10 Hottest Couples - African American celebrities

Ebony, Feb, 2000 by Joy Bennett Kinnon

THEY'VE got "Staying Power" in the Barry White sense.

They live the "One Love" Bob Marley championed.

They are the 10 hottest couples in Black America.

They're the A-list, the Dream Team, and when they're together at any gathering, heads turn, ears bend and eyes follow.

The Mayor and the Anchorwoman. The Maestro of Love and the Assistant. A Basketball Jones and a Broadway Star. A Powerful Politician and an Entertainment Attorney. The Singer and the Scion of the Reggae legend. An Actor and an Actress with a 25-plus-year union. (And they said it wouldn't last.) Tell the haters and the naysayers what Black America has known all along--it's all about love.

Included on the EBONY 2000 hot couples list are three newlywed couples: Actress Vanessa L. Williams and Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Rick Fox, singer Tamia and Detroit Pistons star Grant Hill, and New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial and his newswoman bride, Michelle Miller. New on the list this year are actress Halle Berry and singer Eric Benet, the legendary Barry White and his new ladylove Katherine Denton, comedian Sinbad and his constant companion, Sybil, superstar Lauryn Hill and fiance Rohan Marley, U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) and entertainment attorney Jennifer Baltimore, ER star Eriq LaSalle and his fiancee, corporate consultant Angela Johnson, and veteran actors, Samuel L. Jackson and LaTanya Richardson, who have been together for more than 25 years.

These powerful couples are dedicated to justice and to their professions and to each other. Not always conventional, but always on time, they share a passion not only for bright lights but also for the art of directing light and love into the shadows. They begin the new century the same way Black America left the last one--committed to each other and to the future.

Halle Berry & Eric Benet

This coosome twosome has been spotted cuddling in Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Detroit and St. Thomas, but the high-profile actress and her equally high-profile singer beau are playing it coy when it comes to confirming the rumor that they are engaged. What can be confirmed is that they are indeed a couple. Berry told EBONY, "I've been a big fan of Eric's music since his first record came out, and we really just hit it off as people. We're very good friends." Following Berry's triumphant portrayal of Dorothy Dandridge in the HBO special last year, Benet escorted her to several of the movie's premieres around the country. Check out the audience when Benet is singing, Berry is often cheering him on. Will this one last? Only they know for sure.

Barry White & Katherine Denton

Two things make Barry White happiest: loving someone and making music. Today he's doing both. The Maestro of Love is sharing his life and love these days with his assistant of five years, Katherine Denton. Although he has said he'll never marry again, White told one publication that marriage may "very possibly" be in the stars with Denton, who shares his San Diego marina-side home. "I've found that a good relationship is all about sharing your mind as well as your time with another human being," White says in his new book, Barry White, Love Unlimited, insights on fife & love. He calls his new love "one of the sweetest" women he has ever known and says she is "without games and always willing to listen and learn." Busier than ever, White celebrates 40 years in show business this year and is negotiating for a movie of his life and planning a millennium world tour.

Grant Hill & Tamia

The courtship of singer Tamia and Detroit Pistons star Grant Hill was a very private affair, so when the couple married, the event was very hush-hush. What is known is that singer Anita Baker played matchmaker and first introduced the couple at a singing contest in Detroit. Grant told the Detroit Free Press, "I kind of knew that this was the one. I've dated a few people but never really had that chemistry. But when I first met my fiancee, it was like we had known each other for a long time." The couple, who make their home in Detroit, honeymooned at the Four Seasons Resort in Bali. Tamia has a new album due out early this year.

Vanessa L. Williams & Rick Fox

It's difficult to say who was more upset with the news of the Williams-Fox nuptials--her male fans or his female fans. The strikingly handsome couple had been turning heads for months by the time they signed up to play one-on-one for life in a Manhattan church last September. Fox, the 6-foot-7 NBA forward, has been with the Los Angeles Lakers since 1997. Williams, a singer, Broadway star and film actress, is set to star opposite Samuel L. Jackson this year in director John Singleton's remake of the 1971 film Shaft.

Lauryn Hill & Rohan Marley

With the phenomenal success of Hill's solo debut, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, it's not surprising that hip-hop's reigning diva and her soul mate and fiance Rohan Marley haven't had time to stroll down that aisle. However, Hill told EBONY last year that the pair, parents of two children, will wed. "It's just a matter of setting a date," she said. The couple met after Marley saw Hill perform with the Fugees in late 1996. Marley, son of reggae legend Bob Marley, is a former star football player. Hill has her own production company. They live in her hometown, South Orange, N.J.