We're Still Celebrating with Kool & The Gang
September 2009
from left: Brown, Thomas, "Kool" Bell, R. Bell
It's been heard emanating from stereo speakers at parties, danced to in wedding conga lines, and most assuredly karaoked by the inebriated and tone deaf across the world. "Celebration," like all of Kool & the Gang's popular hits, has contributed to cementing the band's place in music history and helped earn album sales eclipsing 70 million since their debut in 1969.
For almost four decades, Grammy Award-winning Kool & the Gang have been celebrating our parties with us, bringing good times and laughter, too, all the while creating a soundtrack that has even kept the left-footers dancing away their nights.
Though members have come and gone, the New Jersey-based group remains comprised of original founders, brothers Ronald (now Khalis Bayyan) and Robert "Kool" Bell, Dennis "DT" Thomas, and George "Funky" Brown, the same soulful innovators who have dominated billboard charts with hits such as "Jungle Boogie," "Summer Madness," "Get Down On It," and "Ladies Night."
Since the 1990's, the Gang have made their music known worldwide as the longest continually performing group in R&B history, reviving the disco era with their signature brassy horns and funky, jazzy beats.
"We've dealt with challenges throughout our career and throughout the industry," Robert "Kool" Bell told WaldenPonders, but notes that their often grueling schedule maintains their efforts to push forward and "continue to build."
Kool & the Gang's staying power and perserverance prove wrong those who feel disco's death arrived quicker than one rotation of the eponymous mirrored ball. For Kool, the unique sound never left, saying, "People still like to dance, and dance music is always fun."
Kicking off the eighth month of '08, Kool promises to keep audiences dancing with an almost end-of-summer bash, treating concert-goers to a variety of cherished favorites, as well as some newer material from their latest release, 2007's "Still Kool."
"We like to bring a high energy show [with] a lot of choreography," Kool adds.
The most sampled band of all time, Kool & the Gang allows younger generations to discover their music in numerous appropriations by today's most popular artists - Madonna, Janet Jackson, Diddy, Will Smith, and Kylie Minogue, to name a few. Additionally, the band works constantly in the studio.
"We've got a couple of little ditties for the future," Kool says. "Catwalk Boulevard," for example, is a sort of spinoff from "Ladies Night" evoking the modeling and fashion worlds, and "Harley Davidson," captures a "hard, funk rock-and-roll" concept.
Having organized the band as a teenager and now in his late 50s, Kool certainly never realized he would ever reach this level of...cool.
"We feel great about it. We made some pretty big records, and we're still doing it today, so we're thankful to our fans for supporting us over the years."
So are fans in for another thirty-some years of Kool or will they, too, suffer from global warming?
"[Retirement?] not right now. I'm asked that question a lot," Kool admits, "but, I mean, look at B.B. King. Mick Jagger is in his mid-60s. A lot of us are still out there. We just love what we do."
For almost four decades, Grammy Award-winning Kool & the Gang have been celebrating our parties with us, bringing good times and laughter, too, all the while creating a soundtrack that has even kept the left-footers dancing away their nights.
Though members have come and gone, the New Jersey-based group remains comprised of original founders, brothers Ronald (now Khalis Bayyan) and Robert "Kool" Bell, Dennis "DT" Thomas, and George "Funky" Brown, the same soulful innovators who have dominated billboard charts with hits such as "Jungle Boogie," "Summer Madness," "Get Down On It," and "Ladies Night."
Since the 1990's, the Gang have made their music known worldwide as the longest continually performing group in R&B history, reviving the disco era with their signature brassy horns and funky, jazzy beats.
"We've dealt with challenges throughout our career and throughout the industry," Robert "Kool" Bell told WaldenPonders, but notes that their often grueling schedule maintains their efforts to push forward and "continue to build."
Kool & the Gang's staying power and perserverance prove wrong those who feel disco's death arrived quicker than one rotation of the eponymous mirrored ball. For Kool, the unique sound never left, saying, "People still like to dance, and dance music is always fun."
Kicking off the eighth month of '08, Kool promises to keep audiences dancing with an almost end-of-summer bash, treating concert-goers to a variety of cherished favorites, as well as some newer material from their latest release, 2007's "Still Kool."
"We like to bring a high energy show [with] a lot of choreography," Kool adds.
The most sampled band of all time, Kool & the Gang allows younger generations to discover their music in numerous appropriations by today's most popular artists - Madonna, Janet Jackson, Diddy, Will Smith, and Kylie Minogue, to name a few. Additionally, the band works constantly in the studio.
"We've got a couple of little ditties for the future," Kool says. "Catwalk Boulevard," for example, is a sort of spinoff from "Ladies Night" evoking the modeling and fashion worlds, and "Harley Davidson," captures a "hard, funk rock-and-roll" concept.
Having organized the band as a teenager and now in his late 50s, Kool certainly never realized he would ever reach this level of...cool.
"We feel great about it. We made some pretty big records, and we're still doing it today, so we're thankful to our fans for supporting us over the years."
So are fans in for another thirty-some years of Kool or will they, too, suffer from global warming?
"[Retirement?] not right now. I'm asked that question a lot," Kool admits, "but, I mean, look at B.B. King. Mick Jagger is in his mid-60s. A lot of us are still out there. We just love what we do."
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