"Soul Train" Creator Don Cornelius Dead at 75

Woke up this morning to the sad news that Soul Train producer and host, Don Cornelius, had died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He had reportedly been laid low by a bitter divorce battle, which followed on the heels of his arrest on a domestic violence beef. He pleaded no contest to those charges in 2009 and was given 36 months probation.

All of that gnarly personal stuff is better forgotten for those of us who grew up watching the African-American version of American Bandstand, Cornelius's Soul Train, which debuted in 1971. Dick Clark did install a couple of black teenagers on Bandstand by 1965, but if you really wanted to get the flavor of urban fashion, music and dance styles, you tuned into Soul Train. It was a revelation.

I myself never had much of a taste for Dick Clark, whose ageless, squeaky-clean image belied his shrewd and unscrupulous ways in business. Since Bandstand could help propel a pop record to the top of the charts, Clark had the leverage to demand that he become the publisher of said song, or even a co-writer (of some 150 compositions!). At the Congressional "Payola" hearings in 1959, Clark testified to owning a stake in a total of 33 different record labels, distributors and manufacturers whose music was exposed on his TV show.

Enter Don Cornelius, the laconic, cooler than ice, black version of the All-American hero, Dick Clark. The kids were funkier and had incredible dance moves, the look of the show was less slickly produced and the guest artists ranged from Michael Jackson to James Brown to Aretha Franklin. And, of course, who could forget that falsetto scream intoning the show's title as an animated graphic of a train chugged by? Sooooouuuuuulllllll Traaaaiiiiin!

I was lucky enough to be one of the few white-boys to make it to the Soul Train stage, given that my band, Was (Not Was), had an r&b-influenced sound and a couple of hit records at the time. When Mr. Cornelius came out to do a brief interview with us, he surveyed our dozen-strong, motley crew of  inter-racial musicians and asked incredulously — "How did you cats all come together?" I couldn't resist a laugh-line and answered: "Actually, Don, it's interesting — we all met in the joint!" He looked stunned for a second, then laughter broke out and he knew he'd been momentarily conned. He laughed the hardest….

I will always admit to an almost religious devotion to African-American culture, which has dominated music, dance and fashion in this country for almost a hundred years now. From blues to jazz to r&b and hip-hop, the beautiful virus of the black cultural experience in America has colonized the entire earth with its originality, exuberance and high spirits. Don Cornelius will be remembered as a pioneer in the dissemination of that culture.

Here's how the man signed off every week — I can't think of a way to improve upon it: "And you can bet your last money, it's all gonna be a stone gas, honey! I'm Don Cornelius, and as always in parting, we wish you love, peace and soul!"