Kc And The Sunshine Band Kc And The Sunshine Band

[Montray Yadav]

KCand 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.

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 its epicenters.[5]

The release of the self-titled second album KC and the Sunshine Band in 1975 spawned 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 in the US. 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.

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 did not chart, 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.

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, (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).

Whose music has been featured at EVERY major sporting event in the world including the Super Bowl, World Series, Conference Championships, The NBA, Collegiate Bowl Games National Championship Games, the NASCAR racing circuit and championships, The World Cup, The Indianapolis 500, The Kentucky Derby, EVERY Holiday Parade include the famous Macys Thanksgiving Day parade and the Tournament of Roses Parade, Political Party Conventions, Presidential Campaigns, and nearly EVERY wedding, confirmation, and bar mitzvah in the world?

The music that got people out of their seats and onto the dance floor originated with humble beginnings in Hialeah, Florida. KC has never moved farther than 10 miles away from his birthplace and the birthplace of his legendary music underlines the fact that he is proud that his "Sunshine Sound" has flourished continuously for over 37 years.

Let's "rewind" back to 1973. The price of an average home was $32,500. The price of an average automobile was $2,900. The price of a gallon of gasoline was 40 cents a gallon. The United States was still involved in the Vietnam conflict, Richard Nixon was the target of the Watergate investigation, University Students were protesting and rioting, and there was discontent all over the world with rising unemployment and inflation. People were looking for something that would divert their attention from the negative aspects of everyday life surrounding them.

During this time, young Harry Casey did anything and everything that he could do to further his passion for music. He worked at a local record store, opened boxes at Tone Record Distributors and hung around a local recording studio just hoping that somebody would give him a chance to fulfill his biggest dream...to record a record.

That "dream" was answered by a man named Henry Stone who owned both Tone Distributors and TK Recording Studios. KC recalls the early days of TK Records: "It was like a big family and Henry was our Dad." Stone had recorded Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker and James Brown at the TK Recording Studios and took a liking to the energetic and optimistic Harry Casey and decided to give him a chance to make his dream come true...a chance to record.

Nobody would have thought that Henry Stone's insight and Harry Casey's talent and enthusiasm would make history and make Miami, Florida the hottest music city on the planet. The "birth" of KC and the Sunshine band was about to happen and nobody knew that its birth would not only bring the world legendary music, but influence a whole generation. From clothing to hairstyles to dance styles to new acceptable words in the English language, KC and the Sunshine Band had arrived! And what an arrival! Four Number one Records in a row, Grammy Awards, Peoples Choice Awards, American Music Awards, and the focus of the music world became Miami, Florida.

KC and the Sunshine Band is an American disco and funk band that was founded in 1973 in Hialeah, Florida. Their best-known songs include the hits "That's the Way (I Like It)", "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty", "I'm Your Boogie Man", "Keep It Comin' Love", "Get Down Tonight", "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 has had six top 10 singles, five number one singles and a number two single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The Santander Arena and Santander Performing Arts Center currently do not require masks or proof vaccination for our events. We do encourage all guests to wear masks for their safety but it is not required.

We are honored and blessed to be nominated for "Bluegrass Artist of the Year" by the Arkansas Country Music Awards. We also want to congratulate the other bands nominated in this category! It is an privilege to be nominated alongside such great bands and friends!

Shaking booty since 1973, KC and the Sunshine band have been dedicated to bringing the funk and 'Sunshine sound' into people's lives, pushing away the clouds and getting people dancing, cos that's the way they like it (uhuh uhuh!)

Formed in Florida in 1973, they first made a splash with 1975's self-titled album. The record was bursting with hits and won the group acclaim, fame and a place in pop history. Since then the band have made over 100 million record sales, garnered nine grammy nominations winning three of them and also earning themselves an American Music Award.

Do It Good [T.K., 1974]

Keyboard player (and now vocalist) H.W. Casey and bassman Richard Finch made so much moolah for T.K. prexy Henry Stone that he told them they could spend as much as $3150 on their own LP. What they come up with is the real Miami sound--the sensual Latin accents that really are sensual in New Orleans sound altogether more hyped-up here. "Queen of Clubs" was a smash in the Queen's clubs, while "Sound Your Funky Horn" and "I'm a Pushover" have creased America's soul charts, which makes three hooks right here. A weirdo and a sleeper. B+

K.C. & the Sunshine Band [T.K., 1975]

No matter what you label them, these otherwise meaningless dance tunes are as bright and distinct as the run of disco mush is dull--when it comes to formula, always opt for top forty, which compels innovation, over Muzak, which forbids it. The horns and vocals are less candidly soulful here than on their debut, and the result is an album that's poppier, lighter--almost airy. And though the songs do all sound alike, that doesn't mean they are. Far from it. A-

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