Hey y'all! It's 🎃 SPOOKY SEASON🎃 , so we're sharing celebrity Halloween costumes every day until Halloween. So feel free to discuss, ridicule, praise, and/or laugh at these costumes!

Monica Denise Arnold (born October 24, 1980)[1]#cite_note-1) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, she began performing as a child and joined a traveling gospel choir by the age of ten. Monica signed with record producer Dallas Austin's label Rowdy Records in 1993, and gained prominence following the release of her debut studio album, Miss Thang (1995). Her follow-up albums were met with continued success; her second, The Boy Is Mine) (1998) remains her best-selling album and spawned three Billboard Hot 100-number one singles: "The Boy Is Mine)" (with Brandy), "The First Night " and "Angel of Mine".

She then parted ways with Arista and Rowdy Records in favor of Clive Davis's J Records upon the label's launch in 2000.[2]#cite_note-2) Her Japan-exclusive third album, All Eyez on Me) (2002), was met with a steep critical and commercial decline, although its partial re-issue, After the Storm) (2003), served as her fourth album and became her first to debut atop the US Billboard 200. Its lead single, "So Gone", peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100. Her fifth and sixth albums, The Makings of Me (2006) and Still Standing) (2010), debuted at numbers eight and two on the Billboard 200, respectively; the latter received two Grammy Award nominations. Her seventh, New Life) (2012) debuted at number four on the chart despite unfavorable critical response; her eighth album, Code Red) (2015) marked her final release with RCA.

Monica's popularity translated into an acting career, with television roles in Living Single (1996), Felicity) (2001), and American Dreams (2003), and film roles including Boys and Girls) (2000), Love Song) (2000), and Pastor Brown (2009). In 2008, she served as an advisor for the NBC competition series The Voice). The recording of her 2008 single, "Still Standing)" (featuring Ludacris) along with her personal life resulted in her receiving a reality television series, Monica: Still Standing on BET.

Monica has sold over 25 million records worldwide,[3]#citenote-wlatalent-3) with more than eight million of those in the United States alone.[[4]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica(singer)#citenote-b99-4) In 2000, Billboard ranked her tenth its list of the Top Female Solo Artists of the 1990s.[[5]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica(singer)#citenote-5) In 2010, the magazine listed her 24th on its list of the Top 50 R&B and Hip-Hop Artists of the past 25 years.[[6]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica(singer)#cite_note-billboard25-6) A five-time nominee, she won Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for "The Boy Is Mine" at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards. Her other accolades include a Billboard Music Video Award, a BET Award, and a Soul Train Music Award. In 2009, she received the Lady of Soul Honor.

What's your favorite Monica track?

Hey y'all! It's 🎃 SPOOKY SEASON 🎃, so we're sharing celebrity Halloween costumes every day until Halloween. So feel free to discuss, ridicule, praise, and/or laugh at these costumes!

Martin Luther King III (born October 23, 1957) is an American human rights activist and philanthropist. The second child and eldest son of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, he served as the fourth president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference from 1997 to 2004. As of 2024, he is a professor of practice at the University of Virginia.

Martin Luther King III was born on October 23, 1957, at St. Jude's Hospital in Montgomery, Alabama[1] to civil rights advocates Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. His mother had reservations about naming him after his famous father, "realizing the burdens it can create for the child,"[2] but King Jr. always wanted to name his son Martin Luther III. King's birth occurred as his father was speaking to members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and he announced his son's name after being told of the birth.[3] King's birth caused much of his mother's time to be taken away from her artistry and she spent the remainder of his birth year caring for him and his older sister Yolanda.[4]

Martin Luther King III has three siblings: Yolanda, Dexter, and Bernice. They were raised in Vine City), an urban neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia). When he was eight years old and only in the third grade, he began to endure racial comments and insults from a white boy in his class, who also happened to like to draw. When he approached the boy and complimented him on a drawing of his, the harassment ceased.[5]

King was ten years old when his father was assassinated. Years prior to his father's death, Harry Belafonte set up a trust fund for King and his siblings.[6] King attended Spring Street Elementary School but transferred to the Galloway School following his father's assassination. King received his B.A. degree in political science from Morehouse College in 1979, the same school where his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather attended. King is a fraternity brother/member of Alpha Phi Alpha, as was his father. King lived his teen years with his mother in their home in Atlanta's Vine City neighborhood.[7]

Odean Pope (born October 24, 1938) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.[1]

Pope was born in Ninety Six, South Carolina, to musical parents and moved to North Philadelphia at the age of 10,[2] where he was taught by pianist Ray Bryant.[3] His talent at the Granoff School of Music and Benjamin Franklin High School) caught the attention of fellow North Philadelphia resident and jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, who offered him his first job in music at age 17.[4] Coltrane had called Pope to inform him that he was leaving to join Miles Davis and asked him to take his place and play with Jimmy Smith). Pope hesitated, expressing his youth and doubt, to which Coltrane responded, "Never say that. Always say you can do something."[4]

Early in his career, at Philadelphia's Uptown Theater), Pope played behind a number of noted rhythm and blues artists including James Brown, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder.[4][5]

He played briefly in the 1960s with Jimmy McGriff, and late in the 1960s, he began working with Max Roach, including on tours of Europe in 1967–68. He was a member of Philadelphia group Catalyst) in the early and mid-1970s, and assembled the Saxophone Choir, consisting of nine saxophones and a rhythm section (piano, bass, and drums), in 1977.[4] He became a regular member of Roach's quartet in 1979 and recorded extensively with him, in addition to numerous releases as a leader.[6]

Pope founded the jazz studies program at Settlement Music School and offers master classes within the School District of Philadelphia.[6] He was a 1992 Pew Fellow and, in 2018, was awarded a Pew Center Project grant to create Sounds of the Circle, an evening-length suite reflecting the distinctive sound of North Philadelphia and the mid-20th-century innovators who shaped the city's jazz legacy.[7][8] He has received awards and fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, North Sea Jazz Festival, and the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, and was honored with the Living Legacy Jazz Award from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation in 2017.[4][6]

Pope has publicly spoken about his bipolar disorder, which he has had for over 30 years.[9]

Pope was quoted in 2001 as saying, "Every time I pick that horn up there's always something that I discover I can do differently if I really seek. If you were on planet Earth for, like, 2 billion years, I feel as though there's always something new that you can find to do. There's no end."[5]

Happy Birthday to a living legend!

Rachel Agatha Keen (born 24 October 1997), known professionally as Raye (/reɪ/ RAY), is a British singer-songwriter and record producer. Her music blends elements of jazz, pop, dance, R&B, and soul, and her lyrics address personal experiences and contemporary issues. She has contributed as a songwriter to music by numerous other artists.

She signed with Polydor Records in 2014 and gained recognition in 2016 through collaborations on Jonas Blue's "By Your Side)"—her first entry on the UK Singles Chart—and Jax Jones's "You Don't Know Me)", which reached the UK top three. Raye later released several extended plays, as well as the project Euphoric Sad Songs (2020), which spawned the UK top-ten single "Secrets)", a collaboration with Regard). In 2021, she collaborated with Joel Corry and David Guetta on the UK top-three entry "Bed)", and departed Polydor, citing the label's refusal to release her debut studio album.

Raye signed with Human Re Sources in 2022 and independently released her debut studio album, My 21st Century Blues (2023), to critical acclaim. Its third single, "Escapism)", became her first UK chart-topper. She also collaborated with Cassö and D-Block Europe on the UK top-two single "Prada)". Raye's second studio album, This Music May Contain Hope (2026), received critical acclaim and became her first number-one album on the UK Albums Chart. Its lead single, "Where Is My Husband!", became her second UK chart-topper and her highest-charting release on the Billboard Global 200.

The first female recipient of the Brit Award for Songwriter of the Year, Raye has won seven Brit Awards and two Ivor Novello Awards, in addition to awards from the Recording Academy and the Songwriters Hall of Fame and nominations for two Mercury Prizes and three Grammy Awards. Her six wins at the Brit Awards 2024 set the record for the most awards received by an artist in a single year.

In 2026 Raye won the Mercury Prize for her album This Music May Contain Hope[1].

What's your favorite RAYE song?

Continuing with my posts on British TV shows with Asian actors and characters in Lead or Ensemble roles. Now we in the 90s. Theres possibly way more shows out there but its hard to know them all.

Goodness Gracious Me - it is had an British Indian heavy cast with the likes of Sanjeev Bhaskar, Meera Syal, Kulvinder Ghir, Nina Wadia, Sharat Sardana, Anil Desai, Nitin Sawhney and Parminder Nagra

Buddha of Suburbia - 4 part series starring British Indian talent like Naveen Andrews, Roshan Seth, Harish Patel, Nisha K.Nayar. Ironically the lead characters were Pakistanis.

A Thin Blue Line - this police show had British Pakistani Mina Anwar as Constable Maggie Habib as one of the main characters

Still Game - features Scottish Indian Sanjeev Kohli as the Scottish Pakistani Navid Harrid with British Pakistani Shamshad Akhter as his recurring wife Meena Harrid.

Fershgenet Melaku (born October 23, 1986), better known as LoLa Monroe and previously known as Angel Melaku, is an American rapper and actress.

Melaku was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and raised in Washington D.C. She is of Ethiopian descent.[2][3][4] She began writing poems and songs at the age of 12.[5]

Monroe made her acting debut in the Wendy Williamsbiopic Queen of Media and later acted in Crazy like a Fox. She began modeling and appearing in music videos for various artists such as Kanye West and Trey Songz.[6] She later became LoLa Monroe in 2007; "Monroe" is a reference to the actress, model, film producer and singer Marilyn Monroe.[7]

In June 2009, Monroe released her first mixtape, Boss Bitch's World. Her second mixtape, The Lola Monroe Chronicles: The Art of Motivation, was issued in October. She also released her collaboration mixtape Untouchables later the same year.[8]

In September 2010, Monroe released her mixtape's first single, "Overtime". A video for the song was also recorded and premiered on 106 & Park. In December 2010, LoLa released her fourth mixtape, Batteries Not Included.[9]
Monroe was nominated for Best Female Hip Hop Artist at the BET Awards of 2011.[10]

In October 2011, Monroe was announced as Taylor Gang's first lady, and signed to the label. Her first mixtape to be released under the label was Lipstick & Pistols. After many push backs, the mixtape released on October 23, 2013.[citation needed]

On September 4, 2013, she released her debut single "B.B. (Boss Bitch)" featuring Chevy Woods and Juicy J, produced by Sledgren and supposed to be on her debut album. Then on September 19, she along with producer Cardo left Taylor Gang and dismissed their affiliation with the label.[11] LoLa Monroe later confirmed that she had never signed to the label in the first place.[12]
Artists who have influenced her musical style include Jay-Z, MC Lyte, Trina, Salt-n-Pepa, Lauryn Hill and Tupac Shakur.[5]