I got a second surprise snapshot for my blog fans! This is an extremely rare photo of the late Lou Rawls and the late Sam Cooke! They appear to be about 17-19 years of age here. To my understanding, they’ve always been the best of friends. In fact, their friendship was so close, the music industry called the “The Musical Brothers.” You know, I wanna share with you something I never realized. One of my favorite songs “Bring It On Home To Me,” I assumed it was all sung by Sam Cooke. I didn’t realize that Lou Rawls was actually singing in the background! ? Wow!!! Some great music back in the day.

I found this old 80’s poster of the late legendary Prince. I love this photo because it reminds me of the Zoot suit era. Suspenders came back really strong in the 80s. Nowadays, I think the only time we see anyone with suspenders on, is if they’re a “Street Mime,” or someone who works in a circus ? I miss the eighties so much, this was the age when we had the most creative styles in my opinion.

Another classic photo from my scrapbook!! Janet Jackson, present for the American Music Awards! I am pretty confident that this was in 1983. Janet was enjoying the success of her hit song “Young Love.” Although “Young Love” only reached #64th position on the Top  100 Charts, it shot up to #6 on the R&B category.

The legendary disco group, Sister Sledge! Best known for their iconic 1979 hit anthem “We Are Family.” Still don’t remember them? Well, how about another major hit from 1979, “He’s The Greatest Dancer.”  another major hit ” Sadly, sister Joni Sledge has recently passed about a year ago. You can read more about it on WXPN‘s website.

This 3M ad was published in c. 1981, and I feel that Michael should have stopped his surgeries right here! This was at a time when even though he had a little work done, his face still looked natural, and it was a great look for him. I always found it interesting that the media talked about all kinds of “Michael Moments,” but very rare has the media talked about his addiction to plastic surgeries. I guess the media found it more interesting talking about his strange relationship between “Bubbles the chimp” and himself.

Here is an amazing candid photo of the legendary Fats Domino (1928-2017). He was best known for his (what I call) piano pop. His music was categorized as rock ‘n’ roll, but if you really listen to his music it’s a mixture of pop, jazz and blues. I guess in those days, anybody who has their fingers moving as fast as his across the piano, it was immediately stamped rock, regardless! 😀 Now, I always remembered him primarily as a singer & piano player; but he also played sax and electric guitar. Fats had about 34-36 records that hit the top 40s. It is interesting that I can’t find any #1 hits from Fats, however, he has sold millions of records. The highest ranking song was at #6 called “Whole Lotta Loving.” Keep in mind this was based on the Top 100 category; he may have been higher in Billboard’s rock category.

Here’s something from way back in the 80s. This is Susan from Apollonia 6, Ricky from New Edition, and Apollonia from Apollonia 6. You know, I really do miss the classy photos we used to get in entertainment magazines back in the day. It’s a shame Apollonia 6 did not receive the same success as when Vanity was the lead. The only thing she had even close to a hit was “Sex Shooter.” Even then, it peaked #85,  it only got air play because of the Purple Rain movie I recon.