Friday, July 31, 2009

Reverend Ike (1935-2009)

The famous “prosperity preacher” Reverend Ike died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 74.

The L.A. Times obituary is here.

During the 1970s, Rev. Ike became a pop-culture type unto himself – the lavish-living, charismatic black evangelist. At the height of his popularity, he had a fleet of Rolls-Royces.

Richard Pryor lampooned Rev. Ike with his character “Daddy Rich” in the movie “Car Wash.” And embedded below is Roscoe Lee Browne as “Reverend Sam” in an abbreviated episode of “Good Times.”

In recent years, Rev. Ike has been a presence on the internets. Click here to hear a 2-minute bite from a free sermon downloaded from Rev. Ike’s website.

5 comments:

bklyn6 said...

Guess he's getting his "pie in the sky", or something like that, now.

R.I.P.

Anonymous said...

I and my father met Rev. Ike in Washington D.C. in 1977. I was a faithful follower, my father wasn't. I was really inspired by his good work. He could really preach some good sermons. I will truly miss him.

sheffieldjoel@yahoo.com said...

I have known Rev. Ike for 30 years, we had our ups and downs, nonetheless, he was one of the greatest preachers, and pioneers I have ever witnessed.

Thembi Ford said...

This Roscoe Lee Browne clip scratched me where I itch.

D W JazzLover said...

I could not watch the video because I live out side. But I took my sister to see him when we were children. The man had seperate huge containers for different denominations of dollar bills! I was sinmply amazed.