Happy Birthday: Eddie Murphy (1961 - )

Eddie Murphy used to be one of the funniest men on the planet. Some villagers may remember his appearances on Saturday Night Live or his performance in the original '48 Hours' (1982) or 'Trading Places' (1983) 'Beverly Hills Cop'(1984) or 'Coming to America' (1988).





Other villagers may recall how remarkable Eddie Murphy was in his stand-up comedy routines ... especially 'Raw' (1987). At the time of its release Eddie Murphy Raw contained more uses of the "f" word than any other feature-length film, surpassing Scarface for the distinction.

Somewhere along the way he made some poor career choices that caused his star to dim in my eyes. There isn't much entertainment from him in over 20 years that is of any redeeming value. In any case, I join other villagers in wishing a happy birthday to Eddie Murphy.

Old School Friday: Eddie Murphy

I invite you to enjoy some 'grown-folks music'! Ms Grapevine and MarvalusOne have teamed up to create a weekly meme that we call, Old School Friday. It is our effort to post some music from the last millennium to relive some memories and to educate or just entertain each other.

The theme this week is 'Actor-Turned-Singer' or 'Singer-Turned-Actor'. There were actually a lot of good options. I'm old enough to remember that Janet Jackson was Penny on 'Good Times' before she brought us 'Rhythm Nation'. I remember Mos Def at age 14, in the TV movie 'God Bless the Child'. I also enjoyed him in The Cosby Mysteries, before he started his rap career. Other talented people that came to mind were Ice T, Queen Latifah and Will Smith.

However, my mind immediately went to Eddie Murphy. Eddie was a successful comic and movie star when he decided to try out his musical chops with Rick James. Did you 'Party All The Time' back in the day?