Lee Hawkins (journalist) facts for kids
Lee Hawkins, Jr. is an American journalist and musician. He is known for his work reporting on business and entertainment, and also for his music, especially his R&B songs and Christmas albums.
Early Life and Education
Lee Hawkins, Jr. grew up in a town called Maplewood, Minnesota. His father, Lee Hawkins, Sr., came from Alabama. Lee Jr. went to college at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. There, he studied political science, which is about how governments work and how people make decisions in society.
Journalism Career
Lee Hawkins, Jr. started his career as a reporter who wrote about business news. He worked for newspapers like the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Wisconsin State Journal.
Later, he became a reporter and news editor for The Wall Street Journal. This is a very famous newspaper that focuses on business and finance. Since 2011, Lee Hawkins has also done interviews on camera for the Wall Street Journal's website and its related site, WSJ Live. He has talked to many famous people from the worlds of business, sports, and entertainment. Many of these interviews were part of a special series called The Business of Celebrity w/ Lee Hawkins.
He also often appears as a guest on Fox Business Network, sharing his insights on business and news.
Lee Hawkins helped make a term called "NEWBOs" popular. This stands for "New Black Overclass." It was a way to describe a younger group of successful and wealthy African-American celebrities and business people. In 2009, he hosted a special TV show on CNBC called NEWBOs: The Rise of the New Black Overclass. This show featured famous people like basketball star LeBron James, gospel singer Kirk Franklin, and football player Terrell Owens.
Lee Hawkins is also a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, an organization for Black journalists in the United States.
Musical Career
Lee Hawkins, Jr. is also a talented musician. In 2011, he won a special award called the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in the R&B category. He won for his song called "I Love You Woman." The next year, in 2012, he released an album titled Midnight Conversations, which included his award-winning song.
In 2013, Lee Hawkins interviewed the popular children's music group, The Wiggles. During the interview, he ended up singing with them! They liked his singing so much that they invited him to perform on stage with them a few days later. He then appeared on their 2014 DVD called Wiggle House. He was also a guest singer on their 2014 album Apples and Bananas, where he sang the song "This Little Piggy Went to Market".
In 2015, Lee Hawkins released a Christmas album called Songs About the Birth of Jesus. What makes this album extra special is that he sings on it with his father, Lee Hawkins, Sr.
