On Tour
Kool & The Gang
R&B/Soul
The next Kool & The Gang concert is scheduled for Sunday, June 29, 2025 at Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone in Rome, Italy. See all 18 upcoming concerts
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![Watch Let's Party (feat. Sha Sha Jones) [Official Music Video] music video by Kool & The Gang](/mkimage/image/thumb/Video122/v4/fd/87/22/fd872283-2b0a-7c4f-58f8-1d4187c9a8a7/197187230778_1_1.jpg/575x575mv.webp "Watch Let's Party (feat. Sha Sha Jones) [Official Music Video] music video by Kool & The Gang")
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About Kool & The Gang
Hometown
Jersey City, NJ, United States
Formed
1964
Genre
R&B/Soul
Kool & The Gang’s punchy, riff-driven urban grooves cemented funk music as a versatile and radio-friendly force during the ’70s and ’80s. Robert “Kool” Bell and his brother Ronald formed the band in New Jersey in 1964 as an Afro-jazz outfit, using several names before settling on Kool & the Gang and signing to De-Lite Records in 1969. The band specialized in chant-like, horn-filled rhythms that toggled between jazz fusion and James Brown-inspired soul. Its breakthrough came in 1973 when it cracked the R&B charts with “Funky Stuff.” Its seminal album, Wild and Peaceful, yielded the Gang’s first crossover hits with proto-disco classics “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swinging,” paving the groundwork for its many dance-floor staples throughout the rest of the decade. But as funk cooled in disco’s wake, the band members traded their gutsy tricks for a slick cosmopolitan sound. The addition of James “J.T.” Taylor’s smooth, charismatic falsetto kept the Gang aflame with a parade of chart-dominating hits—from 1979’s “Ladies’ Night” to 1985’s “Cherish”—that have endured as pop culture anthems as equally as R&B mainstays.
Members of Kool & The Gang include, or have included, Robert Bell, Ronald Bell, Claydes Smith, George Brown, Robert Mickens, James "J.T." Taylor, Gary Brown, Clifford Adams, Mohamed Moretta, Michael Ray, Rodney Ellis, Louis Van Taylor, Kevin Lassiter, Lavell Evans, Jermaine Bryson, Rick Marcel, Skip Martin, and Sir Earl Toon.
Musical InfluencesKool & The Gang's musical influences include James Brown, The Isley Brothers, Marvin Gaye and more.
Influenced by Kool & The GangKool & The Gang has influenced the music of L.T.D., Tony! Toni! Toné!, Alexander O'Neal and more.
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