Kool and the gang founder dies

[surv2syn]

Thread should be on front page. Found this by accident. RIP TO A LEGEND. Just saw him on Dj Cassidy Pass the Mic a few weeks ago

 

[chiefdogg]

My favorite band
RIP Mr Bell

 

[BEN23]

As a kid, my first memory of hearing a random song and wondering Who made that song. Was a kool and the gang song and looking at my parents albums and seeing the kool the gang cover.

rip my man

 

[3rdWorld]

Rest in Peace..

 

[Counter Racist Male]

Ronald “Khalis” Bell, the singer, songwriter and saxophonist whose group Kool & the Gang became one of the most celebrated and musically eclectic funk bands in the 1970s and beyond, died Wednesday at his U.S. Virgin Islands home at the age of 68, a rep confirmed to Rolling Stone. The cause of death was unknown.

Over the course of 23 albums, starting with 1969’s Kool and the Gang through the 2013 Christmas album Kool for the Holidays, the band morphed from upstart jazz unit to leading funk-soul ensemble to smooth pop-soul group with the addition of vocalist James “J.T.” Taylor in 1979. Bell, who adapted the name Khalis Bayyaan later in life, co-wrote many of the group’s perpetual life-event earworms — including “Ladies Night,” “Jungle Boogie” and “Celebration” — that have become embedded into the national consciousness.

In 1964, Bell and his teenage brother Robert “Kool” Bell, unable to afford drums, would collect old paint cans in their Youngstown, Ohio neighborhood and use them as makeshift percussion instruments. It was a crude way to learn music — the brothers would figure out different tones depending on how much paint was in each can — but it launched a musical career that lasted more than 50 years.

Kool and the Gang helped start hip hop indirectly.

The early hip hoper were clearly influenced by the hustlers convention album.

 

[UNCLE JAM]

1 of my favorite groups that I grew up on. Loved them when they we're mostly an instrumental group their 1 8 years to when they got JT Taylor and had a slew of R & B/Pop hits. So many classics...RIP Mr. Bell.










D'Angelo used this for Send It On.

 

[New Jeruzalem Journalist]

Damn, RIP. My pop was pretty cool with him back in the day. They were both in The Nation of Islam together and kept in touch. Sucks learning about his passing. The older I get, the more connections to the past and family memories I keep losing.

"Celebration" is my personal official birthday song. It's a must play on my born, a tradition going back years for me. Sad news to hear.

 

[Counter Racist Male]

Damn, RIP. My pop was pretty cool with him back in the day. They were both in The Nation of Islam together and kept in touch. Sucks learning about his passing. The older I get, the more connections to the past and family memories I keep losing.

"Celebration" is my personal official birthday song. It's a must play on my born, a tradition going back years for me. Sad news to hear.

Kool and the Gang is from Newark right?

 

[New Jeruzalem Journalist]

Kool and the Gang is from Newark right?

Jersey City.

 

[The_Hillsta]

 

[AFRAM GLORY]

For years, Kool and the Gang would perform near the local auditorium right outside the hood on MLK JR avenue on MLK JR day in my city.

RIP Mr.Bell and thank you for the memories you and the gang provided.