[Music] foreign
throughout the 70s and 80s everyone followed the instructions laid out by this band to Jungle
Boogie Get down on it and have a celebration when the members of r b Soul funk band cool
in the gang formed in 1964 they never imagined what success awaited them in the next two decades
The Ensemble formed in Jersey City New Jersey originally consisted of seven school friends
who decided to perform together as an instrumental Jazz and soul group under the name the Jazz Birds
who would later become the Jazzy acts among them were Robert cool Bell on bass guitar his brother
Ronald Bell on saxophone Dennis DT Thomas on alto saxophone Robert Spike mickens on trumpet
Ricky West on keyboards George Brown on drums and Charles Smith on guitar the Bell Brothers started
out playing jazz because they were introduced to it as young kids growing up in Youngstown
Ohio by their father Miles Davis John Coltrane Charlie Parker Duke Ellington Count Basie and
Herbie Hancock were all in heavy rotation on the Family's stereo their father and Uncle were Boxers
one day they got discovered and that meant a move to the New York New Jersey area to further their
professional boxing career after arriving on the East Coast they started playing more r b infusing
it with the Jazz then they added some funk along with it and slowly morphed it into their signature
sound Robert's nickname that would go on to be a main part of their band's famous moniker came out
of his need to have a tough Street identity to fit in in his new environment he noticed there
was a guy in the neighborhood who called himself cool spelled with a C Robert liked it and decided
to take the name on but spell his with a K not knowing that it would eventually Inspire the
name Kool and the Gang they continued performing for five years under several other band titles
such as the New Dimensions the Soul Town Band and cool in the Flames that last one sounded kinda no
pun intended cool and could have been the one they stuck with long term however their manager
Jean Redd advised against it to avoid confusion with James Brown's man the famous Flames leading
to a further change to the one they would finally stick with and become famous pulling the gang in
1969. the band honed their skills on the local Jersey circuit playing everything from Jazz to
Motown covers after securing their new name and lineup cool and the Gang landed a recording deal
with independent labels daylight records their 32-minute instrumental debut album dropped in the
summer of 69. it spawned their first billboard r b charted single fittingly called cool in the
gang over the next three years the band released four more albums two live recordings and two
Studio albums also around this time Ronald and his brother Robert both converted to Islam in 1972 and
joined the Nation of Islam Ronald was then given the name that from this moment forward he would be
mainly referred to kalispaya the variety of genres cooling the game mixed together made it difficult
for people to put them in a box on one hand that could be looked at as a good thing but on the
other it also cause them to struggle for radio exposure the band then knew they needed to look
at other ways to break through without relying on Radio by the spring of 1973 the ban had started
to observe disco music Trends as a result of their change in Direction the band finally scored their
first major commercial success with their fourth studio album wild and peaceful the lead single
funky stuff gave them their first top 40 placement on the Billboard Hot 100. the next two singles
Jungle Boogie and Hollywood Swinging fared even better by capturing top 10 pop positions marking
the band's breakthrough to a white audience their success continued with 1974's light of Worlds
which contained the hit instrumental Summer Madness 1975 Spirit of the boogie featuring
the top 40 single of the same name and 1976's love and understanding whose title track made
it into the top 10 on the r b chart their next three albums however failed to generate the same
commercial or critical Acclaim as their previous work cooling the gang by now had lost its spark
and was faltering among the rise and demise of disco and swell of smoother r b the band knew it
was time to reinvent themselves again and they did so by changing their musical Direction in
two distinct ways at the suggestion of promoter turned solar records founder dick Griffey they
decided to bring in a dedicated lead vocalist to become a focal point of their music the first guy
they auditioned South carolina-born singer James JT Taylor was also the last guy since after they
heard him they didn't feel the need to see anyone else the change in style developed further when
the band entered a Four album association with Brazilian musicians songwriter and arranger umire
diodato as their producer who helped them move towards mainstream pop and dance-oriented music
with greater emphasis on catchy Hooks and chorus lines cooling the gang's first album with their
newly vocalist and new producer ladies night was released in September 1979. it became their most
successful album since their formation in this was helped by the hit singles too hot and the title
track which went to number five and number eight on the Hot 100 chart respectively the inspiration
to write the latter track came quite naturally to Robert after hanging out in various nightclubs in
New York City over a weekend he soon realized that many of those clubs always had a ladies
night and figured the concept would be a good idea for a song their next album came just one
year later titled celebrate it turned out to be a bigger Commercial Success than ladies night the
lead single celebration Remains the band's only song to reach number one on the hot 100. [Music]
the song originated from the lyric come on let's all celebrate from their other song ladies night
which inspired Robert to write the Smash Head it went on to be used in National media coverage
for the 1980 World Series the 1981 Super Bowl and the 1981 NBA Finals the track also played
as the American hostages returned from Iran in 1981. in 2015 the song was added to the Grammy
Hall of Fame the band's 1982 release as one would serve as the last project they would work on with
umir they then decided to produce their next album 1983's in the Heart by themselves with
a co-producer the album contained the top five single Joanna next came emergency in 1984 which
would go on to become their highest selling album with over 2 million copies sold in the
us alone it spawned four top 20 singles cherish fresh misled and the title track this feat made
cool in the gang the only band to have four top 20 singles from a single album in 1985.
cool in the gang landed global commercial endorsements supported countless charitable
causes and were the only American group to participate in Band-Aids 1984 do they
know its Christmas project for famine victims in Africa moving forward the band made the decision
to retain control of their own business Affairs avoiding the higher Management on a full-time
basis and preferring to hire consultants and agents for each project or a single term the
group's 17th album forever was released in November 1986. the album included two hit
singles on the Hot 100 Victory and Stone Love in 1987 the band completed a 50 City tour of
the US after its completion JT left cool in the gang to pursue a solo career the move wasn't a
surprise to the rest of the band since they had already talked about it his attempt though was
unsuccessful two years later Ronald and Spike would also depart the ban unite the band's 19
studio album was released in 1992 after a three-year Gap it also marked the return
of Ronald to the group another few years after that JT returned to the band for their 1996 album
State of Affairs it was hailed as the group's comeback album with all of the songs written by
Ronald and JT JT would leave cool in the gang for the second time in 1999. the 90s also saw a major
influx of artists making good use of the band's incredible catalog Summertime by DJ Jazzy Jeff
and The Fresh Prince I got five on it by loonies Feel So Good by mace don't sweat the technique by
Eric B and Rakim and don't walk away by Jade are only a few examples that contributed to
solidifying cool in the gang as the most sampled r b band of all time Kool and the Gang continue
to release albums consistently throughout the 2000s sadly also during this stretch of time
the band would mourn the deaths of two of their original members guitarist Charles Smith in 2006
and trumpet player Robert spike mckins in 2010. in 2013 the band release their very first Christmas
album titled cool for the holidays several great honors were bestowed upon cooling the gang in the
coming years including a bet Soul Train Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014 a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame in 2015 having a street in Jersey City named after them in 2016 and cool Ronald
George and JT being inducted into the songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018. after playing more than 100
shows a year for as long as they could remember and adjusting to The New Normal of lockdown live
tragedy struck in September 2020 when original bandmate Ronald Bell passed away at the age of
68. less than a year later the group lost another co-founder and saxophone player Dennis DT Thomas
he was 70 years old although songwriting was a group effort where each band member contributed
Ronald was known to be the main songwriter in Kool and the Gang he co-wrote all of the
group's hits except for too hot which was written by George Brown he was a creative
force behind the scenes more so in the studio than as a non-stage performer a tremendously
talented musician he played multiple instruments including saxophone piano bass drums and guitar he
was also a ranger and producer for many of the band's albums in 2021 the band released their
25th studio album titled perfect union thanks to an iconic body of work cool when the Gang
has earned five gold albums three platinum albums one double platinum album 25 top 10
r b hits 12 top 10 pop hits seven American Music Awards and two Grammys currently the members are
in the process of adapting their story for book publishing film and extended box set and a musical
and yes after all these years they are still touring with dates already scheduled into 2023.
thank you