Kool & The Gang
Beginning as The Jazziacs in Jersey City in 1964, the band renamed
themselves Kool & The Gang in 1969. They notched up their
first hit that same year, and by 1974 they had reaped critical and
popular success with Jungle Boogie and Hollywood
Swinging. But the group was caught off-guard by the sudden
rise of Disco in the late Seventies.
They decided they needed to smooth out their vocals and -
taking The Commodores and Earth, Wind and Fire as their role
models - they brought in mellow-voiced James 'JT' Taylor and
Kool handed over the main vocal duties to him.
Ladies Night set the new standard: slick vocals,
smooth horn section and a simplified sound, under the aegis of
producer Eumir Deodato. The public responded, and from Ladies
Night through Celebrate and Something Special,
Kool and the Gang had their new audience - upscale whites and
blacks, with a dash of the MOR and harder-edged funk fans -
yelling for more.
Guitarist and co-founder Claydes Charles Smith died on 20
June 2006 of unspecified causes.
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