LOS ANGELES (AP) – Don Cornelius, creator of the long-running TV dance show “Soul Train,” shot himself to death Wednesday morning at his home, police said. He was 75.

Officer responding to a report of a shooting found Cornelius at his Mulholland Drive home at around 4 a.m., police said.

He was pronounced dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at 4:56 a.m. at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said Los Angeles County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter.

“Soul Train” began in Chicago as a local program in 1970 and aired nationally from 1971 to 2006. It brought the best R&B, soul and later hip-hop acts to TV and had teenagers dance to them. It was one of the first shows to showcase African-Americans prominently, although the dance group was racially mixed. Cornelius was the first host and executive producer.

The Soul Train Awards plan to return to the air after a two-year hiatus to recognize those who helped shape R&B music.

Record executive Antonio “L.A.” Reid, singers Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, Chaka Khan and Charlie Wilson will be honored on the two-hour music special to be taped in Atlanta.

The awards are scheduled to air Nov. 29 on Centric – a new channel jointly operated by the BET and MTV Networks divisions of Viacom.

Actors Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard will co-host the awards first started by Don Cornelius, the creator of the syndicated music show “Soul Train.”

The last awards show was held in 2007 in California.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) – Don Cornelius, creator of the long-running TV dance show “Soul Train,” shot himself to death Wednesday morning at his home, police said. He was 75.

Officer responding to a report of a shooting found Cornelius at his Mulholland Drive home at around 4 a.m., police said.

He was pronounced dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at 4:56 a.m. at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said Los Angeles County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter.

“Soul Train” began in Chicago as a local program in 1970 and aired nationally from 1971 to 2006. It brought the best R&B, soul and later hip-hop acts to TV and had teenagers dance to them. It was one of the first shows to showcase African-Americans prominently, although the dance group was racially mixed. Cornelius was the first host and executive producer.

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METUCHEN, N.J. (AP) – Robert Hegyes, the actor best known for playing Jewish Puerto Rican student Juan Epstein on the 1970s TV show “Welcome Back Kotter” has died. He was 60

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Johnny Otis, the “godfather of rhythm and blues” who wrote and recorded the R&B classic “Willie and the Hand Jive” and for decades evangelized black music to white audiences as a bandleader and radio host, has died. He was 90.

LAS VEGAS (AP) – Jimmy Castor, a New York funk and soul saxophonist, singer and songwriter whose tune, “It’s Just Begun,” morphed over 40 years into an anthem for generations of hip-hoppers and mainstream musical acts, died of apparent heart failure in a Las Vegas hospital, family members said Tuesday. He was 71.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Etta James, the feisty R&B singer whose raw, passionate vocals anchored many hits and made the yearning ballad “At Last” an enduring anthem for weddings, commercials and even President Obama, died Friday. She was 83.

SAN DIEGO (AP) – Lew Bush, the former San Diego linebacker who played for the Chargers for seven seasons and was part of their lone Super Bowl team in 1994, died Thursday. He was 42.

Bush, who also played for the Kansas City Chiefs, died of an apparent heart attack, the Chargers said in a statement.

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