Anna Webber/GettyScott-
Heron performs during the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival 2010.
Corey Sipkin/News
Family, celebrities pay tribute to Gil Scott-Heron at music legend's memorial; Kanye West performs
BY Michael J. Feeney
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, June 2nd 2011, 8:51 PM
Corey Sipkin/News
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, June 2nd 2011, 8:51 PM
Corey Sipkin/News
Kanye W
est leaves the service from a side door after his surprise performance.
Gil Scott-Heron's daughter proclaimed the revolution will be televised during a moving memorial service Thursday for her musical father that included a surprise performance by rapper Kanye West.
Scott-Heron, a celebrated poet and musician, was remembered by about 300 close friends and family scattered throughout Harlem's historic Riverside Church Thursday. He was 62 when he died last Friday.
"It was honoring and celebrating him," said his daughter, Gia, 31, after the service. "When we came in, what we wanted to do was honor daddy."
And she certainly did.
She performed an original poem, called "Time" and sang Bette Midler's "The Rose."
"But because he was before his time, and because time is unfair...We weren't even aware, that his time was up!" she said in her poem. "But time can never diminish the bonds of unconditional love! So though your demise is publicized, this new revolution will be televised."
Her father leaves behind a 40-year musical legacy that included such songs as "We Almost Lost Detroit" and "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," which was recorded at a club on W. 125th St. and Lenox Ave.
The world-renowned spoken word artist is also credited with inspiring a slew of hip-hop artists, such as West, and some have dubbed him the "Godfather of Rap."
West, wearing all black and sporting a pair of dark sunglasses, closed out the tribute by performing his song "Lost in the World" - which features a portion of Scott-Heron's "Comment # 1.
Also in attendance was Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poets, the 1970s Harlem group that inspired Scott-Heron and also helped set the stage for hip-hop.
Speakers included his first wife, Brenda Sykes, who reminisced about NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar introducing her to Scott-Heron, the birth of their daughter and Scott-Heron's close relationship with Stevie Wonder.
Wonder, she said, always wanted to dance on stage, but never trusted anyone to keep him from bumping into something. But Wonder trusted Scott-Heron, said his wife of 10 years.
"Gil led Stevie in a conga line," said Sykes, adding that the pair toured together and joined forces to help create the federal holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The program for the memorial listed Wonder as an honorary pallbearer, but the superstar musician was not in attendance.
Scott-Heron will be buried at Kensico Cemetery in Westchester County.
His book publisher and longtime friend Jamie Byng called the service "beautiful.
"Gil would have really loved it," he said. "I thought it was a really beautiful service. It was a celebration and also a tribute - and a mourning. I enjoyed it...We all wanted to hear his voice."
est leaves the service from a side door after his surprise performance.Gil Scott-Heron's daughter proclaimed the revolution will be televised during a moving memorial service Thursday for her musical father that included a surprise performance by rapper Kanye West.
Scott-Heron, a celebrated poet and musician, was remembered by about 300 close friends and family scattered throughout Harlem's historic Riverside Church Thursday. He was 62 when he died last Friday.
"It was honoring and celebrating him," said his daughter, Gia, 31, after the service. "When we came in, what we wanted to do was honor daddy."
And she certainly did.
She performed an original poem, called "Time" and sang Bette Midler's "The Rose."
"But because he was before his time, and because time is unfair...We weren't even aware, that his time was up!" she said in her poem. "But time can never diminish the bonds of unconditional love! So though your demise is publicized, this new revolution will be televised."
Her father leaves behind a 40-year musical legacy that included such songs as "We Almost Lost Detroit" and "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," which was recorded at a club on W. 125th St. and Lenox Ave.
The world-renowned spoken word artist is also credited with inspiring a slew of hip-hop artists, such as West, and some have dubbed him the "Godfather of Rap."
West, wearing all black and sporting a pair of dark sunglasses, closed out the tribute by performing his song "Lost in the World" - which features a portion of Scott-Heron's "Comment # 1.
Also in attendance was Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poets, the 1970s Harlem group that inspired Scott-Heron and also helped set the stage for hip-hop.
Speakers included his first wife, Brenda Sykes, who reminisced about NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar introducing her to Scott-Heron, the birth of their daughter and Scott-Heron's close relationship with Stevie Wonder.
Wonder, she said, always wanted to dance on stage, but never trusted anyone to keep him from bumping into something. But Wonder trusted Scott-Heron, said his wife of 10 years.
"Gil led Stevie in a conga line," said Sykes, adding that the pair toured together and joined forces to help create the federal holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The program for the memorial listed Wonder as an honorary pallbearer, but the superstar musician was not in attendance.
Scott-Heron will be buried at Kensico Cemetery in Westchester County.
His book publisher and longtime friend Jamie Byng called the service "beautiful.
"Gil would have really loved it," he said. "I thought it was a really beautiful service. It was a celebration and also a tribute - and a mourning. I enjoyed it...We all wanted to hear his voice."
No comments:
Post a Comment