July 25, 1990 The Portland Observer Page 5
i
&
Portland Observer
ENTERTAINMENT
Ben Vereen Recalls Years of
Drug Abuse
BEN VEREEN
Stage and film star Ben Vereen,
who had previously acknowledged that
he turned to drugs for solace when his
daughter, Naja, was killed in an auto
accident in 1987, has revealed that he
was no stranger to drugs at the time.
Vereen, who now lectures young­
sters around the country aginst drug
abuse, said in an interview to be pub­
lished this Sunday in PARADE that he
had been involved with drugs since the
’60s. “ It seemed like everybody was
doing them, at least in my crowd,” he
recalled. “ We live in a society that
says 5 o ’clock is happy hour. 'Y ou
really look like you need a drink or a
joint,’ “ he mimicked.
“ But sometimes what people re­
ally need is a good hug, so they know
they are loved. We didn’t understand
love. Instead, we bought into drugs.”
For years, Vereen said, “ I told
myself, 'I can handle it. It’s not han­
dling me.’ Then Naja died. Y oudon’t
want to face the loss. The addictive me
said, ' I ’m going to need some MAJOR
drugs to hide the pain.’ But the pain
just seeped away anyway.”
Describing his lowest point, Ver­
een said, “ You see yourself crawling
on the floor. You smell yourself, and
you don’t smell good, and you don’t
care. I had hit skid row in my life,
meaning I had given up. You could
have walked in and wiped me out, and
I wouldn’t have cared. Thoughts of
death danced through my mind.”
Vereen, who has four other chil­
dren, said his older daughter, Malaika,
20, finally made him realize what he
was doing to himself. “ She came
bursting into my room one day, when I
was in the heap of destruction, and
started screaming at me, 'Y o u ’ve been
like this for four months now, and Naja
wouldn’t have wanted this!” ’
Admitting that he needed help,
Vereen went to a psychiatrist and then
placed himself in adrug-treatment cen­
ter. “ I reconnected with my spiritual­
ity,” he said. “ I realized that it had
never turned from me. I had turned
from i t It motivated me and became
my rock.”
“ I felt I wasn’t enough,” he con­
tinued. “ And I am enough. If I had
loved me, I wouldn’t have gone through
all those years of substance abuse. If
you don’t love yourself, you have noth­
ing to hold onto.”
Vereen said he still grieves and
finds it hard to smile. “ Now, when I
have a problem and find myself feeling
anxious, a voice inside me says, This
too will pass.’ When I’m going through
trauma, the voice says, 'Y o u ’ve suf­
fered greater loss. This is nothing. Get
up. Get on.” ’
ACTOR BLAIR UNDERWOOD LAYS
DOWN THE LAW IN HOLLYWOOD
Debonair actor Blair Underwood
coming movie, “ Heat Wave,” explains
why he enjoys the challenge of network
continues to make his case for Holly­
wood success; Plus
p ro d u c tio n s ,
though his relation­
EM asks, “ Should
ship leaves him
You Keep Your
little time to watch
Sexual Past A Se­
TV. “The lady I’m
c re t? ” discusses
with, she’s an in­
careers in the cos­
mos with Black
credible young
lady, and she’s
astronaut Charles
very supportive,”
Bolden, Jr., explains
Underwood says.
“ How To Say Goo­
“ I’d rather just sit
dbye To Your Best
at home, or go
Girl” and heads off
somewhere with
to college with smart
her. That sounds
looks in campus
boring, but that’s
fashions, in the
m e,” he adds.
August issue.
Also in the Au­
Finding consis­
gust EM: A look
tent, quality acting
at why the roots of
roles since his first
some sexual in­
big break on TV’s
volvements should
“ The Cosby Show,”
BLAIR UNDERWOOD
remain buried, and
talented star Blair
Underwood, now entering his third sea­ America’s fourth Black astronaut Char­
les Bolden, Jr. tells why space is the
son as co-star of the weekly series, * ‘L. A.
place for future pioneers. Plus EM ex­
Law,” continues to prove that for him,
plains “ How To Say Goodbye To Your
Hollywood success is an open-and-shut
Best Girl” with respect, and reviews fall
case. Underwood, 26, whose growing
fashions for the man about campus.
roster of impressive work includes
“ Murder In Mississippi,” and the up-
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Sally Kirkland
Discusses Her Role
in Black Film "Watts"
Actress Sally Kirkland, who plays
the only major white character in a cable
television movie about the violent riots
in the Black Los Angeles ghetto of Watts
twenty-five years ago, hopes the film
will make a difference.
” 1 think with this movie we bring
some real humanity to some real prob­
lems,’ ’ Kirkland told PARADE contrib­
uting editor James Brady, who inter­
viewed her for this Sunday’s issue of the
magazine.
Kirkland play a Beverly Hills woman
for whom Cicely Tyson works as a maid.
“ I side with Cicely against my husband,
who’s white,” Kirkland said. Also star­
ring in the movie, titled “ H eatW ave” ,
are James Earl Jones and Blair Under­
wood. It was produced by the Turner
Television Network and will air August
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The Portland Observer:
R eflecting C o m m u n ity Pride
11.
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Howard Hewett is a man at peace
with himself and the world. The power
of that feeling come through on his
eponymous new album on Elektra
Records. “ It’s a little bit clearer than
the rest of my albums, “ says Howard,
“ in those days, I was searching for
things and there was a lot of craziness
in my life. This album differs in the
sense of direction, clarity, and uni­
formity.”
Bom and raised in Akron, Ohio,
Howard Hewett began performing as a
pre-teen with his family gospel group,
the Hewett Singers, and went on the
gospel road circuit with the Five Blind
Boys From Alabama,the Soul Stirrers,
Mighty Clouds of Joy, and the Staple
Singers. At the age of 14, Howard
began his shift tow ard the
secular,learn mg the bass and perform­
ing with a number of Akron R&B
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HOWARD HEWETT
bands while still in high school.
In 1976, two years after graduat­
ing from high school, Howard Hewett
moved to Los Angeles. ‘ ‘There I was at
the L.A. airport with $34.00 in my
pocket," Howard remembers, “ my only
plan was to see what I could gel into.”
He joined a show group--put together
by John D aniels-as lead vocalist play­
ing California hot-spots like Maver­
ick’s Flat and touring Europe.
In 1979, Howard got an offer to
join the top R&B group Shalamar. He
auditioned on a Saturday morning,
singing “ Feel The Fire” in a rocking
chair, and was on a plane that evening
to perform with the group on televi­
sion.
For the next six years, Howard
Hewett led Shalamar through an un­
broken chain of hit records, including
the certified-Gold albums Big Fun,
Three For Love, and Friends. How­
ard’s silky vocal also propelled singles
like “ Second Time Around” , “ Make
That Move,” * ‘For The Lover In You,”
and “ A Night To Remember” and
other top hits. Jeffrey Daniels and Jody
Watley had left the group, “ instead of
just going out on my own,” Howard
recalls, “ I fell there was still some­
thing I needed to do with Shalamar.”
With Howard Hewett at the helm, a re­
formed Shalamar recorded the group’s
final album Heartbreak and the single
“ Dancin’ In The Sheets” --which wound
up in the multi-Platinum Footloose
soundtrack. In 1985, Howard picked
up a Grammy for “ Don’t Get Stopped
In Beverly Hills,” from the Beverly
Hills Cop soundtrack.
Howard is also an accomplished
song writer, co-author of such hits as
“ Show Me’, “ Let Me Show The Love” ,
“ Let’s Get Deeper,” and others.
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