R&B News

LOCAL R&B MEMORIES

Date: 4/3/08

KEEPING r&b ALIVE

Preserving  the Heritage

Promoting the Music

 Educating The Public

 

RIRBPS

The Four Hearts – 1953
                              Photo donated by  Thomas Jose Santos

The  Four Hearts was the first R&B recording group in Rhode Island by a New York label.  Left to right, Danny Jett, Joe Hill, Thomas Jose Santos and Thurman ( Boot) Blackwell.

 

Danny Jett later became a member of The Dipsey Doodles and The Castileers, two local recording  groups. Joe Hill later joined the Castileers and currently resides in RI. Thomas Jose Santos later formed his own local band called The Sultans, went on the road and currently reside in RI where he performs with the Preservation Hall R&B Band and as a single.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

George Lima: Member, Former Tuskegee Airman and the Founder of the Black Air Foundation

George Lima, a member and strong supporter of RIRBP, recently started the Black Air Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering minority youth through education. The organization provides hands-on training for students interested in aviation, radio, television, and filmmaking. His foundation and our Instruments for Children Program complement each other in that both empower youth through education with RIRBPS providing the music dimension. 

  George, who will turn 89 in April, was born in Fall River, MA, and lived in Harlem, NY, as a child. He graduated from Durfee High School in Fall River, Massachusetts before enrolling at North Carolina A&T, where he played football and received his pilot’s license.  In 1942, he was called to Tuskegee, Alabama, to train to become a pilot in the U. S. Army Air Corps and eventually became one of the first black pilots. He has long been a recognized civil rights activist in Rhode Island. He is a past president of the Providence chapter of the NAACP, a former state representative in the Rhode Island General Assembly, and was a labor organizer for the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees. He also received a Congressional Gold Medal for his work as a photographic officer during World War II. His long history of work with local youth is legendary. A medals presentation for the RI Tuskegee Air Men, by Congressman Kennedy, is being planned for sometime in June 2008 at the state house.  To learn more about the Black Air Foundation and how to support, email: blackairfoundation@cox.net or visit the web site at blackairfoundation.org.