The author of the song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” – which helped pioneer sounds that would fuse to become rap – has died in New York City. Musician Gil Scott-Heron was 62.

A friend who answered the telephone listed for his Manhattan recording company confirms he died Friday afternoon at a hospital. Doris C. Nolan says he died after becoming sick upon returning from a European trip.

Scott-Heron recorded “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” in the 1970s in Harlem.

He mixed minimalistic percussion and spoken-word performances tinged with politics in a style he sometimes referred to as bluesology. He recorded more than a dozen albums and wrote a handful of books.

Scott-Heron was born in Chicago on April 1, 1949. He was raised in Jackson, Tenn.

United Negro College Fund (UNCF) is the nation’s largest and most effective minority education organization. Community members and friends of UNCF are invited to participate in helping youth get the education they need. Annual participants include community members, corporate teams, sororities, fraternities, church groups and many more.

On Saturday, May 21, 2011 (UNCF) is hosting its 29th annual Los Angeles Walk for Education.The annual UNCF Los Angeles walk-a-thon and the money raised supports 60,000 students who attend more than 900 colleges and universities nationwide, 39 of which are historically black colleges and are member institutions of UNCF.

WHEN: Saturday, May 21, 2011 Registration begins at 7:00 a.m. 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Walk begins 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Post Walk Festivities & Entertainment

WHERE: Exposition Park 700 Exposition Park Drive Los Angeles, CA 90037 – The Walk’s stage, sponsor booths and food area are all located together in the park, at the corner of Menlo Avenue and North Coliseum Drive – Parking is $10.00

REGISTER: To form a team, join an existing team, or register as an individual, visit http://give.uncf.org/LAWALK (213) 639-3800 LOCAL MEDIA Sandra Bernardo

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Curtis Silvers UNCF Area Director (213) 639-3800 Curtis.silvers@uncf.org -CALENDAR ALERT-

CONTACT: Steering Committee Volunteer, UNCF Walk for Education (949) 485-5236 / sbernardo@bernardopr.com

Mary J. Blige who took a little time off from the music scene is coming back with a new LP.

The queen of RnB/Hip Hop Soul has announced that she will be releasing her 10th studio album called “My Life II, The Journey Continues” later this year – meaning that she will most-likely be competing head to head with another queen, Beyonce Knowles.

The forthcoming CD also called “My Life II” is actually the sequel to Blige’s 1994′s debut CD “My Life.”

The “Growing Pains” singer recently revealed that “My Life II” will more or less focus on the lives of those around her instead of her personal pain/joys and went on to explain:

“From me to you, My Life Too … our journey together continues in this life.It’s a gift to be able to relate and identify with my fans at all times. This album is a reflection of the times and lives of people all around me.”

The “Stronger with Each Tear” performer who recently unveiled the catastrophic lead single called “Someone to Love Me (Naked),” featuring Lil Wayne went on to share that My Life II/My Life II, The Journey Continues will be out on September 20, 2011

According to Jill Scott‘s official website, this is the OFFICIAL first single from her upcoming LP The Light of the Sun.

So In Love,” is a fun, romantic duet between Jill & Anthony Hamilton, can be streamed via Jill’s official SoundCloud page

Jill Scott fans will appreciate this song for its elegance and soulful productions. On the smoldering duet, the Philly songbird and debonair crooner coo sweet affirmations of love to their perspective soul mates

A federal jury convicted Barry Bonds of a single charge of obstruction of justice Wednesday but failed to reach a verdict on the three counts at the heart of allegations that he knowingly used steroids and human growth hormone and lied to a grand jury about it.

Following a 12-day trial and almost four full days of deliberation, the jury of eight women and four men could reach a unanimous verdict only on one of the four counts against Bonds. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston declared a mistrial on the others, a messy end to a case that put the slugger – and baseball itself – under a cloud of suspicion for more than three years.

Bonds sat stone-faced through the verdict, displaying no emotion. His legal team immediately asked that the guilty verdict be thrown out and Illston did not rule on the request. She set May 20 for a hearing in the case.

The case also represented the culmination of the federal investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroids ring. Federal prosecutors and the Justice Department will have to decide whether to retry Bonds on the unresolved counts.

A juror who would only give her first name, Amber, said the final votes on the deadlocked charges were 8-4 to acquit Bonds of lying about steroids and 9-3 to acquit him on lying about HGH use. The panel voted 11-1 to convict him of getting an injection from someone other than his doctor, with one woman holding out, the juror said.

The maximum sentence for the obstruction of justice count is 10 years in prison, but federal guidelines called for 15-21 months. For similar offenses in the BALCO case, Illston sentenced cyclist Tammy Thomas to six months of home confinement and track coach Trevor Graham to one year of home confinement.

Bonds walked out of the courthouse with his lawyers, who instructed him not to comment because they said the case isn’t over.

Impeccably dressed in suit and tie, Bonds flashed a victory sign to a few fans.

“Are you celebrating tonight?” one asked.

The obstruction of justice count was a complicated charge that asked jurors to decide if Bonds was being evasive when making any one of seven statements to the grand jury. He was convicted on only one of them, about his childhood as the son of major leaguer Bobby Bonds and his relationship with personal trainer Greg Anderson. The statement did not address performance-enhancing drugs.

The government “has determined it’s unlawful for Barry Bonds to tell the grand jury he’s a celebrity child and to talk about his friendship with Greg Anderson,” Ruby said.

The jury foreman, who would only give his first name, Fred, said if prosecutors want to “pursue this case, they’re going to have to do more homework than they did.”

The needle count, the only one the jury was leaning toward convicting on, accused Bonds of lying when he said no one other than his doctors injected him with anything. His personal shopper, Kathy Hoskins, testified that she saw Anderson inject Bonds in the navel before a road trip in 2002, although Hoskins was not sure what substance was being injected.

Amber, the juror, noted that Bonds’ former mistress, Kimberly Bell, testified that he complained of soreness from injections. “That’s what kind of stuck out for me,” Amber said.

The jury foreman said the woman who held out on the needle count did so because Hoskins was the only eyewitness.

Another juror, named Steve, said that “Barry carries himself with an air of arrogance” but his legal team overcame it.

“They didn’t put up a big defense,” he said. “They tried to discredit the witnesses. They tried to make the prosecutors look like bad guys. Were they successful in doing that? Yes.”

U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag said prosecutors were gratified by the guilty count and had not decided whether to seek a retrial on the remaining charges.

“This case is about upholding one of the most fundamental principles in our system of justice – the obligation of every witness to provide truthful and direct testimony in judicial proceedings,” Haag said in a statement. “In the United States, taking an oath and promising to testify truthfully is a serious matter. We cannot ignore those who choose instead to obstruct justice.”

Now 46, Bonds set baseball’s career home run record with 762 while playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants from 1986-2007. The jury met less than two miles from the ballpark where the seven-time NL MVP played for his last 15 years.

Bonds was indicted on Nov. 15, 2007, exactly 50 days after taking his final big league swing and 100 after topping Hank Aaron’s career home run mark of 755. He also set the season record with 73 home runs in 2001 with the Giants.

Illston would not let prosecutors present evidence of three alleged positive drug tests by Bonds because Anderson refused to testify and there was no one to confirm the samples came from Bonds.

*Mary Mary has got “Something Big.” Their latest album debuted at #10 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart with 42,390 units sold.

The sisters’ fourth studio album received rave reviews from USA Today and New York Times.

Mary Mary performed an outstanding show at the 42^nd annual NAACP Image awards as well as on CBS’s “The Talk. The duo also celebrated their release week with a performance of their unforgettable anthem “Never Wave My Flag” on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

In addition to judging the fourth season of BET’s “Sunday Best” this spring, Mary Mary are slated to perform on “The Mo’Nique Show” April 20 and the Dove Awards on Easter Sunday, April 24.

Committed to a non-stop work ethic and desire to push boundaries and make a difference, Erica and Tina recently announced their “Do Something Big” campaign with the launch of the ‘Fly Away with Mary Mary’ contest, an opportunity for fans to win a free trip to meet Mary Mary and attend a tour concert.

In the Facebook-based campaign, fans are asked to participate in a 5-week call-to-action to “Do Something Big” for others, with each week focusing on a different segment of those in need– the elderly, the homeless, local schools, local neighborhoods and world hunger.

EURweb » Gospel

Legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor, whose violet eyes, tumultuous love life and passion for diamonds became a byword for Hollywood glamour, died on Wednesday at age 79.

The star of “Cleopatra” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles surrounded by her four children after a long battle with congestive heart failure, her spokeswoman said. She had been hospitalized six weeks ago.

In a career spanning seven decades, Taylor first gained fame in 1944′s “National Velvet” at age 12 and was nominated for five Oscars. She won the best actress award for “BUtterfield 8″ (1960) and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (1966) with actor Richard Burton, whom she would marry twice.

But Taylor’s eight marriages, health problems, prescription medication addiction and ballooning weight often overshadowed her career and her fund-raising efforts for AIDS research.

Her death triggered an outpouring of tributes. “My mother was an extraordinary woman who lived life to the fullest, with great passion, humor, and love,” Taylor’s son Michael Wilding said.

“We have just lost a Hollywood giant. More importantly we have lost an incredible human being,” British singer Elton John said in a statement.

Taylor was born on February 27, 1932, in London to American parents. She moved to the United States as a child and soon after her 10th birthday landed the lead in 1942 film “Lassie Come Home,” followed by her turn as a young girl who tames the fury of a wild horse in “National Velvet.”

She confirmed her star power in 1958 in Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and cemented her reputation as among the greatest actresses of her generation playing a foul-mouthed alcoholic in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

GLAMOROUS HOLLYWOOD LIFE

But Taylor’s fame went far beyond her screen life. After marriages to hotel magnate Conrad Hilton, British actor Michael Wilding and film producer Mike Todd, she found herself in a scandalous 1950s love triangle with singer Eddie Fisher and his wife actress Debbie Reynolds, before marrying Fisher.

While filming the lavish “Cleopatra” in Rome in 1961, she started a torrid affair with her married co-star Burton. The pair first wed in 1964 and Burton lavished her with furs and diamonds, including a $1 million pear-shaped jewel.

The actors also were famous for hurling invective at one another. “We enjoy fighting,” Taylor once said. “Having an out-and-out, outrageous, ridiculous fight is one of the greatest exercises in marital togetherness.”

As she grew older, the actress began drinking heavily and grew addicted to prescription drugs. Her weight ballooned and she was lampooned by comedians. In 1983 she entered the Betty Ford Center in California for treatment.

In the last few years, the once legendary beauty took to using a wheelchair in public to cope with crippling back pain. Her last movie was the 1994 live action comedy “The Flintstones” but she was still making appearances at charity events before being hospitalized in February.

Yet her White Diamonds perfume remains a best seller almost 20 years after its 1991 introduction, cosmetics company Elizabeth Arden said on Wednesday

Jean has been in his homeland campaigning for popular musician Michel Martelly as he runs for the nation’s highest office (Martelly’s opponent is a former first lady, Mirlande Manigat). Ballots are cast today, with results made public by April 16.

The political process in Haiti has been particularly chaotic since the 7.0 earthquake of January 2010. The Red Cross estimated that three million Haitians were affected by the disaster.

Back in 2008, Wyclef recorded a song called ‘If I Was President,’ which includes lyrics that cast him as a target of political violence: “If I was president / I’d get elected on Friday / Assassinated on Saturday / And buried on Sunday.”