Kool & the Gang

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Biography

Kool & the Gang are an American jazz , R& B , soul music|soul , and funk group, originally formed as the Jazziacs in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1964.

They went through several musical phases during the course of their recording career, starting out with a purist jazz sound, then becoming practitioners of R& B and funk, progressing to a smooth pop-funk ensemble, and in the post-millennium creating music with a modern, electro-pop sound.

They have sold over 70 million albums worldwide.

History

The group's main members over the years included brothers Robert "Kool" Bell|Robert Bell (known as "Kool") on bass and Ronald Bell (musician)|Ronald Bell on tenor saxophone , lead vocalist James "J.T." Taylor , George Brown on drums, Robert Mickens on trumpet, Dennis Thomas on alto saxophone , Claydes Charles Smith on guitar, and Rick Westfield on keyboards. The Bell brothers' father was an acquaintance of Thelonious Monk , and the brothers were friends with Leon Thomas .

In 1964 Robert formed an instrumental band called the Jazziacs with five high-school friends.They changed their name to "Kool & the Flames" in 1967, then "Kool & the Gang" in 1969 (to avoid confusion with James Brown 's Famous Flames ) and were signed by Gene Redd to his new record label De-Lite Records in 1969. They first hit the pop charts with the release of their debut Kool and the Gang (album)|eponymous album .

Though none of the three singles from the album went far on the pop charts, their R& B success was swift and massive. Several live and studio albums followed, with 1973's Wild and Peaceful (Kool & the Gang album)|Wild and Peaceful breaking into the mainstream with " Jungle Boogie " and " Hollywood Swinging ". Many reviews see the Gang's 1974 album Light of Worlds and 1975 album Spirit of the Boogie as the greatest achievements of the band, with the 1975 single "Summer Madness" gaining much attention. However, after the release of those albums the band abandoned deep funk music and switched to pop-funk.

The late 1970s saw a lull in Kool & the Gang's except for the album Open Sesame (Kool & the Gang album)|Open Sesame which yielded the title track "Open Sesame" which achieved some success in the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Then came new lead singer James "J.T." Taylor who joined the group — with 1979's '' Ladies' Night (1979 album)|Ladies' Night ''. Their number one hit in 1980's " Celebration (song)|Celebration ", from Celebrate! , co-produced by Eumir Deodato . More international hits followed in the early 1980s, including "Big Fun", " Get Down on It ", and " Joanna (Kool & the Gang song)|Joanna ". Their 1984 album Emergency (Kool & the Gang album)|Emergency yielded four top-20 pop hits, including "Fresh" and "Cherish". Their chart presence stopped after Forever (Kool and the Gang album)|Forever . Taylor left the group amicably to pursue a solo career.

Kool & the Gang today

Of Kool & the Gang's original members, the Bell brothers, Brown and Thomas are still with the group. Ricky Westfield, the group's original keyboardist, left in 1976 to form his own band, and died in 1985. Guitarist Claydes Smith died after a long illness on June 20, 2006, at age 57. Original trumpet player Robert "Spike" Mickens, who had retired in 1986 due to poor health, died at age 59 on November 2, 2010, at a nursing home in Far Rockaway, New York.
Longtime members who continue to perform and record with the group include Clifford Adams (trombone), Curtis Williams (keyboards) and trumpeters Larry Gittens and Michael Ray.

"Jungle Boogie" was featured on the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino 's well known cult classic Pulp Fiction (film)|Pulp Fiction . The band released the album "Still Kool" in 2007.

"Hollywood Swinging" was sampled by DJ Kool in his song " Let Me Clear My Throat ," and by rapper Mase on "Feel So Good".

Kool & the Gang's "Summer Madness" from their 1974 album Light of Worlds has been sampled numerous times. Most notably, it was used by DJ Jazzy Jeff & Will Smith|The Fresh Prince for their 1991 single "Summertime". "Summer Madness" was also featured in the 1976 Picture of the Year, "Rocky". A live version of the track recorded at the Rainbow Theatre in London was released in 1976 on the Love & Understanding album (De-Lite DEP 2018). Live at PJ's ' track "N.T" has been sampled extensively by artists such as Boogie Down Productions , Brand Nubian (hip hop group)|Brand Nubian , De La Soul , A Tribe Called Quest , Nas , N.W.A and Kris Kross . The song was also sampled by Jermaine Dupri featuring Snoop Dogg|Snoop Doggy Dogg in the song, " We Just Wanna Party with You " from the soundtrack to the film in 1997, Men in Black: The Album starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones .

Kool & the Gang performed at Jerusalem's Gan Sacher (Sacher Park) during the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Student Day/Jerusalem Day all-night concert on May 11–12, 2010. In October 2010, Kool & the Gang signed with indie label Expat Records for the release of their electro-pop single "Miss Lead" with a female lead vocalist.

Kool & the Gang performed at Glastonbury, England, on 26 June 2011.

In January 2012 it was reported that Kool & the Gang will perform as the opening act for select shows on Van Halen 's 2012 tour. http://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/index.ssf/2012/01/van_halen_tour_and_recording_d.html

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Urban/R&B Music Artists

Kool & the Gang

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