KC & THE SUNSHINE BAND

From the mid- to late ’70s, the multi-member and racially integrated group led by bandleaders Harry Wayne “KC” Casey and Richard Finch racked up some of the era’s biggest and instantly recognizable dance hits.

Founded in 1973 in Miami Florida, their style has covered many genres, including funk, R&B and disco. Taking their name from lead vocalist Harry Wayne Casey’s last name ‘KC’ and the “Sunshine Band” came from KC’s home state of Florida, ‘The Sunshine State’.

The band was put together by KC, whilst working two jobs, the first as a record store employee and the other part-time anything man at TK Records. He initially called the band KC and the Sunshine Junkanoo Band, as when it came to recording material, he used studio musicians from TK and a local Junkanoo band called the Miami Junkanoo Band.

One day whilst at TK he met and built up a great relationship with Richard Finch, who was doing engineering work on records for TK. This was the start of a musical collaboration between the two. At first it was just the two, but they later added Jerome Smith (guitar) and Robert Johnson (drums) who were also working at TK.

They first hit the charts with ‘Blow Your Whistle’ in 1973. This followed with ‘Sound Your Funky Horn’ in 1974. Both songs charting quite well on the Billboard R & B Chart. On the back of this success, they released their debut album ‘Do It Good’.

It wasn’t until they released ‘Get Down Tonight’ that they would get their first #1 single. Before they could release their second single ‘That’s the Way I Like It’ which also went straight to #1 position, their second ‘self titled’ album had gone triple platinum.

Their third album released in 1976 titled ‘Part Three’ yielded two #1 singles with ‘I’m Your Boogie Man’ and ‘Shake, Shake, Shake Your Booty’. A third single ‘Keep It Coming Love’ just missed out on giving them a third #1, peaking at #2.

The bands success story lasted until their fifth album release, ‘Who Do Ya (Love) in 1978, featuring their last #1 hit ‘Please Don’t Go’ and giving them their first hit of the 80’s.

With the eruption of new wave of music and declining popularity of disco, the band tried to re-invent themselves exploring other styles and changing record labels. They were in fact forced to change labels, joining Epic Records after TK Records went bust.

In 1981, the partnership between Casey and Finch was all but over. Two years later, the band released two new pop albums, which generated little if any interest.

An ever growing internal conflict between Casey and Epic about their musical direction, resulted in Casey pulling from the record company, and starting his own record label called Meca Records. With Meca, he had total control over the release of his material. But KC & The Sunshine Bands days were numbered. Failing to chart with any further albums, the band took a hiatus in 1985, to coincide with Casey’s retirement.

Casey would come out of retirement in 1991, with a revival of interest in disco music. Forming the group again, with a completely new line-up, they began touring playing all their former hits. The new band released quite a few compilation albums, through Rhino Records, as well as some new material.

After a decade of silence, KC and The Sunshine Band released ‘Oh Yeah’ in 1993.

In 2000 Smith (guitar) accidentally died whilst working as a bulldozer operator. The band again after an 8 year hiatus, returned to the music scene releasing two more albums, ‘I’ll Be There For You” and “Yummy’. Even though critics were praising the bands efforts, the pubic weren’t buying it and it made little impact in sales and on the charts.