![]() Verdine White called his brother Fred a gifted child musician “with gold records at the young age of 16 years old!” Fred White remained with the band until 1983. Maurice White, co-founder and leader of the groundbreaking ensemble Earth, Wind & Fire, died Thursday at his Los Angeles home. ![]() Music Maurice White, founder of Earth, Wind & Fire, dies at 74 The band’s rhythm section was tight and upbeat and set the stage for songs like “Boogie Wonderland” and “September” to become instant favorites. Driven by its horn section, the Phenix Horns, and a reputation for energetic live performances, the group’s popularity grew after it moved to Columbia Records, which was then under the leadership of Clive Davis.įred White was already an accomplished drummer, playing for Donny Hathaway, before he joined Earth, Wind & Fire in the mid-1970s alongside drummer and percussionist Ralph Johnson. He didn’t say how or where.Įarth, Wind & Fire began in 1970 under the leadership of Maurice White, who created a band that combined elements of jazz, funk, R&B, soul, dance, pop and rock, and celebrated African musicianship and spiritualism. Verdine White, a vocalist, percussionist and bass player for the band, posted Sunday on Instagram that his younger brother Frederick Eugene “Freddie” White had died. And then there's a certain soda beverage that I will not mention on camera that I cannot drink or else it's just kryptonite.Drummer Fred White, who backed up his brothers Maurice and Verdine White in the Grammy-winning ensemble Earth, Wind & Fire, has died. "Well, I can't sing like James Brown and stuff and go do a gig," he replied. "What do you not do with your voice?" Smith asked Bailey. If there was ever a signature sound to the old Earth, Wind & Fire, it might've been lead singer Philip Bailey's trademark falsetto, on songs like "Reasons." HSN says that in the first 90 minutes, the band sold around 10,000 albums. One show last month was a little bigger than most: the band chose to launch their new album, appropriately called, "Now, Then and Forever," on the Home Shopping Network: a concert in front of a few thousand at the Venetian Theatre in Las Vegas (and maybe a million watching live at home). And you gotta play every show like it's your last show." You gotta stay there when they say you're not happening. "Once you get successful, the first time you always think you can go there but you gotta put the work into it," said White. They continued to tour successfully, and in February 2009 were one of the first musical groups invited to the Obama White House. Happily, Earth, Wind & Fire survived Maurice White's departure. We invited him to be part of this story he declined. But he's rarely appeared in public since. ![]() He was with the band in 2000 when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - standing ovation and all. It took a lot of courage for him to finally get to the point of really even saying, 'This is what it is,' 'cause we were all hoping, you know, that it perhaps might be something else - something that you might be able to be treated with this, that, or the other." "It was a few years that, you know, we walked it down together. The band reformed in the late '80s, but were shaken again when Maurice White was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.ĭid his band mates see the signs of Parkinson's? And then later on I went to work at Federated Stereo, selling stereos, which I was very comfortable with." I went down and helped him install fire sprinklers. "I called a friend of mine who had a construction company.
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