7. In middle school, I was introduced to my father and told him I wanted to follow him into his business. (He did not like the idea)

Well, since nobody has ventured a guess yet, I'll take a real long shot: Michael Douglas?

No, not him.

8. For high school, I went to Fishburne Military School in Virginia

9. I went to East Carolina University and got a business degree.

10. My grandfather had started a business that could not be called completely honest as it relyed largely on cronyism, backroom deals, bribery, and the like. My father took it over, and that is what I wanted to do.

Why do I think it's one of the Kennedy's?

11. In 1966 I married my wife. We are still married today.

Sam Walton?

Nice one landmark, but no, not Sam.

12. in the early 1970s, my father gave in and let me manage a small, less important, section of his territory to see if I had what it took to run his business.

Vince McMahon?

John Gotti?

Mark body-slammed this one, Vincent McMahon it is.

13. In the early 1980s I begged, borrowed, and probably stole enough money to buy out my aging and ailing father. Now the business was mine.
14. I took the medium that my grandfather knew little about, and that my father used as he could, television, and used updated technology to improve business distribution.
15. I broke every territorial deal my dad made and proceeded to gobble up the rest of the U.S. territories, even though it badly strained my cash flow. I even jousted with Ted Turner over territory.
16. I spent more money than I had to ensure that I always had the best possible people working for me. (Note: this does not mean that I did not exploit my workers. I did that every step of the way)
17. It was rumored that a sniper took a shot at me in 1985 and missed. It may not be true, or it may have been a warning or dumb luck.
18. John Law has come looking for me many times. I was convicted of some kind of conspiracy to commit tax fraud. I was accused of drug pushing twice, Willfully allowing bodily injury once, and many cases of sexual harassment all were dismissed and I skated.
19. After the tax fraud conviction, I put many of my major assets into my wife's name to protect myself.
20. My wife once asked me if I had cheated on her. Rather than lie to her I told her all about my numerous infidelities. Probably due to financial entanglement, the marriage held together.
21. My wife currently holds a very high political position
22. I wanted my kids to follow me in business. For a while both did. My son chose to bow out a while back, my daughter and her husband will see to carrying on my legacy.

I will admit this one was a bit off the beaten path. I'll try to be more mainstream next time.

The territory thing for me was the tip-off. Good one Cliff!

I will pass my turn at this time.

Anyone who wants to jump in...please do!

Mark

1. I was born in Memphis, Tennessee.

2. My pastor father was known for his emotionally driven sermons.

3. During my childhood I sang hymns in church.

Al Sharpton

4. At the age of 18, I embarked on a secular music career.

5. I once filled in at the last minute for Luciano Pavarotti..

Aretha Franklin

Cliff gets the Grammy! My other clues would have been:

7. I eventually sold more than 75 million records worldwide.

8. I was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

9. I appeared in a movie with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi.

10. I paid tribute to songwriter Carole King by singing one of her songs at the Kennedy Center Honors.

11. I am the most charted female artist in history.

12. I came to be known as "The Queen of Soul".

Great story about Aretha (from Wikipedia): In 1998 she received global praise after her 1998 Grammy Awards performance. She had initially been asked to come and perform in honor of the 1980 The Blues Brothers film in which she appeared with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. That evening after the show had already begun, Luciano Pavarotti himself contacted show producers and said he was too ill to perform the opera aria "Nessun dorma" as planned. The show's producers were desperate to fill the time slot, and approached Franklin with their dilemma. She was a friend of Pavarotti, and had sung the selection two nights prior at the annual MusiCares event. She asked to hear Pavarotti's rehearsal recording, and after listening, agreed that she could sing it in the tenor range that the orchestra was prepared to play in. Over one billion people worldwide saw the performance, and she received an immediate standing ovation. She would go on to record the selection, and perform it live several more times in the years to come; the last time being in Philadelphia for Pope Francis at the World Meeting of Families in September 2015. A small boy was so touched by Franklin’s performance that he came onto the stage and embraced her while she was still singing.

The preachers kid, is a common story among soul singers. I think Aretha is the most famous of them.

1. I was born in 1937 in Long Beach, California (Current home city of Cliffg37)
2. I sadly left the world a few years ago.
3. I was a Mormon, but that did not figure or show in my work.

4. If you saw a photo of me, the odds are pretty good you would not know who I am, but I'll bet all of you know my work.