R&B · Soul · Funk
From Jersey City funk to the world’s dance floor.
The biography
Kool & the Gang is an American R&B, soul and funk band formed in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1964 by brothers Robert “Kool” Bell and Ronald Bell with the band’s first members. Their story has two clear chapters, and both matter. In the 1970s they played raw, horn-driven funk, with the album Wild and Peaceful (1973) bringing “Jungle Boogie” into the American top 10. In the late 1970s and 1980s, working with producer Eumir Deodato and with singer James “J.T.” Taylor joining the group, their sound became smoother and more radio-friendly, through albums such as Ladies’ Night (1979), Celebrate! (1980) and Emergency (1984).
What links the two chapters is a band that always played for the dance floor, whether the groove was rough or polished. The horns stayed at the centre, the rhythm stayed steady, and the vocals stayed warm. The band was selected for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024. Their 1970s and 1980s records already do that work, song by song, from a funk breakthrough to a ballad that proved they were never only a party band.