George “Funky” Brown, the co-founder and longtime drummer of Kool & The Gang who assisted compose such hits as “Also Very hot,” “Women Evening,” “Joanna” and the celebration beloved “Celebration,” died Thursday in Los Angeles at age 74.
Omar Vega
Brown died soon after a battle with most cancers, in accordance to a assertion produced by Universal New music. He experienced retired before in the yr, virtually 60 decades soon after the band commenced, and uncovered that he was identified with phase 4 lung most cancers.
Kool & The Gang has offered hundreds of thousands of information with its catchy blend of jazz, funk and soul, what Brown appreciated to phone “the sound of happiness.” In 1964, Brown helped start the Grammy-successful group, initially referred to as the Jazziacs, together with this kind of pals as bassist Robert “Kool” Bell, brother Ronald Bell on keyboards and guitarist Charles Smith.
Just after several years of relative obscurity, name changes and staff modifications, Kool & The Gang broke by way of in the mid-1970s with “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swinging” amid other individuals tracks and peaked in the late ’70s-mid 1980s, with hits ranging from the ballads “Cherish” and “Joanna” to the up-tempo, chart-topping “Celebration,” now a conventional at weddings and other festive gatherings.
In 2023, Brown manufactured the band’s most up-to-date album, “People today Just Wanna Have Entertaining,” and unveiled his memoir “Way too Scorching: Kool & The Gang & Me.”
He is survived by his spouse, Hanh Brown, and his five little ones. In lieu of bouquets, his loved ones has asked that donations can be created in his honor to the Lung Most cancers Modern society of The us.
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