Rhonda Love – April 1, 1967 – July 22, 2025
Rhonda Lynn Love…. What a phenomenal woman. There is a song out there that says “If life is a movie, then you are the best part.” Clearly today, we see many chapters, plot twist, turns, surprises and inspiration. As I peruse the movie that is Rhonda Lynn Love, I’d like to share a couple of observations from my perspective and also share a letter that I wrote to Rhonda.
I met Rhonda back in the day when I was a Marketing Executive with KJLH Radio. Our gospel segment was exploding when I joined the station and as the Marketing Director, it was important for me to connect with the gospel industry to keep up to date with what was going on in the sector. I’m going out there and spending time around the late Sherry Anderson’s New Life Gospel Record Store so I can understand who the best selling songs were. I’m going to the Gospel Radio Announcer Guild meetings from time to time to hear what the local industry is doing. In this period of time, gospel music is changing – a change ignited by the popularity of Kirk Franklin, the youth in gospel was changing performance paradigms with the music. Oftentimes to the chagrin of traditional church leaderships. Some of you will remember that I built a great deal of community music experiences in public spaces… Taste of Soul on Crenshaw Blvd., 4th of July Fireworks in Exposition Park, Gospel Showcase at Knotts Berry Farm. I wanted to give our community and the best artists a platform to expose their craft in the community on a professionally produced stage. My shows always featured gospel in the first two hours of each production. In all of this activity, I met a dynamic woman named Rhonda Love. She would introduce me to this awesome young gospel singer known as Markees Williams. When the jocks on KJLH would talk about gospel music, there was this super churchy, incredible organ instrumental that Cliff Winston and Aundrea Russell would play. I mean when that music bed dropped it said one thing… choich….Rhonda Love introduced us to Moses Tyson Junior .
These days we see the youth in gospel and in the churh beginning to find their voice to worship outside the box. Locally you have Brent Jones and the TP Mobb, Atone… I remember this kid out of Compton called J. Kingdom….. These are evolutionaries of gospel music culture, It’s a tsunami. Traditional church leaders aren’t real clear on how to handle this revolution some even disallowing these new gospel expressions to be celebrated inside the church walls. And so this community venue emerges out in Carson… the Dream Center – a space for the young people to come and worship in the way they feel. Yeah. That was Rhonda Love…. But then she comes with a kid that completely revolutionzed gospel music. His expressions ignited brief meetings and analysis inside the radio station. I remember the young people in the station emphatically encouraging us to embrace this new youth movement in gospel. Rhonda introduced us to Mali Music. He is a Grammy Award winner nowadays, his music all across mainstream radiowaves. Rhonda was his manager alongside his mom and dad.
But not only that, she brought us another ground breaker in the award winning Tye Tribbett. She introduced him to the world. You see, Rhonda was a trailblazer
Fast forward to years – at lease a decade, we began our collaborations. There are so many projects, adventures, exhibits and experiences in my time alongside Rhonda Love. So many… all over the world I was so proud of Rhonda at every triumph she achieved. I loved her voracious appetite for knowledge. Oh boy she would talk my head off about something she had learned after days and sometimes weeks of research. Giving me the complete unabridged version of what she had learned. I would just be like uh huh yep, that’s awesome.. and she would always end her dissertation with the “That;s something, huh”
Her research would result in our compelling livestream commemorating the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and one of my personal favs, her exploration into Juneteenth. Did youknow they celebrated Juneteenth in Mexico? I know right? That’s Something huh?
I would like to make an observation here. It must be noted that In all my years in the industry, I have never met a bigger Jackson Five/Michael Jackson fan in my life. She is that kid who camped out in front of the residence in Encino hoping to get a glimpse of the gloved one or his brothers. In fact, when Michael was the subject of a very controversial documentary, we produced a livestream event examining and debunking many of the claims on the documentary. One of the listeners was Siggy Jackson, one of MJ’s nephews and his wife – who happened to be from Long Beach – Toiya…. A beautiful friendship came about from that production.
Rhonda was also a huge and I mean huge Al Green fan. We visited Memphis and an essential part of our itinerary was to visit Rev. Al Greens church. And so we did. She knows all those jams.. reminds me of my aunt velma…
I think its important to note her impact on her City – Long Beach, CA
- DreamKreator – an active and effective arts and culture non-profit
- Arts Council for Long Beach – registered artist and a California Creative Corps designee
- Downtown Long Beach Alliance – Board member
- Leadership Long Beach – alumnus
- East Village Arts District – business owner in this area
- Art Walk in all of its forms – one of the key stakeholders and idea-givers
- VIP Records – advocate for cultural heritage and preservation
- Hip-Hop in Long Beach Exhibition – her concept and vision to document hip-hop history in Long Beach
- City of Long Beach – served in critical administrative positions including Executive Assistant to then-Mayor Robert Garcia
- Gospel music – marketer, manager and visionary
- Mental Health America – creative collaboration centered on welless through art
- All the artists and activists she met along the way
And so… Our walk together has been monumental. And again, I was and am so proud of her. I was there for her triumphs. I was there for her falls. I was there when she graduated from UCLA Extension in Entertainment Businee Management. I was there for Celebrating Excellence, where she honored black luminaries including the late Ernestine Broadus Green – who is Snoop Dogg’s mom. She honored Bill Duke…. I was there. I was there when that fateful email came confirming her cancer. I was there for nearly every doctors appointment, chemo treatment, including a trip to Mexico. I was there. I was thre till the end. And so, I share this note to Rhonda Love.
My dearest Rhonda,
Wow. As we have discussed many times between us, it is nearly unbelievable that we are here. And yet. Here we are. I know you already know that I am broken. Absolutely. But broken or no, I want to say thank you. Thank you for the times you have given me. Our eyes have beheld so many wonderful things in the earth. Our minds have produced impactful and essential arts, culture and media projects. We have been through many adventures all across the world. Without question, our collaborations together have been mostly good. And it is the good that I choose to focus on.
There is much goodness. and I hope you remember how I would like to sing to you – so here ya go:
Thanks for the times
That you’ve given me
The memories are all in my mind
And now that we’ve come
To the end of our rainbow
There’s something
I must say out loud
You’re once, twice
Three times a lady
And I love you
Peace and Blessings Rhonda Love…