy (who was also dating Diana at the time), along with Diana, invited Gladys Knight & The Pips to open up for the Supremes on tour. However, Gladys soon realized that she, herself, was the ‘problem’…at least according to what Gordy told her about Diana at that time:

“We got a call from Mr. Gordy saying ‘Well, I hear you’re spoiling my act [The Supremes].” Gladys replied,”Well Mr. Gordy, that’s not what we’r about, you now. We’re just doing our show.”

Then Gladys says Berry gave her and The Pips the boot from the tour, without warning:

“He said ‘Well…I think you guys should just come on back home tomorrow.’ So, we went back home and that was the name of that game,” recalled Gladys Knight.

When asked if Diana Ross was ever mean to her, Gladys replied:

“Well I’m not a liar, I know that she wasn’t the happiest with me, let me put it like that.”

That response was very cordial of Gladys, wasn’t it? But find out what the real deal is, as she explained it further in her interview clip below:

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about ‘the boss Ms. Ross’ doing another singer dirty. However, let’s give a lil’ bit of the benefit of a doubt here. Sometimes, Diana may have gotten a bad wrap for being a ‘difficult’ diva, when it could have simply been a reflection of her extremely competitive nature…which could be a gift AND a curse for Diana. It’s a gift because without Diana’s competitiveness, her fans probably wouldn’t have gotten the high level of music that her competitiveness pushed her to create throughout the years. It’s a curse because along her diva journey, she made many enemies in the music game.

On the flip side, we can’t blame Gladys Knight for not wanting to put up with Diana’s rudeness towards her. Most of us would have responded to it the same way.

This just goes to show that Old School beef existed too. It’s a beautiful thing to see Gladys and Diana eventually put their differences to rest.

When talking about a masterpiece like Lady Sings The Blues, it’s easy to get caught up in the actual story of the life of iconic jazz great, Billie Holiday. But oftentimes, the stories of what happened behind the scenes of the film are usually just as intriguing.

In researching this film, we found out that one of those stories, in particular, came directly from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Billy Dee Williams revealed an interesting tidbit of info about a few tense, awkward moments between himself, Diana, and Berry Gordy during filming. Maybe you can already tell where we’re going with this, but let’s continue.

Remember how Billy Dee’s character, “Louis McKay,” was deeply in love with Diana’s character, “Billie Holiday?” Well of course capturing their love for each other also entailed them getting lovey-dovey on camera. The only problem, according to what Billy Dee revealed in the book, Diana Ross: A Biography, was that our man, Berry Gordy, wasn’t cool with the love scenes at all. Although Berry and Diana were supposedly not seeing each other at the time of the filming (although 6 months prior to filming ‘Lady Sings,’ Diana had just given birth to she and Berry’s daughter, Rhonda Ross…that’s a whole ‘notha story), Billy Dee said that didn’t stop Berry from getting jealous, understandably so.

Billy Dee Tells What Happened Between Him, Gordy, & Ross On Set

As a result of his reported jealousy, Berry -who funded the entire movie- did everything he could to cut those kissing scenes short. Those interruptions eventually took a toll on Billy and Diana’s groove. Here’s what Billy Dee had to say about that:

“Well, it was clear to me from the beginning that they [Berry and Diana] had this psychodramatic, complex love affair going on, even though she was married to someone else. I don’t mean they were having sex; everyone knew that was over. But, just because you’re not having sex with a woman doesn’t mean you don’t still feel territorial where she’s concerned, and Berry did.”

Billy Dee continued:

“I think there was only one scene in the whole film where Diana and I really kissed, and Berry made it very tough on us. It sounds silly in retrospect, but he really did not want the kiss to take place. We’d get to that place in rehearsal and he’d stop it. He was saying he wanted the real kiss to take place on camera, but we knew that he just didn’t want the real kiss to make out more than once. Diana was beyond frustrated. “Jesus Christ, Berry,” she said, “it’s only a kiss.” I have to tell you, I truly believed that he had never seen her kiss another man before in his life, and he did not want to see it. So I thought that was kind of sweet.

And kind of weird, too. In the end, we did the kiss, obviously. Diana has the best mouth in show business, and kissing her was…well, magical. An I was only acting. So, after that kiss, i was like, okay- I get it- if this was my woman, no way would I want her kissing another man.” -Quote from Billy Dee Williams in the book, ‘Diana Ross: A Biography by J. Randy Taraborelli’

Diana Ross seemingly had Berry Gordy hooked, and from the sounds of it, Billy Dee got a hit of her sensual spell too (although it was just acting). There’s nothing like a woman who knows how to truly own her sensuality…Berry was obviously worried about his ex-woman sharing that sensuality with anyone else- acting, or no acting.

To Berry’s credit, his worry was justifiable because after Billy Dee said that classic line to Diana, “Do you want my hand to fall off?” women all across America were trying to get a piece of the brotha!  Pretty sure Berry didn’t wanna witness his ex falling into that same spell. However, there’s no denying that the chemistry Billy Dee and Diana had in Lady Sings The Blues allowed them to create on-screen magic, catapulting the film into an Old School cult classic. So glad Berry Gordy didn’t sabotage it.