Worked with Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin

The man who helped make Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett soul music legends has died at age 91. Wexler, who helped produce hits including Franklin’s “Respect” and many other notable tunes by seminal Black recording artists, passed away last week at his Florida home. Richard Schiff portrays Wexler in the 2004 feature film Ray, starring Jamie Foxx.

Disney wants Spike Lee to shut up

Execs backing a forthcoming Spike Lee flick agree with Clint Eastwood that Lee should “shut his mouth.” Lee recently called out Eastwood for the lack of Black actors in two of Eastwood’s war movies, in an obvious attempt to draw attention to Lee’s forthcoming Miracle at St. Anna, a film about Black soldiers in Europe during World War II. Eastwood dissed Lee in return, before Lee called him “an angry old man.” But Disney’s afraid that Miracle at St. Anna, starring actor Michael Ealy, could possibly lose recognition, Lee tells Entertainment Weekly. “I get the thing, ‘Well Mr. Eastwood is so well-beloved,’ and this may have ramifications at Academy time,’” Lee says. “But it’s over. I said what I had to say. He believes what he believes. And that’s that.”

Diddy drops two new fragrances. After succeeding with Unforgivable – aided by the controversy over a sexually suggestive commercial – Diddy’s back with more in the fragrance department. The I Am King cologne has been announced as Sean John’s next product. I Am Queen will follow as the fragrance for women – or for men who want to smell, well…different. Macy’s will begin selling the new cologne in December, just in time for Christmas. New reality show, new colognes and new money – what a combination.

Under media pressure, Rep. Charles Rangel gives up his cheapie luxury apartment

The head of a powerful congressional committee, who has been under fire for getting a $4,000- to $5,000-per-month break on his four-apartment Harlem complex, says he will move his office from one of the rent-secure units. A developer has allowed Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), who heads the House Ways and Means Committee, to lease four luxury apartments for rock-bottom prices at a time when tenants are being evicted from rent-stabilized apartments throughout New York City, The New York Times reports. A one-bedroom unit he used for his office was paid for with money from his re-election fund and from a political action committee, according to the Times. However, City and state law stipulates that rent-stabilized apartments must be used as primary residences only. Because the unit is rent-stabilized, Rangel, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, paid $630 instead of $1,700 per month or higher, the newspaper reports. Last week, Rangel said there was nothing improper with him having three rent-stabilized apartments, which are all adjacent on the 16th floor, according to the Times. But he said he would review the legality of his using the fourth apartment for his office. Rangel paid $3,894 rent for the four apartments, while the Lenox Terrace Web site lists similar rental units for $7,465 to $8,125 per month, the Times reports. In a complaint filed to the Federal Election Commission on Monday by the National Legal and Policy Center, the group’s chairman, Ken Boehm, said, “If a powerful congressman can receive significant corporate in-kind contributions year after year while failing to disclose those contributions, the message being sent is that the law is a sham.”