My friend, singer-songwriter Paulette McWilliams, shares the story behind her lush holiday ballad “Pink Champagne” on the Black Muse video podcast.
This song is more than just a tune; it’s a heartfelt tribute to anyone facing the challenges of heartbreak during the holidays.
“Pink Champagne” by Paulette McWilliams and Ivan Hampden Jr. has been making waves, earning the title of ‘Christmas Song of the Week’ on UGONE Radio with host Toni B .
Toni B’s UGONE Radio Show
It has also been added to RhythmAndSoul‘s festive playlist and will be featured on Steve Quirk’s Fusion Flavour’s Christmas Eve show.
Be sure to subscribe to Black Muse’s YouTube channel, hosted by Clarence Waldron, to hear Paulette reflect on her incredible journey in music, the new documentary “Luther: Never Too Much,” and her collaborations with Bette Midler, Johnny Mathis, Marvin Gaye, and Aretha Franklin.
To top it all off, she showcases her stunning vocals by performing a few signature riffs that will leave everyone wanting more.
Enjoy the FANDROSS: The Joy of a Luther Christmas Special on YouTube. Luther’s friends and fans treat you to some of his most cherished Christmas songs, entertaining you through their beautiful interpretations.
This fantastic holiday special, available on-demand to see, features his former vocalists and collaborators, Lisa Fischer, Pat Lacy Aikens, Kevin Owens, and Terry Steele; his former assistant, Max Szadek; performances from friends and FAN greetings from around the globe, this will warm your heart, celebrate the season and remind you why Luther was a master singer and songwriter.
This November, we’re sharing gift ideas to help you live life to the fullest in Divabetic’s Gift Guide.
Gift-giving can be stressful, especially when you’re shopping for someone’s wellness and are committed to finding the perfect present. We’ve rounded up our favorites from practical to “just because” for 2023 with exclusive discounts for you to enjoy. You’ll find many options we hope to infuse a little bit of joy or ease into your daily diabetes life. We sourced gift ideas from our community members, including people living with diabetes and professionals who work with people with type 1, type 2, and prediabetes.
Let us know what you think of our suggestions, and feel free to email me with your favorites, too —after all, you’re the expert on what will put a smile on your loved one’s face.
During this fun-filled Baking Party on Zoom, The Diabetic Pastry Chefprepares a holiday Sugar-Free Dessert recipe, demonstrates her favorite kitchen tools, and shares expert baking tips for substituting sugar substitutes and alternative flours in recipes.
Win a Splenda Baking Kit! Plus, gifts courtesy of Best-Selling Author Tonya Kappes’s Camper Cozy Mystery and Peak 10 Skin‘s Save My Sole Foot Rescue Cream during Mr. Divabetic’s random drawings. You must be present at our Baking Party to enter our gift drawings to win.
Celebrate National Diabetes Awareness Month with us. Over 150 people have participated in our past Divabetic Baking Partieson Zoom, so don’t miss out!
The Holidays are full of surprises— especially after Mr. Divabetic gets a new job as the pastry chef at the St. Nicholas Nursing Home nestled in a cozy Christmas Village. But adjusting to life in a Christmas Village is not all sugarplums and candy canes. Especially when a cantankerous resident, a real-life Ebenezer Scrooge, named Mr. Pincher almost dies——shortly after eating one of Max’s peanut butter swirl brownies. Despite all of the ingredients for danger, Mr. Divabetic along with our team of amateur sleuths and his overly protective mother — set out to find the real culprit in the hopes that his name isn’t on a lethal naughty list.
Our story was inspired by Kevin Houdeshell’s tragic true-life story. Thanks to the Houdeshell family for their advocacy efforts on behalf of the Emergency Insulin Act of 2019 and the emergency prescription refill legislation. Known as Kevin’s or Howdy’s Law, it allows pharmacists to dispense an emergency supply of a chronic maintenance medication if the doctor cannot be reached – a common-sense act that could save a life.
Starring Max ‘Mr. Divabetic’ Szadek, USA Best Selling Author Tonya Kappes, Mama Rose Marie, Patricia Addie Gentle, Terri Seidman, MaryAnn Nicolay, Trisha Artman, Catherine Schuller, Chef Robert Lewis, Seveda Williams, and Wendy Radford. Special thanks to the Houdeshell family, and Pharmacist Mandy Reece. Original music by Ivan Hampden Jr., Celine Dion’s vocals courtesy of SONY Music. Produced by Leisa Chester Weir.
In the spirit of Scrooge’s awakening at the end of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, we encourage you to honor Christmas in your heart by living in the Past, The Present, and the Future. Try to embrace the Spirits of all Three and the lessons that they teach.
Divabetic encourages you not to let diabetes dim your holiday spirit with musical inspiration from Mariah Carey.
Mariah Carey’s “Merry Christmas” album is the best-selling Christmas album of all time. Merry Christmas boasts a variety of musical arrangements, sounds, and genres. Mariah Carey’s goal during recording was to provide an album with a “Christmas feel,” providing a mixture of soulful tracks and fun and joyous holiday treats.
In the years since its original release, All I Want for Christmas Is You has become established as a Christmas standard; it was once called “one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon.
All I Want for Christmas Is You logs its ninth total week atop the Hot 100 and becomes the first song to have led in four distinct runs on the ranking. As a result, the singer-songwriter has broken the record by hitting the number one spot in 2019 (for three weeks), 2020 (two), and 2021 (three). The 1994 track is the first song to have led at No. 1 at four different times.
Having diabetes shouldn’t stop you from enjoying holiday celebrations and travel. With some planning and a little preparation, you can stay healthy on the road and at holiday gatherings with friends and family.
Preparation is the essential step in managing diabetes during holiday travel and festivities. Know what you’ll be eating, how to enjoy a few traditional favorites while sticking with a healthy meal plan, and how to pack necessary supplies for a trip, and you’re ready to celebrate!
Guests include Poet Lorraine Brooks, the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach, Unleash Your Inner Diabetes Dominator Author Daniele Hargenrader, CEO of Insulcloud Jose Luis, and Mama Rose Marie.
Throughout the podcast, we feature musical selections from Mariah Carey’sMerry Christmas album courtesy of SONY Music.
Please help me toast the holidays by listening to my new Christmas song, Pink Champagne, by Ivan Hampden Jr. and Paulette McWilliams.
The song is a passionate story of self-love and a woman’s journey from victim to victor at Christmastime. A mindset that I hope anyone who feels brokenhearted can find comfort in.
Breakups are hard. But the holidays seem to magnify the loneliness of heartaches: parties with everyone coupled up, romantic Christmas music and movies, and those annual Christmas letters brimming with friends’ burgeoning families. The airwaves are filled with upbeat holiday classics leaving little room for sadness and contemplation.
Take it from me, you can’t experience the joy of the holidays unless you let go of the painful emotions instead of holding them in. Hopefully, Pink Champagne can help bring joy and help those of us experiencing the same to move on during the holidays.
If you like my new release, Pink Champagne. please ‘like’ and share
Pink Champagne’s lyrics came to me from binge-watching Hallmark Holiday movies. After watching three or more of these films (!) I longed to see more about the breakup that led to the main character returning to her hometown and finding her soul mate. This is why Pink Champagne’s main character is a woman ending her relationship at Christmastime on her terms.
Paulette’s voice has so many rich, sophisticated and varied textures and tones; I knew she had more than enough talent to capture the character’s essence. She created the song’s melody and phrasing, filling my words with raw emotion.
Ivan’s incredible musicianship took over from there. He polished the track, adding a lush, elegant orchestration worthy of our former friend, colleague, and employer Luther Vandross.
“When I received the story from Max, I quickly thought of the connection “Pink Champagne” has to Nancy Wilson’s “Guess Who I Saw Today, ” says Ivan Hampden Jr. He adds, “The classy breakup song and one of her biggest hits. It also brought back memories of being on the stage performing with Eartha Kitt, an amazing storyteller, through her songs, particularly her rendition of “All By Myself.”
Feeling ‘blue’ while the rest of the world is acting ‘merry’ isn’t ideal for anyone. Especially if the proverb, “misery loves company,” rings true. I hope anyone with a broken heart finds some comfort in our song, “Pink Champagne.”
Singer Anthony Hamilton has a lot to be thankful for this holiday season including his health.
“The Covid-19 pandemic and fully recovering from the virus has taught him to appreciate life,” he tells DRUM.
“It’s taught me to be thankful that you are healthy and have people you can depend on. Nurture those because we will need each other through time. Rest is important and it doesn’t take a lot to create. You don’t have to run around and wear yourself out. Prioritize yourself and make quality moves,” he says.
Anthony Hamilton’s goal was to avoid cliché and not repeat the formulas that shaped holiday records for years on his Christmas album,Home for the Holidays.
“The mundane songs that have been recorded over and over again, I really didn’t want to do that,” he says. “I didn’t want it to be so sterile that you couldn’t feel the personality. And I wanted it to be true to who I am as an artist.”
Anthony Hamilton thought about where he’d come from and applied it to the music. Instead of a traditional arrangement for “The Little Drummer Boy,” he told producer Kelvin Wooten, “Let’s put a little Outkast to it.” And for the title track, he called in a friend — singer Gavin DeGraw — to add a different flavor to the music.
The happy healthcare host, Mr. Divabetic rings in the holiday season with inspiration from Grammy® Award winner Anthony Hamilton on Divabetic’s popular monthly podcast. Guests include Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDCES, Susan Weiner RD, MSN, CDCES, CDN, Dr. Beverly S. Adler PhD, CDCES, Author Lisa Eugene, Poet Lorraine Brooks, and Mama Rose Marie. This fast-paced, fun-filled hour of diabetes education and wellness advice focuses on healthy celebrations for the holidays.
Enjoy Anthony Hamilton’s performance of ‘Home For The Holidays.’
Keep an ear out for Anthony Hamilton’s “Superstar” featuring Jennifer Hudson on his new album, Love Is The New Black. “It’s such a beautiful rendition, and it pays homage to the late, great Luther Vandross,” Anthony Hamilton tells City Metro.
Anthony Hamilton’s T.A.S.T.E Foundation’s mission is to address some of the most widespread issues facing the Black community in his home state of North Carolina and around the country such as hunger, homelessness, health, mental health, foster care, and education.
We’re talking about Weight Loss Journeys & Diabetes with musical inspiration from Jennifer Hudson on this episode of Divabetic’s monthly podcast.
We’ve watched Jennifer Hudson soar to stardom as her powerhouse pipes have taken her from American Idol back in 2004 to coveted roles in film, theater and TV, including as a judge on The Voice. Throughout that journey, the singer has also had another major life change: She went from a size 16 to a size 6, dropping 80 pounds. The star followed poor dieting practices and finally chose to approach her weight loss in a healthy way after giving birth to her son, David.
While studies show most people who drop significant pounds regain the weight they lose, Jennifer Hudson has managed to keep her svelte figure for the past nine years.
“I’m very careful and cautious of what I’m eating, so I just try to pace those meals throughout the day,” said Jennifer Hudson.
Jennifer Hudson supports the Barbara Davis Center (BDC). BDC’s mission is to provide state-of-the-art care to children and adults with type 1 diabetes and to teach patients how to prevent or delay complications. Their research is devoted to finding prevention, cure, and most effective treatment of diabetes and associated disorders.
Guests include Vanessa Hunter, Dr. Wendy Rapaport PsyD, Dr. Stewart Harris, Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE, and Autumn Reed.
Throughout this podcast we will be featuring music from Jennifer Hudson’s self-titled album, ’Jennifer Hudson’ courtesy of SONY Music.
Meghan Trainor has been diagnosed with gestational diabetes during her pregnancy. The singer is set to welcome her baby boy in early February.
Approximately 2-5% of pregnant women develop gestational diabetes according to the American Pregnancy association. this number may increase to 7-9% of mothers who are more likely to have risk factors. The screening for this disease usually takes place between your 24th and 28th week of pregnancy.
The 26-year-old mum to be is just two months away from welcoming her bundle of joy but now has to take extra care with her blood sugar levels as a result.
Gestational diabetes is diabetes diagnosed for the first time during pregnancy. It is a temporary (in most cases) form of diabetes in which the body does not produce adequate amounts of insulin to regulate sugar during pregnancy. It may also be called glucose intolerance or carbohydrate intolerance.In women with gestational diabetes, blood sugar usually returns to normal soon after delivery.
“It was just the unknowing. I didn’t know what it was. It’s like a genetics thing. My mom had it and she didn’t even give me a full warning.”
The songstress added: “I just watch what I eat now. I write everything now, I check my blood. And we’re good now. I’ve been crushing it.
If you’ve had gestational diabetes, you have a higher risk of getting type 2 diabetes. You’ll need to be tested for changes in blood sugar more often.
Tonight, we’re talking about BODY IMAGE & DIABETES with musical inspiration from Meghan Trainor. Guests include Chef Robert Lewis aka ‘The Happy Diabetic’ , the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach (Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE), Style Blogger Doris Hobbs, Emmy Award winning Producer Linda Bracero Morel, Poet Lorraine Brooks and Mama Rose Marie. Throughout the podcast we will be playing selected songs from Meghan Trainor’s “Thank You” album courtesy of SONY Music.
