1959

Jonathan "Johnny" Kemp (August 2, 1959 – April 16, 2015) was a Bahamian singer. 

Kemp began singing in nightclubs in the Bahamas at 13. He moved to New York in 1979 with the band Kinky Fox. His self-titled debut album came out in 1986, and he scored a minor hit with Just Another Lover. True success came the following year, however, with the release of his Secrets of Flying album, which contained a pair of Top 40 hits on the US Billboard R&B chart, "Dancin' with Myself" and "Just Got Paid", the latter hitting #1.

"Just Got Paid" hit the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988, and sold over a million singles in the United States. It went to top the Hot Dance Music/Club Play, and provided his only UK Singles Chart entry, peaking at #68 in August 1988. His only other Hot 100 entry was "Birthday Suit", a tune from the soundtrack to the movie, Sing which climbed to #36 in 1989.

Kemp appeared on the 2007 DVD release by Keith Sweat entitled Sweat Hotel Live. The DVD featured live performances by Sweat in a sort of reunion with other R&B/new jack swing era pioneers of the late 1980s, including Teddy Riley. Kemp appeared on the final track, an "all-star finale" rendition of "Just Got Paid", originally recorded at a February 2006 concert in Atlanta, Georgia.  Incidentally, Sweat had initially passed on the instrumental track that would eventually become "Just Got Paid", when it was first offered to him in the mid-1980s. Kemp listened to it, added his own lyrics to the melody, and "Just Got Paid" was born.

Kemp was the featured performer (singing "Just Got Paid") at the NJS4E event in New York on September 8, 2007. As the name implied, the show celebrated and commemorated 20 years of new jack swing, and took place at Ashford & Simpson's Sugar Bar.

Kemp was married and the father of two sons.

According to news reports, Johnny Kemp died during the week of April 16, 2015. On Thursday morning, April 16, 2015, his body was found floating in the water of Montego Bay, Jamaica, according to Jamaica police. The cause or exact date of death has not yet been determined. He was 55 years old.

While he was scheduled to be on the Tom Joyner Foundation-hosted annual Fantastic Voyage cruise as a performer when his body was found, reports state he did not board the ship.

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Unity Dow (b. April 23, 1959, Botswana) was a Motswana judge, human rights activist and writer currently serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.  She came from a rural background that tended toward traditional values. She successfully challenged the law that argued that citizenship was inherited by children from the fathers and not from their mothers. She also went to court to argue that a gay rights group was legal and not unconstitutional in the law of Botswana.

Dow studied law at the University of Botswana and Swaziland (LLB 1983), which included two years spent studying at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.  Her Western education caused a mixture of respect and suspicion.

In 1991, Unity Dow co-founded the private Baobab Primary School in Gaborone and she co-founded the first AIDS-specific NGO in the country, "AIDS ACTION TRUST."

Dow earned her acclaim as a lawyer particularly through her stances on women's rights. She was the plaintiff in a case that allowed the children of women with Botswana citizenship by foreign national fathers to be considered citizens of Botswana (Attorney General of Botswana v. Unity Dow (1992).  Before this case, according to tradition and prior precedent, nationality only descended from the father. She later became Botswana's first female High Court judge. She was also co-founder of the first all-female law practice Dow, Malakaila, and was one of the founding members of the women's organization Emang Basadi.

As a novelist, Dow published five books. These books often deal with issues concerning the struggle between Western and traditional values and also involve her interest in gender issues and her nation's poverty.  Dow contributed to the book Schicksal Afrika (Destiny Africa) by the former German President Horst Koehler in 2009. In May 2010, she published her book, Saturday is for Funerals, which describes the AIDS problem in Africa.  

In 2005, Unity Dow became a member of a United Nations mission to Sierra Leone to review the domestic application of international women's human rights. On December 13, 2006, she was one of three judges who ruled on the acclaimed Kgalagadi (San, Bushmen or Basarwa) court decision, concerning the rights of the San to return to their ancestral lands.

In 2007, Unity Dow became a Member of a special mission at the invitation of the Rwandan Government and United Nations special court for Rwanda. The purpose of this mission was to review the Rwandan Judiciaries preparedness to take over the hearing of the 1994 genocide cases.

Dow was a visiting professor of Law at the Columbia University School of Law in New York, during the fall semester 2009, and at Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, 2009, and University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2009.

After retiring from the High Court Botswana in 2009, after 11 years of service, she opened the legal firm "Dow & Associates" in Botswana in February 2010. Dow was also sworn in as Justice of the IICDRC (Interim Independent Constitutional Dispute Resolution Court) of Kenya by the Kenyan President to help implement the new constitution of Kenya.

On July 14, 2010, Dow was awarded the Medal of the Legion d'honneur de France by representatives of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy for her human rights activities.

At the Women of the World Summit in March 2011 and 2012 in New York, Unity Dow was mentioned as one of 150 women who shake the world.

Unity Dow also served as Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists. She was first elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2009. In 2006 she was also elected to the Executive Committee and subsequently re-elected in 2008. In March 2011 she was elected the Chairperson of the Executive Committee, succeeding Dr. Rajeev Dhayan, of India, effective from June 2011 to June 2012.

Unity Dow is the only motswana listed under the world recognized feminists for her advocacy for women rights from the period of 1940 to present.

On 6 July 2012 Dow was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council as one of three independent experts to conduct a fact-finding mission on how Israel's West Bank settlements affect Palestinians. A preliminary version of the report was published on January 31, 2013.

In 2013, Dow decided to enter politics. On October 28, 2014. Dow was nominated by former President Ian Khama of Botswana as "special elected member of parliament" and confirmed by the new 11th Parliament of Botswana. Dow was also appointed Assistant Minister of Education in the Government of Botswana, responsible for Higher / Tertiary Education and Skills Development.

On November 14, 2014, Dow was successful in representing LEGABIBO, the Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals of Botswana in a trial versus the State of Botswana to register LEGABIBO as an organization in Botswana. Previously the State had refused the registration on arguments it would be unconstitutional. On March 1, 2015, Dow was appointed Minister of Education and Skills Development in the Government of Botswana.

After the inauguration of the fifth President of Botswana Mokgweetsi E. Masisi on April 1, 2018, Unity Dow took over as Minister of Infrastructure and Housing Development in the Government of Botswana. On June 20, 2018, in a cabinet reshuffle, she was named Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation. After re-election of Dr. Mokgweetsi E. Masisi on November 1, 2019 as President of Botswana, Unity Dow was reconfirmed as Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation by the 12th parliament of Botswana.