Kool & The Gang to Open for Van Halen, Feb. 22
Kool and the Gang. Photo provided by the band and used with written permission.
ABOVE (L to R): George Brown, Ronald Bell, Dennis Thomas, and Robert “Kool” Bell.
By Jerry Brown
On behalf of Kool & The Gang
http://www.koolandthegang.com/
Legendary groovemeisters Kool & The Gang are back in the arena limelight in a big way, opening for Van Halen on an extensive North American Tour that kicked off in Louisville on Feb. 18, 2012. The tour stops at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, 125 South Pennsylvania Street, Indianapolis, on Wednesday of this week, Feb. 22, for a 7:30 p.m. concert.
Combining soulful R&B, pop, hip-hop, Urban AC and more, Kool & the Gang will showcase their extraordinary versatility, qualities that, after 45 years together, have won them the status of musical icons.
Kool & The Gang has sold over 70 million albums worldwide and influenced the music of three generations.
Thanks to songs like Celebration, Cherish, Summer Madness and Open Sesame, the group has earned two Grammy® Awards and seven American Music Awards and amassed 25 Top Ten R&B hits, nine Top Ten Pop hits and 31 gold and platinum albums.
Kool & The Gang has performed continuously longer than any R&B group in history.
“We are not over yet, we have other things we want to do—when my legs won’t run to those airports anymore then I might give up,” say band co-founder Ronald Khalis Bell.
Kool & The Gang vaulted up the pop charts with such indelible tracks as Celebration, Ladies Night and Joanna and continue to deliver a fleet of silky, melodic tunes in their live stage jams,” with a trademark blend of irresistible grooves, expressive horn lines and infectious chorus hooks.
Their bulletproof funk and tough, jazzy arrangements have also made them the most sampled band of all time.
With the explosion of hip-hop in the ’90s, Kool & the Gang’s incredible catalog of grooves has made them DJ favorites, and they are second only to R&B icon James Brown as sources of rap-music samples.
The Hits Reloaded album found the band collaborating with such acolytes as Lil’ Kim, Sean Paul, Ashanti, and Blackstreet, among others.
As they’ve done for 45 years, Kool & The Gang relay messages of compassion and hope with the same grace and musicality that have made them a household name for decades.
As the purveyors of such booty-rocking standards as Jungle Boogie and Hollywood Swinging, the gang never fails to flex their funk – on both old-school workouts and hip-hop jams.
Shortly after their launch, Kool and the Gang found a special sound at the unique intersection of jazz, R&B, funk and pop and their music has been created by the same core of players for over 40 years: Robert “Kool” Bell, his brother Ronald Khalis Bell, their longtime friends Dennis “DT” Thomas and George “Funky” Brown.
Other sidemen include Clifford Adams, Lavelle Evans, Larry Gittens, Timothy Horton, Shawn McQuiller, Michael Ray and Curtis “Fitz” Williams.
Editor’s Acknowledgment: Digney & Company.
