Kool & the Gang, The #91 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Two

We continue with Part Two of our salute to The #91 Artist of the Rock Era*, Kool & the Gang!

Kool & the Gang released the album Celebrate! in 1980. The lead single not only raced to #1 in the U.S., Canada and New Zealand but has become a universal anthem for celebrating the good times in life. The group developed the song, while on a tour bus. As revealed in our music special and book, "Celebration" is The #469 Song of the Rock Era*.

 

 The album topped one million in sales and hit #10.  Kool & the Gang earned an American Music Award nomination for Best R&B/Soul Band, Duo or Group.  In 1981, the band released the Platinum album Something Special, which included the #10 hit "Get Down On It".

Although it stalled at #17 overall, "Take My Heart (You Can Have It If You Want It)" scored the group another #1 R&B hit.

 

Kool & the Gang fans also know the underrated "Steppin' Out" (only #89 overall), featuring a great funky beat and outstanding vocals by Taylor, as one of the group's best career songs.

 

The group followed with the Gold release As One the following year and scored the American Music Awards in that same category both years.  Although Deodato pointed them in the right direction, Kool & the Gang decided to produce their next album, In the Heart, which was also certified Gold.  "Joanna", an across-the-board winner--#1 on both the Adult Contemporary and R&B charts and #2 Popular--became the most-played song in 1984 by Broadcast Music International, BMI, which asks every radio station to provide logs of every song they play.

"Tonight" stopped just short of the Top 10 at #13.

 

The group released the album Emergency, by far the best of their career.  Kool & the Gang had begun to broke through on the all-important Adult Contemporary chart, and "Fresh", with its crackling bass lines, hit #5 there, also peaking at #9 overall and giving the band their 8th #1 R&B smash. 

 

Kool & the Gang were on an amazing streak in which they placed nine consecutive releases in the R&B Top 10.  Emergency peaked at #13 on the Album chart and has now topped two million in sales in the U.S. alone.  "Misled" also landed in the Top 10.

 

The beautiful "Cherish" became the second-biggest career hit after "Celebration" and another multi-format smash (#1 on both the Adult Contemporary and R&B charts and #2 overall).  It also topped the Canadian chart and reached #3 in the Netherlands and #4 in the U.K. 

The title song also reached #18.  Kool & the Gang scored an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Band, Duo or Group for their outstanding work on Emergency.    

The group was also nominated for Favorite Soul/R&B Band, Duo or Group Video Artist at the AMA's and earned a Grammy Award nomination as well for Best Inspirational Performance for their song "You Are The One".

 

Kool & the Gang performed a sold-out concert at London's Wembley Stadium in 1984.  That led to their participation in the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?".

 

In 1986, the band released the album Forever, including two #10 hits--this is "Victory".

Forever became the group's ninth and last Gold album.  Kool & the Gang landed another AMA nomination for Best R&B/Soul Band, Duo or Group in 1985 and won it the following year.  "Stone Love" gave the group their last Top 10 hit.

The group toured the U.S. with shows in 50 cities.  For the tour, the group established a public service program to encourage school children to pursue education, giving free tickets to those with perfect attendance.  

After the tour, however, Taylor left to start a solo career.  He was replaced by three vocalists, Sennie Martin, Odeen Mays, and Gary Brown.  Bayyan and Mickens also left the group at this time.

Kool & the Gang released the album Sweat in 1989 but it was not received well.  Bayyan rejoined the group for the album Unite in 1992.  Taylor also returned for the album State of Affairs, released in 1996. But he left again in 1999.

The group added a hip hop feel to their album Gangland, a reworking of previous material with rappers adding their caveman-like chants.  It of course did not go over well.  Kool & the Gang released another album of re-recorded material as The Hits Reloaded in 2004 and released the album Still Kool in 2007.

In 2012, the group opened for Van Halen and released the Christmas album Kool for the Holidays.

In 2015, Kool & the Gang earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  The following year, a street in Jersey City was renamed Kool and the Gang Way.  In 2018, the Bells, Brown, and Taylor were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Kool & the Gang racked up 32 career hits with 11 of those reaching the Top 10.  They are one of the biggest R&B acts of all-time, landing a sensational 27 of 37 career hits in the Top 10 on that chart with 9 #1's.  

The great R&B group was won one Grammy Award among three nominations and three American Music Awards out of seven nominations.  Worldwide, Kool & the Gang has sold over 70 million albums.