1964–1972: Formation and signing with De-Lite The band formed in
Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1964 when seven school friends decided to perform together as an instrumental jazz and soul group named the Jazziacs. Robert "Spike" Mickens on trumpet,
Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas on saxophone, Ricky West on keyboards, George Brown on drums, and
Charles Smith on guitar. Except Smith, all of them attended
Lincoln High School in Jersey City. Robert Bell had given himself the nickname "Kool" as a way of adapting to the street gangs in his neighborhood after moving from Ohio. The Bells' father Bobby and uncle
Tommy were boxers. They moved to
New York to train and lived in the same apartment building as
Thelonious Monk, who became Robert's godfather.
Miles Davis would drop by because he wanted to be a boxer. Their first gigs took place as the opening act to a weekly jazz night held in a local theatre every Sunday. They then had several name changes, including "the Soul Town Band" and "the New Dimensions". They played
Motown covers as the backing musicians for Soul Town, a small Jersey City-based organization similar to Motown. After selecting the new band name and line-up, Kool & the Gang signed a recording deal with Redd's new independent label,
De-Lite Records. Redd wrote: "I discovered these eight super talented incomparable young musicians, [...and...] I immediately realized that their potential would earn them success unknown by most musicians". The group entered the studio and recorded their debut album, the all-instrumental
Kool and the Gang (1969), with Redd as a producer, arranger, conductor, and partial songwriter. It would be their only album with guitarist Woody Sparrow. The album peaked at No. 46 on the
Billboard R&B chart. Around this time, the group began to develop their stage performance after they witnessed a set by Willie (Feaster) and the Mighty Magnificents which, according to Robert Bell, "Blew us away[...] We thought, 'Wow, if we want to be in show business, we have to change our act. We can't just stand up there and play'." The group followed their debut with two live albums:
Live at the Sex Machine, recorded the year before, and ''
Live at PJ's, both released in 1971. These were their final albums before their amicable split with Redd. Their next album, Music Is the Message'', was the first time the group self-produced one of their records. Since the album failed to generate the radio exposure the group had hoped for, they began to explore how to build a following without relying on airplay. The latter two songs sold over one million copies and were certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (
RIAA). " has appeared in numerous media, including in the 1976 drama film
Rocky. It was also in a famous 2006
Nike advertisement featuring
LeBron James Their success continued with
Light of Worlds (1974), which contained the hit instrumental "
Summer Madness". In October 1974, the group landed a spot on the national television music show
Soul Train. In 1975 Kool & the Gang added Larry Gittens from
the Stylistics, and released
Spirit of the Boogie which contained the top 40 single "
Spirit of the Boogie". That was followed by the part-studio part-live release
Love & Understanding, in 1976. By mid-1976, however, Kool & the Gang entered a period of commercial decline.
Rolling Stone writer Geoff Himes wrote the fans "frowned on their loose and greasy approach to dance music."
The Force and ''Everybody's Dancin'' displayed the group's attempt to adopt disco elements with female vocalists and a string section, but Robert Bell later said the group got "Too fancy and over-creative[...] We got away from the basic Kool & the Gang sound[...] and the public didn't like it". The change in style affected their ability to secure as many dates as before, working "just off and on" during this time. One review for ''Everybody's Dancin'' bore the headline, "Kool and the Gang have gone bland." Writer Mike Duffy opined, "They've joined the disco lemmings [...] The edge has gone. Say so long to the raw and raunchy." During their low period, the group gained some mainstream attention with their contribution of "Open Sesame" to the
soundtrack of
Saturday Night Fever (1977).
James "J.T." Taylor from
South Carolina was added; Taylor noted that vocals added more warmth to the songs, especially to ballads, which the group had previously avoided as no vocalist in the group could sing them properly. He recalled some resistance to his arrival from some group members and the female singers they had used on
The Force and ''Everybody's Dancin''. The change in style developed further when the group entered a four-album association with Brazilian musician, songwriter, and arranger
Eumir Deodato as their producer, who helped them move towards mainstream pop and dance-oriented music with greater emphasis on catchy hooks and chorus lines. The group's first choice,
Stevie Wonder, was too busy to work with them. In January 1980, ''Ladies' Night'' was certified
platinum by the RIAA for selling one million copies in the US. The song was used in national media coverage for the
1980 World Series, the
1981 Super Bowl, the
1981 NBA Finals, and the
1981 return of the Iran hostages. In June 1984, Kool & the Gang took time off from recording
Emergency to perform at
Wembley Stadium as part of a sold-out summer concert organised by
Elton John. The group's seventeenth album,
Forever, was released in November 1986. The album included two hit singles on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart: "Victory" (US No. 10, R&B No. 2) and "
Stone Love" (US No. 10, R&B No. 4). Two further singles, "Holiday" and "Special Way" were also released from the album; the former reached the top ten on the R&B Chart, the latter hit reached No. 6 on the Adult Contemporary chart. By 1986, the group had scored 14 top 40 singles in the US since 1980, more than
Michael Jackson. In July 1986, the group recorded a special version of "Celebration" with different vocals that was used in an advertisement for
Wendy's. In 1987, the group completed a 50-city tour of the US. The tour included the group establishing their own public service program, devised by Robert Bell and Taylor, which encouraged school children to pursue education, giving free tickets to those with perfect attendance. The group rehearsed their stage show with a choreographer at
Prince's studio at
Paisley Park. After the tour, Taylor left Kool & the Gang to pursue a solo career. He returned in 1996 for their
State of Affairs album.
1988–present: Later career In February 1988, news of Taylor's departure from the group to pursue a solo career was reported in the press. In 2004 they released another album featuring remakes and some new songs.
The Hits Reloaded contained collaborations with artists such as
Atomic Kitten,
Lisa Stansfield and
Jamiroquai. The album reached No. 21 on the
UK R&B Albums chart. During 2007 the group released another album entitled
Still Kool. The album reached No. 31 on the US
Billboard Top Soul Albums chart.
Still Kool has also been certified
Platinum in France by the
SNEP. In 2012, Bell accepted
Van Halen singer
David Lee Roth's invitation for Kool & the Gang to be the opening act during their
A Different Kind of Truth Tour as Roth had noticed a significant portion of their concert audience were women. Roth wanted the group after seeing their set at Glastonbury. In 2013 the group released a Christmas album
Kool for the Holidays. That was the group's 24th studio album. During that year they were also inducted into the
New Jersey Hall of Fame. In 2016, a
Jersey City street was renamed the "Kool and the Gang Way". During 2019, Kool and the Gang was also bestowed with the
Marian Anderson Award. On November 20, 2022, the group performed a special live concert at the naming ceremony for the newly christened
Carnival Celebration, notably performing “
Celebration” as a nod to the newest addition to the Carnival fleet. Kool & the Gang were selected for induction into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2024. Longtime Kool & the Gang stylist and choreographer Michael Sumler, who opened concerts for the group since 1985 and was widely known as "Chicago Mike", died in a car crash in Cobb County, Georgia, on May 24, 2025, at the age of 71. == Music appearances ==