Today's Blind Items - The Actor & The Band

This deceased actor played an iconic character first in a very popular TV show then in a very popular spin-off that  was on TV for quite a while.  Both shows were groundbreaking in how they portrayed and discussed race.  The actor never married and while he never said anything publicly, it was widely known he was gay.  Something not so known about the actor was that he was also a musician and a big fan of a genre of music associated with lengthy songs and solos.  He once tried to bring a musical instrument band to the US.  He also did some recording with a well known band member of a Grammy winning, prestigious inductee affirmative named foreign band.  The affirmative named band still exists but this member is not currently in it.  The music the actor and the band member made together has never been released.  Maybe this is because they spent most of their time together in an intense sexual fling with the band member as the bottom.