Gil Scott-Heron’s ex-wife wife, and mother of his daughter, is actress Brenda Sykes! She wasn’t a Good Times regular, but her appearance on the show was very memorable. Remember she played “Mandy,” “JJ’s” girlfriend in the episode where “Penny” set the couch on fire? The year was 1978 and everybody was going crazy over the pretty chick “Mandy” who was loving on “JJ.”
You may also remember Brenda Sykes for her role as “Ellen,” the slave who was having a weird love affair with her slave owner, “Hammond,” in the 1975 film, Mandingo.
You may also remember Brenda Sykes for her role as Jim Brown’s character, “Gunn’s” love interest in the 1972 film, Black Gunn; as “Tiffany,” who was “Doodlebug’s” (played by Antonio Fargas) woman in the 1973 movie, Cleopatra; and as “Calinda,” the slave whom was the love interest of a fellow slave, “Drum” in the 1975 film, Drum. She’s starred in several other roles throughout the 70’s but those were the ones Brenda is most known for.
Gil Scott-Heron and Brenda were married from 1978 to 1987. Their daughter is a poet by the name of Gia Scott-Heron and she’s now 35 years old. If you recall, Gill Scott-Heron had his precious little baby girl, Gia, on the cover of his 1980 album, Real Eyes. He also dedicated the song, “Your Daddy Loves You,” to Gia on that same album.
Like we mentioned earlier, Gia is continuing her father’s legacy with her love of poetry- a trait she clearly inherited from her Pops. Check out Gia reciting one of her powerful poems below.
Now of course, there are oftentimes some type of family drama among the relatives of well known celebs and a lot of times it is over money. Gill Scott-Heron’s children are no exception to that. Gil has four children, but it his son, Rumal Rackley, is the appointed administrator of his estate. After Gill passed away from unknown causes (he disclosed in 2008 that he was HIV positive) in 2011, his daughters filed papers in court stating that they do not think that Rackley is Gil’s biological child and should therefore be excluded from Gil’s estate. We’re not sure if that was ever resolved.
As far as Brenda Sykes, she remarried in 1995 to her husband, Paul C. Hudson. She now lives a quiet life far away from the entertainment industry, but she did resurface to speak at Gil Scott-Heron’s funeral. At the funeral she told a couple interesting stories about Gill Scott, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Stevie Wonder:
‘Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (who introduced her to Scott-Heron) and the poet’s friendship with Stevie Wonder. She told about how Wonder wanted to dance on stage, but didn’t trusted anyone to keep him from bumping into things. He trusted Scott-Heron though. “Gil led Stevie in a conga line,” she said, and added that they toured together after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in an effort to create the federal holiday in his memory.’ via ifc
And there you have it ILOSM family. We learn something new everyday around these parts. Now let’s end this thing with Gil Scott-Heron’s CLASSIC, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” and reminisce about the days when music actually had powerful messages that fed the souls of the people.
