According to Ja’Net DuBois’ death certificate, her biological father was secretly none other than Jazz icon and the Blues Brothers’ very own Cab Calloway. The actress and singer/songwriter passed away at the age of 74-years-old, last month (Feb. 17), in her Glendale, California home due to cardiac arrest. DuBois’ death certificate was released by Los Angeles County Public Health office and obtained by TMZ and list her name as Jeannette T. Calloway-DuBois and list her father as the American musical legend rather than Gordon DuBois, the man that contributed to raising her throughout her adolescent years.  Kevin Winter/Getty Images

For those of you unaware of the life and legacy of Ja’Net DuBois, she portrayed Loretta Allen from 1970 to 1972 in the soap opera, Love of Life. The actress became the first Black–American female regular cast member on a daytime television series. DuBois later went to take a legendary role in CBS’ Good Times from 1974 to 1979 as Wilona Woods, the Chicago neighborhood gossip and family friend of the Evans family. DuBois is also responsible for co-writing and singing The Jeffersons famed theme song, “Movin’ On Up.” 

While DuBois was the daughter of Lillian Gouedy and Gordon DuBois, who were both instrumental in her upbringing, the death certificate documentation has had several questions arise. According to TMZ, Cab Calloway passed in 1994, and his estate had no clue between the connection of the legendary actress and Calloway being her secret biological father. The Calloway estate revealed in a statement:

“While we have a great appreciation for Ja’Net DuBois’ long and successful career, the Calloway Estate has nothing to add to this single document that has numerous mistakes and no verification.”

The Calloway estate pointed out that several birthplaces and birthdates were listed for Ja’Net DuBois on multiple pieces of official documentation, making her death certificate claim somewhat invalid. While Cab Calloway’s singing and dancing during the 1930s swing era helped establish the Harlem Renaissance and put the Cotton Club on the map, there is no way to truly provide sufficient evidence that he is the father of Ja’Net DuBois today.&nbsp

Check out the audio to Ja’Net DuBois 1980 hit single, “Queen of the Highway” in the video provided below. 

Recent celebrity deaths, like those of Kobe Bryant and Pop Smoke, have raised questions regarding how TMZ repeatedly manages to get hold of confidential information in these sorts of circumstances. Well, prepare to be baffled again because the tabloid site has now obtained Pop Smoke’s death certificate somehow. 

                           Johnny Nunez/WireImage/Getty Images

The document reveals that doctors performed a thoracotomy on the left side of the late Brooklyn rapper’s chest in an attempt to save him from a gunshot wounds in his torso. TMZ speculates that his chest was opened in order to remove bullets, but the document also states that the time between the shooting and his death was “rapid.” Pop Smoke, born Bashar Barakah Jackson, was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at 5:12 AM on February 19 after being shot by home invaders in the Hollywood Hills. It remains unknown whether the assailants intended to kill Pop Smoke before breaking in or whether his shooting was a byproduct of the home invasion. Police are still investigating.