KC And The Sunshine Band - Great disco of the 70’s
KC and the Sunshine Band were one of the popular groups of the 1970’s. As you’ll read on this site, their styles of music included funk, rythmn and blues, and most popularly, disco. Some of their most popular songs are the disco hits “That’s the Way (I Like It), “(Shake Shake Shake) Shake Your Booty.” And “Get Down Tonight.” Almost immediately when you hear these songs, you know you’re listening to KC and the Sunshine Band.
Harry Wayne Casey was the artist who formed the band. After submitting some demo work, he received much encouragement to start his own group. The original members of the band were himself and Richard Finch, who was also his main partner with songwriting. It wasn’t too long after though that Jerome Smith, Fermin Goytisolo and Robert Johnson joined and KC and the Sunshine Band was officially formed.
Their first hits were released in 1973 and 1974 and they included “Blow Your Whistle” and “Sound Your Funky Horn.” These tunes had more of a rythmn and blues style though and weren’t really accepted into the mainstream of music at the time. George McCrae took one of Casey’s tunes called “Rock Your Baby” and made it an instant hit in 1974. It sold over five million copies. KC and the Sunshine Band had another hit called “Queen of Clubs” which immediately became a hit in Europe and they went on to tour Europe later that year from its success.
KC and the Sunshine Band released a triple platinum second album in 1975 and this also came their first huge hit in the US called “Get Down Tonight.” It topped both the R&B charts and the Billboard charts. “That’s The Way I Like It” also became a number one hit later that year and KC and the Sunshine Band did very well at the Grammy Awards that year.
Their next album released a third album in 1976 titled Part 3 and this gave KC and the Sunshine Band three more top 5 singles which included “I’m Your Boogie Man.” “(Shake Shake Shake), Shake Your Booty,” and “Keep It Comin’ Love.”
KC and the Sunshine Band were hugely successful right up until their fifth album which was released in 1979. It was unfortunate at that time because the disco era was coming to an end. They tried to search other styles of music but nothing else worked for them.
KC and the Sunshine Band released two more albums in the 1980’s but they weren’t nearly as popular as they were in the 70’s. Casey eventually retired in 1985. There seemed to be a bit of an interest in disco in 1991 which brought Casey out of his retirement. KC and the Sunshine Band reformed and began to tour again. They made another comeback in 2001 but couldn’t seem to generate what they had in the 1970’s.