A successful marriage takes a lot of hard work, compassion and compromise. While it was virtually unheard of years ago, more and more couples are getting divorced late in life. Here are 15 couples that almost stood the test of time.

WENN

When Danny Devito and Rhea Perlman met, it was a match made in heaven. The two actors tied the knot in 1982 but after 30 years of wedded bliss, Devito and Perlman announced their split in October 2012. Word on the street was Devito’s roving eye was to blame. All may be forgiven though because the couple was recently spotted together after enjoying a Hawaiian vacation. The “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” star said in a recent interview he and Perlman were working on their marriage. “Rhea and I are really close. Actually still together, just separate, but together.” At 68 and 64 they ought to be.

Making it in the music industry as a solo artist is hard enough but when there are two or more people in a group, tensions are bound to arise because mo’ money plus mo’ people equal mo’ problems. Although they made beautiful music together, these 15 popular rap and R&B groups just couldn’t set aside their differences in the long run.

Arrested Development

Afrocentric alternative hip-hop group Arrested Development became very popular in the early 90′s. Founded by Speech and his former best friend, DJ Headliner, along with Dionne Farris and spiritual leader Baba Oje, they are best known for their song “Everyday People.” In 1993 the group won Grammys for Best New Artist and Best Rap Performance. They were also tapped by Spike Lee to record a song for his “Malcolm X” biopic that same year. However, Arrested Development never eclipsed the success they had with their debut album. Their sophomore album was panned by critics and shortly after that the group broke up due to “creative differences.” The band patched things up four years later but things were never the same as they struggled to reclaim their popularity in the U.S. Today, the group continues to tour internationally and released their 10th album in 2012.

Gladys Knight will be performing on the second Soul Train Cruise Image: PRNewsFoto/Time Life via AP Images

When the folks over at Soul Train first introduced their celebrity cruise people couldn’t wait to get. The first ever Soul Train Cruise sold out in just days. Now the second one has been announced for next year.

It will set sail October 5, 2013 from San Diego and rock it ol´school with Earth, Wind & Fire, Gladys Knight, Jeffrey Osborne, The Whispers, Freddie Jackson, Sugarfoot’s Ohio Players, Jennifer Holliday, Billy Paul, ConFunkShun, Jody Watley, Regina Belle, The Bar-Kays, The Dazz Band, The Mary Jane Girls, The Original Lakeside and A Taste of Honey featuring Janice Marie. Comedian Alonzo Bodden and DJ extraordinaire Biz Markie are also confirmed.

The cruise, which is on Holland America’s m/s Westerdam, will take place over seven days and travels to Cabo San Lucas, with two days in Puerto Vallarta and a scenic cruising of Baja Magdalena. And the stop in Puerto Vallarta will include a golf tournament, so pack those clubs. In addition to the back-to-back on-board concerts, they’ve also planned beach parties, a themed ball (with the iconic Soul Train Line led by Original Soul Train Dancers), onboard games and other activities.

The Inaugural Soul Train Cruise featuring Patti LaBelle, The O’Jays and Jeffrey Osborne, is February 17 through 24.

Cabin rates for the 2013 cruise start at $1,900 per person and include all meals, concerts, entertainment and onboard activities. Tickets went on sale yesterday.

The Soul Train Cruise isn’t the only celebrity-themed cruise at sea. Tom Joyner Foundation Fantastic Voyage has also announced its 2013 offering. The party with a purpose (some of the proceeds go to the foundation’s work) will sail  from Miami April 7, 2013 and return April 14, 2013. It’s visiting San Juan and a private island in Nassau, Bahamas and will include major beach concerts.

This party at sea is more of an “old school meets new school” affair. Celebrity events include Snoop Dogg’s (Snoop Lion’s?) Pool Deck Concert with Bootsy Collins and the Funk Unity Band; Tyler Perry’s Beach Party With Earth Wind & Fire; and Jamie Foxx performs at the Fantastic Voyage White Party on the Beach. Ludacris will also be on deck.  A number of tickets have already sold out, but prices start just over $2,000 and go up to more than $5,000.

Source: atoast2wealth.com

My mother has been a super fan of Patti LaBelle for years. Before there were “stans,” there was my mom. If you just happen to be listening to music on your computer, she’ll ask you to pull up and play “On My Own.” Try and do a tribute to the singer (a la BET), and my mom turns up her face at all the singers trying to “do” Patti: “Nobody can sing a song like Patti!”

This type of love and following has made LaBelle pretty huge over her long career, and of course, somewhat of a diva. But there’s nothing wrong with a little diva-tude, right?

Wrong.

Allegedly, it was that diva-sized attitude that caused the singer to snap off on New Yorker, Roseanna Monk, and her then 18-month-old daughter, Genevieve, at the Trump Place in Manhattan in 2010. After little Genevieve was spotted by the singer “innocently” running around the lobby, according to reports, LaBelle wasn’t having it. She cursed out Monk, and her rant was enough to freak out both mother and child (and the water LaBelle threw on Monk didn’t help either). Allegedly, the child went from crying hysterically to vomiting, possibly out of fear. After the incident happened, the little girl supposedly had a change in her behavior for a few months.

I heard about this story, and the lawsuit that came as a result of LaBelle’s behavior. But this morning, while moving around and cleaning up, I saw Roseanna Monk, her husband, and her daughter Genevieve on “Inside Edition,” talking about everything that had transpired. According to Monk, she had no clue who was yelling at her and her daughter, but her husband found out and told her that it was LaBelle. The family was surprised that it was the famous singer, and decided that taking legal action would be the next best step (aka, they said “CHA CHING!”). In the end, though LaBelle initially denied that she verbally attacked Monk and her daughter, instead of going to court, the singer recently decided to settle on the whole thing for a reported $100,000. The family says they plan on giving the money to charity.

Watching the Monks on TV, and thinking about the diva-esque antics that many celebrities get accused of, I felt kind of bad. If what LaBelle was accused of was true, she was definitely way out of line and out of order for her behavior. It’s one thing to say something to someone about their children, but it’s another to curse them out until the cows come home (and throw water at that). But after taking everything in, I couldn’t help but think of the many times I’ve watched parents let their children run around and not pay attention to what they’re doing.  What would be the end result? Making complete strangers responsible for keeping these kids from falling, breaking something, or hurting someone else. As horrid as LaBelle’s alleged behavior might have been, the struggle to remain calm, cool and collected when parents let their kids go Tazmanian devil wild in public is real.

From personal experience, I’ve stood in lines and watched little kids stand up on the front basket of rolling carts in grocery stores, watched children run around and knock down clothes in stores, and seen children playing tag in a church while people were up front during service seeking prayer and comfort from a pastor. Wild, indeed. In the latter situation, it took the pastor to put attention on the fact that the children were acting a fool (“I need these children to play after service”), and when he did, it was a stranger, not their mother or guardian (he/she might have been up front with other members), who turned around, grabbed a child who didn’t hear the memo, and abruptly told her to “SIT DOWN!”

According to some, it’s not a stranger’s place to get someone in check about their children, or to check someone else’s child for that matter. But these days, it’s becoming necessary for the sake of the kid. When working in retail, I saw many children pump slippery sample lotion onto the floor (a danger to them and others), stand 0n open drawers and try and get atop fake dog decorations (thinking they were riding horses maybe?), all objects that weren’t stable in the least. I would wait for a second in the hopes that the mother busy looking for a deal would take her head out of the clearance rack from across the room, and come get her kids. When she wouldn’t, I would feel so inclined to say something, especially when I could smell a possible lawsuit looming in the horizons if I kept my mouth shut: “HEY! Uh uh. You need to get down off of that.” Only when others would look (some relieved that somebody got these children together) would a mother come, angry, tugging at her child’s arm for acting a fool and looking crazy at me for setting them straight. I would feel a little bad, but at the same time, in the back of my mind I would think of the possibility of a child getting hurt because their parent decided that keeping an eye on their child wasn’t 100 percent necessary during a big sale.

I don’t condone or make excuses for LaBelle’s alleged behavior in any way, but how many of us can knowingly say that we’ve been there? Maybe not in screeching, water-throwing form, but you get what I mean. You know the moment: ready to give someone a piece of your mind because they allow their child to think any and everywhere can be a playground. Luckily for us, we don’t have $100,000 to waste on strangers, so we take our two cents, in a more calm and sometimes even playful manner, to the child. As much as people don’t want others trying to tell them how to take care of their kids, there’s just too many people out here trying to push the cruise control button when it comes to getting children together, therefore, sometimes you have to step up and step in. As the saying goes, “It takes a village to raise a child,” but at some point, mommy and daddy have to get it together now don’t they?

If you don’t want crazy people like Patti LaBelle (no shade Patti, I’m just trying to drive my point home) getting at you about your unsupervised child, then it would be best if you kept an eye on them. That is, for the sake of their own safety, other people’s safety and everyone’s sanity.

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Source: askmen.com

How much did Patti LaBelle’s display of diva-tude cost her? One hundred thousand dollars.

Two years ago, in the lobby of the Trump Place apartment she was renting for her three-month, $50,000-a-week appearance in the Broadway musical “Fela!”, the singer broke into a profane tirade against a pregnant mom and her little girl.

According to the New York Post:

The Grammy-winning singer allegedly shouted the F-word, called the mom Roseanna Monk a “c–t,” and drenched her with bottled water after complaining that Monk’s then-18-month-old daughter was playing near the lobby door of an Upper West Side apartment building where LaBelle was staying in 2010.

When Roseanna — by then cradling her tot, Genevieve, in her arms — accused the “Lady Marmalade” singer of making the girl hysterical, an enraged LaBelle then allegedly had to be held back by her entourage and hustled into a waiting car.

Court papers said the child, now 3 1/2, has suffered “personality changes, sleep disorder” and “increased fear of strangers.”

That seems like a wild claim considering the child is three, but Patti’s lawyers knew the jury would never side with the singer. So, they settled the case before it was deposed.

After the suit wound up in Manhattan federal court last year, LaBelle denied that she was “liable in any way for any alleged claims of injury” and said the Monks were “more than 50 percent at fault.”

The family is probably not hurting for money though considering they were staying in the same building as Patti LaBelle. Still, I assumed they’d put the money in a college fund for their daughter and use compound interest to send her to school in 15 years on the singer’s dime. It turns out they’re donating the money to the Hope & Heroes Children’s Cancer Fund.

Ironically, Patti’s temper may help save another child’s life.

What do you think about this story? Does 100-thousand dollars seem like too much or too little?

Follow Alissa on Twitter @AlissaInPink

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Source: ToledoBlade.com

Forget an honorary doctorate, Aretha has her sites set on another accomplishment, being a judge on a reality TV show singing competition. The only problem is she’s not getting any offers.

In an interview with the Chicago Sun Times she said,

“I would love to be a judge on one of those shows. But I don’t understand why singers like myself, Gladys (Knight), Natalie (Cole) and Patti (LaBelle) can’t be judges.

“We never get a call. I don’t understand it. I watch those shows all the time. Some of the talent is very good. Some of it is fun. And some of it is really wild.”

You can’t say she doesn’t have a point. Other than the obvious age demographic shows like the “X Factor,” “American Idol,” “Duets,” “The Voice,” etc. are trying to cater to, when you read about someone like Britney Spears, who can’t sing at all, getting $15 million dollars and walking off set the first day, or hosts ogling over women like Nicole Scherzinger and even Kelly Rowland (no shade), who have had mediocre solo careers in comparison to Aretha and them, you have to have a”huh” moment.

The fact that Aretha is said to have a bit of a diva attitude may not be helping her case, but we all know these shows aren’t really about finding a great singer, it’s about finding someone who is marketable. Unfortunately Aretha, Patty, and Glady’s talent would just be wasted on shows like these.

What do you think? Should reality singing competitions be knocking down Aretha’s door?

Brande Victorian is the news and operations editor for madamenoire.com. Follow her on twitter @Be_Vic.

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When you think of Ms. Patti LaBelle, naturally her one-of-a-kind voice comes to mind first. Then perhaps you recall her kicking off her shoes during her epic performances. You may even think about the fact that she’s one of the last true divas we still have left these days. But when you talk about Patti LaBelle, you cannot neglect to mention the hair. One of the first black women to rock the “big hair, don’t care” look, Patti has never been afraid to experiment with her tresses. Check out some of her hairdos over the years.

Source: Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images via Essence.com

TWA 

Before Patti and her group members Nona Hendryx, Sarah Dash and Cindy Birdsong went extra extravagant with the wigs, bejeweled hair and the spritz, she kept it relatively simple. In this picture from the early ’70s, before Patti and the Blue Belles decided to take on a more flamboyant stage look, Patti rocked a short afro under some of her conservative performance wigs.

Black women have an extraordinary impact on the world, and Crystal McCrary is capturing all of those modern-day successes and triumphs in one book. Through written word and photo essays, Inspiration: Profiles of Black Women Changing Our World, tells the unique stories of 30 black women who are current game changers.

From entertainers to athletes, politicians, and business owners, this book covers black women from all social, cultural, and political walks of life, such as Betye Saar, Majora Carter, Thelma Golden, and Bethann Hardison. Well-known figures such as First Lady Michelle Obama, Ruby Dee, Patti Labelle, Shonda Rhimes, and Venus Williams are also featured.

Wesley Royce, assistant editor for ABRAMS, the publisher of the book, said throughout the book there were a few common threads woven throughout each woman’s story of success.

“These women put in an immense amount of hard work into developing their skills and they didn’t just believe in themselves— they believed in sharing their talents with the world,” he said.

Wesley also noted that no woman said they achieved their success on their own.

“They also all spoke about the importance of other strong women in their lives— whether it was their mothers or own children or friends— and the strength they drew from their support was crucial to their success.”

The book is currently available as a hardcover and for e-readers. For more information visit the ABRAMs blog. Will you check out this book?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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When Patti LaBelle tells you something, you better listen. Or you can always sue her. A New York City mother and her husband did just that after Ms. Patti scolded the woman for letting her 18-month-old toddler take steps away from her as she struggled with luggage and a car seat in the lobby of the building the singer was staying in. When the mother told LaBelle to stay out of her business, Lady Marmalade threw water on them from a bottle she was carrying and then launched into an “obscenity-filled tirade,” a lawyer for the couple said.

When the child started crying, the mother made a comment to LaBelle who reportedly charged at her and tried to hit her. A complaint was filed with the police, but no arrests were made.

This is Ms. Patti’s second lawsuit in five months. A U.S. Military Academy cadet sued her over a Houston airport scuffle with her bodyguards. He said they attacked him for no reason in March of 2010, but the singer countersued the cadet, saying he tried to get into her limousine and was drunk and using racial slurs, which he denied.

Sounds like it might be time for this diva to learn to keep her cool a little better. What do you think?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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We love to know who our favorite’s favorites are. While there are some who have nothing but criticism for the new generation of artists, Ms. Patti had nothing but praise to shower on Ledisi.

Hello Beautiful caught a moment with these two power singers and captured their thoughts on one another. Check out this precious video here.