KC and the Sunshine Band

Last updated

KC and the Sunshine Band
KC and the Sunshine Band at Loessfest 2017.jpg
KC and the Sunshine Band performing at Loessfest in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 2017
Background information
Origin Hialeah, Florida, U.S.
Genres
Years active
  • 1973–1984
  • 1991–present
Labels
Members
  • Harry Wayne Casey
  • Maria De Crescenzo
  • Anika Mungin
  • Fermin Goytisolo
  • David Simmons
  • J Whitt
  • Steve Lashley
  • John Reid
  • Cisco Dimas
  • Miles Fielder
  • Felipe Lamoglia
  • Michael Joy
Past members
Website heykcsb.com

KC and the Sunshine Band is an American disco and funk band that was founded in 1973 in Hialeah, Florida. [2] [3] Their best-known songs include the hits "Get Down Tonight", "That's the Way (I Like It)", "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty", "I'm Your Boogie Man", "Keep It Comin' Love","Boogie Shoes", "Please Don't Go", and "Give It Up". The band took its name from lead vocalist Harry Wayne Casey's last name ('KC') and the 'Sunshine Band' from KC's home state of Florida, the Sunshine State. The group had five number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the 1970s.

Contents

History

1970s

The band was formed in 1973 by Harry Wayne Casey (KC) and Richard Finch. Casey was a record store employee and part-timer at TK Records in Hialeah, Florida [4] The band was originally called KC & The Sunshine Junkanoo Band because KC used studio musicians from TK and a local Junkanoo band called the Miami Junkanoo Band. Meantime, bassist Richard Finch had been engineering records for TK, which is how the Casey-Finch musical collaboration began. [4] They were soon joined by guitarist Jerome Smith and drummer Robert Johnson, both TK studio musicians. [4]

The first few songs, "Blow Your Whistle" (September 1973) and "Sound Your Funky Horn" (February 1974), were released as singles, and did well enough on the U.S. R&B chart and overseas that TK wanted a follow-up single and album. In the meantime, while working on demos for KC & the Sunshine Band, the song "Rock Your Baby" (George McCrae) was created. [4] Written by Casey and Finch, it featured Smith on guitar and became a number one hit in 51 countries in mid-1974. The band's "Queen of Clubs", which featured uncredited vocals by McCrae, was a hit in the UK, peaking at number 7, [4] and they went on a tour there in 1975.

KC and other band members were frequent guests on WHYI-FM, branded as Y-100, one of southeast Florida's more powerful FM pop stations, that covered Dade and Broward Counties and beyond. This gave the band significant hometown exposure, during the rise of the disco genre in one of the music's epicenters. [5]

With the release of the self-titled second album KC and the Sunshine Band in 1975 came the group's first major U.S. hit with "Get Down Tonight". [4] It topped the R&B chart in April and hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in August. [4] "That's the Way (I Like It)" also became a number one hit [2] in November 1975 and the group received four nominations and one win at the 1976 Grammy Awards. The 1976 album Part 3 yielded two number one singles: "I'm Your Boogie Man" [2] and "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty". [2] Another hit, "Keep It Comin' Love"(1977), peaked at number two. Their success lasted until the fifth album from 1979; their last chart topping hit was "Please Don't Go", hitting number one [2] for one week in January 1980, and becoming the first number one hit of the 1980s. With the explosion of new wave music and the declining popularity of disco, the group explored other styles and changed labels, joining Epic Records in 1980 after TK Records went bankrupt. [4]

With a change in styles, Casey enjoyed success, dueting with Teri DeSario with "Yes, I'm Ready", which hit No. 2 in March 1980; [4] the adult contemporary sound was much different from his disco hits of the 1970s, and his first major success away from the Sunshine Band.

1980s

In 1981, the partnership between Finch and Casey came to an acrimonious end. Two years after the release of the previous album, the band released two albums with new material: The Painter (1981) and Space Cadet Solo Flight (1981). [4] These albums generated little success, but in 1982, with All in a Night's Work a hit track called "Give It Up" (1983) brought a return to success in the UK, and appeared one year later in the U.S. Top 40. [4] The song was also featured on the band's next album, 1983's KC Ten . [4] Epic Records, however, refused to issue the song as a single due to its prior failure in the US. Because of this, a frustrated Casey formed Meca Records, releasing the single himself on this label in a final attempt to garner the song some success in America. It worked, but the album still failed to meet expectations. This led to the group falling into stasis around 1984 with Casey's retirement.

1990s

A revival of interest in disco music in 1991 brought Casey out of retirement. He reformed the band with some new members and two other original members, (the percussionist Fermin Goytisolo and vocalist Beverly Champion-Foster) and began touring once again. The new band has released a large number of compilation albums through Rhino Records, along with some newly recorded material. The album Oh Yeah! was released in 1993 after a ten-year gap between new albums (excluding compilations).

2000s and beyond

KC and the Sunshine Band performing in 2006 KC & The Sunshine Band2.jpg
KC and the Sunshine Band performing in 2006

On July 28, 2000, guitarist Jerome Smith died accidentally while working as a bulldozer operator. [2]

In 2001 and 2007, the band released the albums I'll Be There For You and Yummy . Both were composed of archived material recorded before their hiatus. [6]

They appeared in the 2003 remake of the movie The In-Laws .

On July 6, 2013, KC and the Sunshine Band were honored with a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars. [7]

Discography

KC and Finch works

Songwriter: H.W. Casey & Richard Finch

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">George McCrae</span> American soul and disco singer

George Warren McCrae Jr. is an American soul and disco singer who is most famous for his 1974 hit "Rock Your Baby".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Wayne Casey</span> American musician and record producer

Harry Wayne Casey, better known by his stage name KC, is an American record producer, musician, and songwriter. He is best known for his band, KC and the Sunshine Band, as a producer of several hits for other artists, and as a pioneer of the disco genre of the 1970s.

<i>KC and the Sunshine Band</i> (album) 1975 studio album by KC and the Sunshine Band

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boogie Shoes</span> 1978 single by KC and the Sunshine Band

"Boogie Shoes" is a funk/disco song by KC and the Sunshine Band, which first appeared on their 1975 self-titled album. The song became a hit after it appeared on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in 1977. It was subsequently released as a single and peaked at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 29 on the soul chart in 1978. Before its 1978 release as an A-side, the song was the B-side to the 1976 single "Shake Your Booty".

<i>The Sound of Sunshine</i> 1975 studio album by The Sunshine Band

The Sound of Sunshine is the third studio album by the American funk and disco group the Sunshine Band. The album was produced by its vocalist Harry Wayne Casey, who did not perform vocals for the album, and Richard Finch. It was released in September 1975 on the TK label.

<i>Part 3</i> (KC and the Sunshine Band album) 1976 studio album by KC and the Sunshine Band

Part 3 is the fourth studio album by the funk and disco group KC and the Sunshine Band. The album was produced by Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch and was released in October 1976 on the TK label.

<i>Do It Good</i> 1974 studio album by KC and the Sunshine Band

Do It Good is the debut album by the American funk and disco group KC and the Sunshine Band. Produced by Richard Finch, it was released in 1974 on the TK label.

<i>Do You Wanna Go Party</i> 1979 studio album by KC and the Sunshine Band

Do You Wanna Go Party is the sixth studio album by the funk and disco group KC and the Sunshine Band. The album was produced by Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch and was released in June 1979 on the TK label.

<i>The Painter</i> (KC and the Sunshine Band album) 1981 studio album by KC and the Sunshine Band

The Painter is the eighth studio album by the funk and disco group KC and the Sunshine Band. Produced by Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch, it was released in September 1981 on the Epic label.

<i>All in a Nights Work</i> 1982 studio album by KC and the Sunshine Band

All in a Night's Work is the ninth studio album by the funk and disco group KC and the Sunshine Band. The album was produced by Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch and was released in August 1982 on the Epic label.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rock Your Baby</span> Worldwide early disco hit song by George McCrae

"Rock Your Baby" is the debut single by American singer George McCrae. Written and produced by Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch of KC and the Sunshine Band, "Rock Your Baby" was one of the landmark recordings of early disco music. A massive international hit, the song reached number one on the Hot 100 in the United States, spending two weeks there in July 1974; number one on the R&B chart; and number one on the UK Singles Chart, spending three weeks at the top in July 1974. Having sold 11 million copies, it is one of fewer than 40 all-time singles to have sold 10 million physical copies worldwide.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">I'm Your Boogie Man</span> Song by KC & the Sunshine Band

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Finch (musician)</span> American composer and music producer (born 1954)

Richard Raymond Finch is an American songwriter, producer, and arranger. He is best known as the co-founder, producer and former bass guitar player of KC and the Sunshine Band. Along with Harry Wayne Casey, he co-wrote the majority of the KC and the Sunshine Band music catalog, to include five No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits.

<i>The Best of KC and the Sunshine Band</i> 1990 compilation album by KC and the Sunshine Band

The Best of KC and the Sunshine Band is a compilation album by KC and the Sunshine Band, released in 1990. The album contained hits from 1974 to 1979, including every track included in their 1980 Greatest Hits compilation, along with their top 20 1983 hit "Give It Up" and other moderately successful singles.

President Records is a British independent record label. It is one of the oldest independent record companies in the UK, originally launched in 1957 by Edward Kassner. During the 1960s and 1970s the label, and its subsidiary Jay Boy, had hits with artists including the Equals, George McCrae and KC & the Sunshine Band, Paintbox, and later focused on releasing back-catalogue compilations as well as occasional new albums by artists such as Robots In Disguise. President Records remains part of the Kassner Music Group.

References

  1. ↑ Robert Johnson AllMusic. Retrieved December 9, 2021
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Obituaries: Jerome Smith, 47, of K. C. and the Sunshine Band, the Hit Disco Group". The New York Times . August 10, 2000.
  3. ↑ Prato, Greg. "KC & the Sunshine Band – Overview". AllMusic . Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Colin Larkin, ed. (1993). The Guinness Who's Who of Soul Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 145. ISBN   0-85112-733-9.
  5. ↑ Cohen, Howard (January 28, 2021). "Y-100 DJ Bill Tanner, "...helped promote the careers of homegrown talents like KC and the Sunshine Band..." Miami Herald obituary. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  6. ↑ "KC And the Sunshine Band keyboardist strives to keep the music coming". Goldmine. The Arena Group. November 14, 2013. Retrieved January 9, 2022.
  7. ↑ Palm Springs Walk of Stars: listed by date dedicated, Web.archive.org
  8. ↑ You Get Me Hot Retrieved 13 February 2023
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