Don Cornelius (1936-2012) was an American television producer. He is best known as the creator and host of “Soul Train”, a black dance show that played across America every Saturday from 1971 to 2006. Cornelius hosted the show himself till 1993.
The genius of “Soul Train” is that it was television made by blacks, for blacks and which put blacks in a good light – a rare thing even now. While its audience went well beyond Black America, bringing black music and dance to the rest of America, even to Japan, Cornelius stayed true to his black audience and to black music.
Black artists: Few would have been seen on national television in any other way, particularly in the 1970s. Remember, there was a time when MTV refused to show even Michael Jackson because he was black.
Dance: Most dances of the 1970s started there. So did the elements of hip hop dance and even the moonwalk.
The music: picked by Cornelius himself. That allowed him to showcase hip hop artists at a time when few black radio stations would. It allowed the show to stay black in the late 1970s when “urban” radio went beige.
Cornelius wanted to be a radio DJ. He certainly had the voice for it, deep and smooth. He worked at a black radio station in his native Chicago, but that went nowhere. When his mentor there left to start a television station, Cornelius joined him. And there in 1970 he started “Soul Train”. He wrote, produced, directed and presented the show. In just weeks it became the most watched show in all of black Chicago.
But despite that, it was hard to get advertisers. The big white advertisers thought they could reach more black viewers through white shows. But Johnson Products Company, the black-owned maker of Afro Sheen and other black beauty products, thought otherwise. Particularly since Cornelius could help them make ads. The advertising deal with Johnson provided Cornelius the money to move to Hollywood and go national in 1971.
The black market was so underserved that the show quickly spread to a hundred cities by the middle 1970s. It even threatened Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand” on which it was modelled. Clark struck back with “Soul Unlimited”. Unlike Cornelius, Clark had the backing of a television network, ABC. But despite that, “Soul Unlimited” proved short-lived.
In 1985 Cornelius created the Soul Train Awards, the first black awards show, his answer to the whitewashed Oscars and Grammys. It did even better than “Soul Train” itself and lasts to this day.
In the 1990s his early “Soul Train” shows returned to America by way of Japan and Questlove and helped to inform the “soul” of neo-soul.
Questlove:
to say with a straight, dignified face that BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL was the RISKIEST radical life-changing move that america has seen. and amazingly enough for one hour for one saturday out the week, if you were watching soul train … it became contagious. next thing you know you are actually believing you have some sort of worth.
See also:
This is a wonderful tribute to the icon, legend, forward-thinking man who endeavored and DID show African Americans in a positive light through Soul Train and Soul Train Awards when no one else cared to do so. No one can celebrate African Americans better than African Americans and Corneilus helped paved the way for that. His genius will be missed.
dbg
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When I was a young teen, I learned a lot of pretty cool dance moves because of Soul Train. I was exposed to music that I enjoy listening to to this day. Thank you, Mr. Cornelius for your significant contributions to the entertainment industry. Love, Peace, and Sooooul to you. RIP.
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My first image of The Don was a Soul Train hits album cover from the ’70s. I hate to see him go out like that!
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I always loved watching soul train from when I was little. Imagine my delight when I typed it into YouTube one day and found so many videos of soul train….Love it.
Watching them coming down the aisle with their unique dance moves always made you laugh and want to get up and move your body.
Yeah, Don was the face and voice of soul train. I can’t even imagine anyone else hosting that show.
RIP Don.
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I think we only got the edited, or specifically selected shows in the UK which was a shame but, it certainly made Friday from 6 onwards (Channel 4) worth watching and waiting for. From memory, the show only lasted half an hour (though I could be wrong) and aired juxtaposed in the same time slot as the UK equivalent – Solid Soul.
In addition to programmes like the Tube and The Old Grey Whistle Test (which was a bit drab for youngsters like myself) these programmes brought a variety of music to the masses. I for one feel glad that I had the opportunity to feast my eyes on both the older and new music of the generation in terms of the fact that this was a show that appealed to both parents and children alike and put them on the same wavelength
Tragic ending for an iconic individual RIP
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“Watching them coming down the aisle with their unique dance moves always made you laugh and want to get up and move your body.”
**
I attended a couple of weddings where after the ceremony the bride, groom and attendants danced down the aisle in true Soul Train style. The only things missing were the ‘threads’ and the ‘fros. Soul Train lives on.
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Don will be missed. I used to love getting up on Saturday watching Soul Train after I watch my cartoons.
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I loved Soul Train, and we used to play Soul Train in the discos too. I didn’t know any of the history of the producer, thank you very much for the background of Don Cornelius.
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Abagond,
Thanks for this excellent tribute to Don Cornelius and the genius that was Soul Train.
Perhaps BP can revive/restore the dignity of Black art forms in the new millenium by following Mr. Cornelius’s business model.
Love, Peace, and Soul Mr. Cornelius.
RIP
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Thanks for the post in memory of Don Cornelius, it is very sad the way he died. He paved the way for good, clean black entertainment and we appreciate it. Got to watch that You tube clip again, learn some moves 🙂
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I used to look forward to Soul Train after the Saturday cartoons…RIP, Don – you contributed a lot…more than you might know.
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‘Soul Train’ was one of the reasons why Saturdays were fun on TV. Back in the day, there were cartoons worth watching, and in the afternoon, there was Sooooooooooooooul Traaaaaaaaaaaain!
I loved watching everyone dance and having fun. The hottest music (real music) was playing and everyone was happy. Plus, the Soul Train line was what really made the program memorable watching men and women dancing down the human aisle.
Those were the days.
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The dance moves on that show were outta sight man.
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Did anyone ever see the episode where while Don was dancing down the line, he slipped and fell? That was when he decided never to dance down there again right?
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Abagond,
Thanks for writing this…I remember on one visit to the US in 70’s, I was sitting around with my cousins watching Rick James on Soul Train…I remember thinking this was the best show ever! the dancers wore crazy outfits and the best part, of course, was the “soul train line”…this show was black peoples MTV…
Don Cornelius was like the cool Uncle everyone wanted to have…I am saddened that his legacy has to end on this note… may he RIP…I hope he knew that he was loved.
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Yessir!
Soultrain came out of the Black Power Movement. Self-love was the aim of Black Pride. This music and all the Black Music that preceded Soul Train IS the only music CREATED in America.
Black people are the ONLY people that created NEW music genres in America.
Country music STOLE from the Blues
Blue grass came out of SCOTTLAND.
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I had to chuckle at some of the dances 🙂 But, those Afros!!! I love them. Big, natural hair on the men and women. Awesome.
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so sad to lose Don cornelius. I wasn’t around while Soultrain was on TV but I’m so happy for all the clips of it on youtube. reading what questlove said about soultrain made me choke up a bit. So true and so beautiful.
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Thank you Abagond for this tribute to Don Cornelius. My heart is truly broken, as Mr. Cornelius shaped part of my musical horizon. I grew up watching Soul Train and remember when big, beautiful afros and polyester were the norm.
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Rosie Perez, The Hair to her Backside Asian Chick, Dude in the Animal Outfit, David Bowie killing it. Soul Train was good times.
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I remember watching this show all the way up to when I lost cable, went through a period when I just didn’t have the money for it. I loved it! It had everything to me, I was a teen so I paid more attention to the women dancing, so many fantasies there, but there was also the fact that everyone on the show was there to dance and have fun with good music. What really impressed me was how many different sizes and colors the people were. And, I must admit, the look on my friend Perk’s face when he was upset that he missed the show and I reminded him it repeated later that day was priceless! He was so surprised I loved the show he actually blinked and did a double-take… LOL Anyway, I am truly grateful that Don accomplished all of this and gave me so many great memories related to it.
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What an example SELF-RELIANCE! This is what I meant. Before someone says that without White television producers he would have never had the opportunity, that’s not the point. The point is that Soul Train was a good model of self-reliance because it was created by a Black man who primarily targeted a Black audience who supported it. He did not rest his hopes on White viewership liking and support it. Even though a lot of non Blacks eventually watched it, he truly made it for Blacks and kept it authentic. And a critical element is the Blacks supported it! Everything else followed because it was profitable. He did it again with the Soul Train Music Awards. What self-reliance! Why can’t this be a working model for Black people today?
Abagond, can you do a post just on examples of self-reliance or FUBU like Soul train?
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Correction “like Soul train”
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That is a great idea Thanks.
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Great tribute. Don Cornelius spread his wings further than the rest of America and Japan. Soul Train was shown throughout West Africa and the United Kingdom had its own version ‘620 Soultrain’ hosted by Jeffrey Daniels of Shalamar fame. We are all upset by his passing.
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@Ivie
….and the United Kingdom had its own version ’620 Soultrain’ hosted by Jeffrey Daniels of Shalamar fame.
I dont remember this at all. Was the ‘620’ its time slot or something?
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Yes 6.20 was the time it started. Here’s a You Tube clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faZLvRKZwMQ
Coincidentally Change are one of my favourite groups.
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Soultrain, was genius. It was a great experience for the black community. It was ours. Whether it be the latest dance moves or the latest fashion, Don Cornelius was a maverick. The music was awesome back then. I miss that time in entertainment where black people were expressing their beauty and style and creativity.
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The afros were just hella awesome.
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It was the hippest trip in America. RIP Don Cornelius.
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OMG, I love viewing early clips of the Soul Train line on YouTube! The sight of those Black teenagers from the 70s dancing down that line is a feast for my eyes. They are so beautiful to behold!
Don Cornelius (Rest in Peace) was both handsome and debonair, and he looked really cool in that blown out afro! The video clip of him dancing down the Soul Train line, with singer Mary Wilson of the Supremes as his partner, is simply priceless (this is my first time seeing it)!
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“You can bet your last money, it’s all going to be a stone gas honey”
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“Watu Wazuri, use Afrosheen”
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