Kool & the Gang
Kool & the Gang is an American R&B, soul, and funk group formed in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1964. Its founding members include brothers Robert "Kool" Bell and Ronald Bell aka "Khalis Bayyan", Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas, Robert "Spike" Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown, Sir Earl Toon, Woodrow "Woody" Sparrow, and Ricky Westfield. They have undergone numerous changes in personnel and have explored many musical styles throughout their history, including jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, funk, disco, rock, and pop music. The group changed their name several times. Settling on Kool & the Gang, the group signed to De-Lite Records and released their debut album, Kool and the Gang (1969).
This article is about the band. For their debut album, see Kool and the Gang (album).
Kool & the Gang
- The Jazziacs
- The Soul Town Band
- The New Dimensions
- Kool & the Flames
Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.
1964–present
- Ronald Bell aka "Khalis Bayyan"
- Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas
- Claydes Charles Smith
- George Brown
- Robert "Spike" Mickens
- Ricky Westfield
The band's first mainstream success came with the release of their fourth album Wild and Peaceful (1973); it contains the US top-ten singles "Jungle Boogie"[1] and "Hollywood Swinging". Kool & the Gang entered a period of decline before they reached a second commercial peak between 1979 and 1986 following their partnership with Brazilian musician and producer Eumir Deodato and the addition of singer James "J.T." Taylor to the line-up. Their most successful albums of the time include Ladies' Night (1979), Celebrate! (1980), and Emergency (1984), their highest selling album with two million copies sold in the US. Their hit singles during the period include "Ladies' Night", the US No. 1 "Celebration", "Get Down on It", "Joanna", "Misled", and "Cherish". The group continues to perform worldwide, including as support for Van Halen in 2012 and their fiftieth-anniversary tour in 2014.
Kool & the Gang have won numerous awards, including two Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, and, in 2006, a Music Business Association Chairman's Award for artistic achievement. The group has been inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame and been given a MOBO Award for Outstanding Achievement, the Soul Train Legend Award, the Marian Anderson Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as well. In 2007, the group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. During 2018, the Bells, Brown, and Taylor were also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame[2][3][4][5][6] and the group were selected as inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024.[7]
Their discography includes 23 studio albums and almost 70 singles. They have sold 7.5 million and 4.5 million RIAA-certified albums and singles, respectively, in the United States.[8][9] Worldwide, they have sold 70 million albums.[10]
History[edit]
1964–1972: Formation and signing with De-Lite[edit]
The band formed in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1964 when seven school friends decided to perform together as an instrumental jazz and soul group named the Jazziacs.[11] Among them were Robert "Kool" Bell on bass, his brother Ronald Bell on keyboards,[12] Robert "Spike" Mickens on trumpet, Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas on saxophone, Ricky West on keyboards, George Brown on drums, and Charles Smith on guitar.[13] Except Smith, all of them attended Lincoln High School in Jersey City.[14] Robert Bell had given himself the nickname "Kool" as a way of adapting to the street gangs in his neighborhood after moving from Ohio.[15] The Bells' father Bobby and uncle Tommy were boxers. They moved to New York to train and lived in the same apartment building as Thelonious Monk, who became Robert's godfather. Miles Davis would drop by because he wanted to be a boxer.[16]
Their first gigs took place as the opening act to a weekly jazz night held in a local theatre every Sunday.[12] They also played occasionally with McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Sanders, and Leon Thomas during their early years as a group.[17] They then had several name changes, including to The Soul Town Band and The New Dimensions.[18][14] They played Motown covers as the backing musicians for Soul Town, a small Jersey City-based organization similar to Motown.[15] In 1967, they decided to perform as their own identity and became regulars at the Blue Note Lounge in Jersey; one of the MC's advertised them with a new name, Kool & the Flames. However, their manager Gene Redd advised against it to avoid confusion with James Brown's band, The Famous Flames. They settled on Kool & the Gang, in 1969.[19]
After selecting their new name and line-up, Kool & the Gang signed a recording deal with Redd's new independent label, De-Lite Records. Redd wrote: "I discovered these eight super talented incomparable young musicians[...] I immediately realized that their potential would earn them success unknown by most musicians".[20] The group entered the studio and recorded their debut album, the all-instrumental Kool and the Gang (1970), with Redd as a producer, arranger, conductor, and partial songwriter. It is their only album with guitarist Woody Sparrow who completed a temporary eight-man formation.[21] The album peaked at No. 46 on the Billboard R&B chart. Around this time, the group began to develop their stage performance after they witnessed a set by Willie (Feaster) and the Mighty Magnificents which, according to Robert Bell, "Blew us away[...] We thought, 'Wow, if we want to be in show business, we have to change our act. We can't just stand up there and play'."[12] Also at this time, the group were asked to deliver songs with vocals. Despite Bell recalling the group sounding "real ragged" with lyrics at first, "Bit by bit we gained in confidence... we kinda learnt how to sing as we went along."[22]
The group followed their debut with two live albums: Live at the Sex Machine, recorded the year before, and Live at PJ's, both released in 1971. These were their final albums before their amicable split with Redd. Their next album, Music Is the Message, was the first time the group self-produced one of their records.[22] It was released in July 1972, and peaked at No. 25 on the R&B chart. It was followed with Good Times in November, which features the band backed by a string section. The elements of jazz, rock, and instrumental styles on the record made it difficult for reviewers to label them as one specific genre.[23] The album failed to generate the amount of radio exposure the group had expected to gain a new audience, so they looked at ways to breakthrough without relying on the radio.[22]
1973–1978: First commercial success and low period[edit]
By the spring of 1973, Kool & the Gang began to observe disco music trends influencing the group to become as Robert Bell described as "a much harder, funkier, tighter" unit than before.[22] He clarified, saying that most of the group did not visit discos and learned of disco culture from others. As a result of their change in direction, the group scored their first major commercial success with their fourth studio album, Wild and Peaceful.[22] The album went to No. 33 on the album chart, became their first gold album for selling 500,000 copies, and spawned the single "Funky Stuff" which entered the Top 40 pop chart. The next two, "Jungle Boogie" and "Hollywood Swinging" fared even better by entering the US top 10, marking the group's breakthrough to a white audience.[22][24] The latter two songs sold over one million copies and were certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[25]
The group's music has been featured in several movies and video games:
Studio albums
