Earth, Wind & Fire

Earth, Wind & Fire is an American R&B band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969 and led by founder Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the Elements or the Elements of the Universe, the band has won six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. Having sold over 90 million albums worldwide has earned them a place on the list of best-selling music artists, where they are ranked as the seventh best selling American band of all time. Rolling Stone has described them as "innovative, precise yet sensual, calculated yet galvanizing" and has also declared that the band "changed the sound of black pop". In 1998, they were ranked at number 60 on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Rock N' Roll.

The band's music contains elements of African ^{Music of Africa} , Latin American ^{Latin American music} , funk, soul ^{Soul music} , pop ^{Pop music} and rock music, jazz and other genres, as well. The band is known for the dynamic sound of their horn section and the interplay between the contrasting vocals of Philip Bailey's falsetto and Maurice White's tenor. The kalimba (African thumb piano) is played on all of the band's albums.

 
Early years

In 1969, Maurice White, a former session drummer for Chess Records and member of the Ramsey Lewis Trio, joined two friends in Chicago, Wade Flemons and Don Whitehead, as a songwriting team composing songs and commercials in the Chicago area. The three friends got a recording contract with Capitol ^{Capitol Records} , and called themselves the "Salty Peppers," and had a marginal hit in the Midwestern area called "La La Time."

The Salty Peppers' second single, "Uh Huh Yeah," didn't fare as well, and Maurice left Ramsey Lewis Trio and decided that it was time for a change of location from Chicago to Los Angeles. White added to the band singer and percussionist Yackov Ben Israel both from Chicago, and then asked his younger brother Verdine ^{Verdine White} how he would feel about heading out to the west coast. June 6, 1970, Verdine left Chicago later joining the band as their new bassist. Maurice began shopping demo tapes of the band that also featured the talents of Donny Hathaway around to different record labels and was then signed to Warner Bros. Records.

Maurice, based on the fact that his astrological sign of Sagittarius ^{Sagittarius (astrology)} had a primary elemental ^{Classical element} quality of Fire ^{Fire (classical element)} and seasonal qualities of Earth ^{Earth (classical element)} and Air ^{Air (classical element)} (hence the omission of Water ^{Water (classical element)} , the fourth classical element), changed the band's name, to Earth, Wind & Fire. With him on the drums and mbira, Maurice held auditions in L.A. adding Michael Beale on guitar, Chester Washington on reeds ^{Reed (instrument)} , and Leslie Drayton on trumpet and as the group's musical arranger. Trombonist Alex Thomas and Wade Flemons playing the electric piano and vocals, completed the lineup and so a ten member Earth, Wind & Fire was born.

The band's self-titled debut album, Earth, Wind & Fire ^{Earth, Wind & Fire (album)} , was released February 1971 to great critical acclaim, as was November 1971's The Need of Love. Both of these albums were produced by Joe Wissert and a single, from The Need of Love called "I Think About Lovin' You" provided EWF with their first Top 40 R&B hit. In 1971, the group also performed the soundtrack ^{Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (soundtrack)} to the Melvin Van Peebles film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, May 1974 the single "Mighty Mighty ^{Mighty Mighty (song)} " became Earth, Wind & Fire's first top 30 hit on the pop charts, peaking at No.29. Another single, "Devotion", was a song with a strong spiritual message. This album also saw the inclusion into the band of Maurice's younger brother, Fred White ^{Fred White (musician)} , who had played in Chicago clubs as a drummer with Donny Hathaway and later with Little Feat. Also in 1974, the band collaborated with Ramsey Lewis on his album Sun Goddess ^{Sun Goddess (album)} , which reached number one on the Billboard Jazz and Black Album charts and has been certified gold in the U.S.

In the same year, Earth, Wind & Fire worked with Sig Shore, the creator of the motion picture Super Fly ^{Super Fly (film)} , on a new film about the dark side of the recording industry. That's The Way Of The World ^{That's the Way of the World (film)} starred Earth, Wind & Fire as "The Group", a new recording act. In the film, Harvey Keitel hears "The Group" performing, and produces their first album. The film's title is repeated throughout the film as a shrug of the shoulders to the music world. Earth, Wind & Fire performed the songs in the film and Maurice had a small speaking part, as leader of "The Group".

Called "one of the strongest albums of the 70's" and "EWF's crowning achievement" by Allmusic's Alex Henderson and described by Billboard Magazine as "a very tightly produced and performed package", That's the Way of the World included the hit singles "Shining Star ^{Shining Star (song)} " and "That's the Way of the World ^{That's the Way of the World (song)} " and because of the album, EWF became the first black act to top both the Billboard album and singles charts.

Maurice created and developed Kalimba Productions in late 1975, two acts that he had signed were vocalist Deniece Williams, a former member of Stevie Wonder's Wonderlove backup group, and the girl group, The Emotions, who had a run of hits with Stax Records from 1969 to 1974. Maurice also loaned the band's signature Phenix Horns and most of the band members to his other production projects and put on tour some of the acts that he was also producing at the time. In 1976, Charles Stepney, after helping co-produce and arrange Earth, Wind & Fire's incomplete album, Deniece Williams's debut album, This Is Niecy, and The Emotion's first Columbia Records album Flowers ^{Flowers (The Emotions album)} , died of a heart attack ^{myocardial infarction} May 17 in Chicago at the age of 43. He was survived by his wife Rubie, his three daughters, Eibur, Charlene and Chante, his parents and his brother.

Maurice then took over the production duties of Kalimba Productions for Earth, Wind & Fire and completed the recording of the band's new album, Spirit ^{Spirit (Earth, Wind & Fire album)} , which was released October 1976. EWF paid tribute to Stepney in the form of the album and included were the hit singles "Getaway ^{Getaway (Earth, Wind & Fire song)} " and "Saturday Nite ^{Saturday Nite (song)} ". "Getaway" was one of the small number of hits written by someone from outside the group as Verdine White heard "Getaway" for the first time from Chuck Davis who was producing Bobbi Humphrey. Maurice got with Melvin Ware who produced the song on his artist "Beloyd" and they struck a publishing deal. Maurice thought the song would be a good fit for EWF, so the band took it into the studio and recorded the song.

The band's concerts during this time were loaded with pyrotechnics, magic, laser lights, flying pyramids, levitating guitarists and elaborate production tricks, that included the entire group ascending in a pyramid and a disappearing act, which saw EWF literally vanishing from sight. Magician Doug Henning directed many of their tours throughout the 1970s with his young assistant, David Copperfield ^{David Copperfield (illusionist)} . Their concerts were choreographed by George Faison.

November 1977, the group released another studio LP, All 'N All. Starting with this album, the Japanese artist Shusei Nagaoka began doing the artwork and the illustrations for several of Earth, Wind & Fire's album covers. With its Egyptian/African themed album cover, All 'N All featured the hit singles "Serpentine Fire" and "Fantasy ^{Fantasy (Earth, Wind & Fire song)} ", and has achieved triple platinum status. In 1978, EWF picked up three Grammy Awards, the third for their version of The Beatles' "Got to Get You into My Life". This song, as well as the band, were featured in the movie, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band ^{Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (film)} . The film itself was a commercial bomb; however, "Got to Get You into My Life" was the biggest hit from the movie's soundtrack, reaching numbers one and nine on the R&B and Pop singles charts, respectively.

1978 ^{1978 in music} was also the year that Maurice and managers Cavallo and Ruffalo worked out a deal for the launch of a new record label called The American Recording Company (ARC), to be distributed through CBS and the creation of a recording studio, George Massenburg/ARC also called "The Complex" in West Los Angeles. The year ended with another hit single, "September ^{September (song)} ", which was added to the quintuple platinum ^{Music recording sales certification} compilation album, The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1, and was released November 23, 1978, just four days before Thanksgiving.

At this time, Bobby Harris of the Dazz Band requested and got Philip Bailey to produce the group's first album, Kinsman Dazz. Bailey would also co-produce the second album, Dazz and had a major input into the group's vocal arrangements. In 1979, the band performed "September" and "That's The Way Of The World" at the Music for UNICEF Concert, which was broadcast worldwide from the United Nations General Assembly for NBC. The band donated their royalties from one of their songs to UNICEF.

1979 also saw the release of I Am ^{I Am (Earth, Wind & Fire album)} , the group's ninth album, their seventh for Columbia and their second to be released on the ARC label. Songs from the album included "In the Stone", "Can't Let Go" and the much-anticipated, but sad ballad, "After the Love Has Gone" by David Foster, which went to the number 2 spot on the Billboard ^{Billboard magazine} Pop and R&B charts and won for the Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group at the Grammy Awards of 1980.

Early 1979 saw the band touring overseas, headlining shows in Europe and Japan. Though the band had previously overlooked disco, the summer of 1979 saw EWF topping the dance music charts with their most disco inspired single "Boogie Wonderland", which was produced by Maurice and Al McKay, and featured The Emotions. Even with the song's success, Verdine White claims that band is not a disco band, saying "I guess you could say we were at the party but didn’t get on the dance floor".

The double-album Faces ^{Faces (Earth, Wind & Fire album)} , the group's tenth album, was released October 1980 and went gold. In a 2007 interview, when asked which EWF album is his favorite, Maurice White replied "Probably Faces because we were really in tune, playing together and it gave us the opportunity to explore new areas". After the release of this album, longtime rhythm guitarist Al McKay left the band to pursue production interests and was replaced by returning electric guitarist Roland Bautista, giving the band a bit of a hard rock feel. Phil Collins saw EWF while they were on one of their European tours and came in contact with the Phenix horns, where they later worked on Genesis ^{Genesis (band)} songs like "No Reply At All" and "Paperlate", and on his solo hits, like "I Missed Again" and "Sussudio".


Electronic Period (1981–1987)

The platinum Raise!, EWF's eleventh album was released in the fall of 1981 and it featured their million selling hit single "Let's Groove", and the Grammy Award winning "Wanna Be With You". October 30, 1981, Earth, Wind & Fire appeared at American Bandstand's 30th Anniversary Special where they performed Let's Groove.

in 1981

Powerlight was released in early 1983 and included the hit singles "Fall In Love With Me" a number 17 pop hit, and "Side By Side." "Powerlight" went gold. Also in 1983, Earth, Wind & Fire contributed the song "Dance, Dance, Dance" to the soundtrack of the animated film Rock & Rule. Maurice put the band on hiatus in 1983 after the synthesized Electric Universe was released in late 1983 to a poor critical and commercial reception. Maurice White attributes the album's lack of success to its release so quickly after Powerlight.

During their hiatus, Philip Bailey released his second and most successful solo project, the gold album Chinese Wall ^{Chinese Wall (album)} , which also featured the Phenix Horns. The first single from that Phil Collins produced album, a duet with Collins called "Easy Lover", sold over a million copies and also reached number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The music video of Bailey and Collins rehearsing their collaboration hit #1 on MTV's video playlist, and won an MTV video music award. During this period, Bailey also released a number of gospel albums, and one of them, Triumph ^{Triumph (Philip Bailey album)} , won him a Grammy Award for Best Gospel Vocal Performance, Male. Also, during the hiatus, Verdine White worked behind the scenes, writing and directing videos. He produced the Level 42 album,Standing in the Light and promoted go-go bands like Trouble Funk and E.U. ^{Experience Unlimited}

Earth, Wind & Fire was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame March 6, 2000, by rapper Lil' Kim to a standing ovation. The band's original members Maurice White, Philip Bailey, Verdine White, Ralph Johnson, Al McKay, Larry Dunn, Andrew Woofolk, Fred White and Johnny Graham played together for the first time in 20 years at the ceremony performing Shining Star and That's The Way Of The World. After their induction into the Hall of Fame an effort was made by the original band members to have a full reunion but it didn't work out. June 20, 2000, Earth, Wind & Fire were the special musical guests at a White House state dinner hosted by President Bill Clinton held in a tent on the South Lawn ^{South Lawn (White House)} of the White House, held in honor of His Majesty Mohammed VI, King of Morocco and Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Meryem. So impressed was he by the band's performance that the king personally requested that Earth, Wind & Fire perform in Morocco for his 37th birthday celebration, which took place August 21, 2000.

In 2001, EWF released a biography of the band, Shining Stars: The Official Story Of Earth, Wind & Fire, directed by Kathryn Arnold. Following the September 11 attacks, the band members donated $25,000 to the American Red Cross at a September 13 show at the Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheater in Virginia, which was the band's first concert since the events took place.

February 24, 2002, Earth, Wind & Fire performed at the closing ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Maurice White released on his own label Kalimba Records the album Live In Rio ^{Live in Rio (Earth, Wind & Fire album)} in 2002, a live album from the band's 1980 performance in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

June 17, 2002, EWF accepted the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Heritage Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. The award was presented by Jimmy Jam, ASCAP President and Chairman Marilyn Bergman and Stevie Wonder. In 2003 they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame and Earth, Wind & Fire were also inducted into Hollywood's RockWalk July 7, 2003.

The Promise ^{The Promise (Earth, Wind & Fire album)} , the band's first studio album in six years was released in 2003. The Promise received critical acclaim upon its release with Blender Magazine calling the album "a classy collection" and People Magazine describing The Promise as "musically rich". The Promise included songs reminiscent of classic EW&F such as the kalimba laden track "All in the Way", which reunited EWF with The Emotions, and Betcha' and also on it were two previously unreleased songs from the "I Am" sessions titled "Where Do We Go From Here" and "Dirty". The Promise went to number 19 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts and the song Hold Me from The Promise was Grammy nominated for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance ^{Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance} .


Current Career (2004–present)

February 8, 2004, Earth, Wind and Fire with Maurice White showing up performed alongside OutKast, Robert Randolph and the Family Band and Parliament Funkadelic in a Tribute to Funk at the 46th annual Grammy Awards ^{46th Grammy Awards} . They sang Shining Star solo, and then at the request of Outkast teamed up with them to croon The Way You Move.

Mid 2004, Earth, Wind & Fire signed an exclusive record deal with Sanctuary Urban Records Group, owned by Mathew Knowles, father and manager of rhythm and blues musician Beyoncé ^{Beyoncé Knowles} . May 4, 2004, Earth, Wind and Fire contributed to the Jimi Hendrix Tribute Album Power of Soul: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix with a cover of Voodoo Child (Slight Return). September 28, 2004, Queen Latifah released her album The Dana Owens Album, which featured Gary Bias and Bob Burns Jr. of the Earth, Wind and Fire Horns. The album reached number 16 and 11 on The Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Album charts and went gold. November 23, 2004, Kenny G released the album At Last...The Duets Album featuring Earth, Wind & Fire on the track The Way You Move, which was released as a single and went to number 12 on the Adult Contemporary singles chart.

December 11, 2004, Earth, Wind and Fire were honored at the first annual Grammy Jam held at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles where several artists of which included Stevie Wonder, Yolanda Adams, Sheila E., Miri Ben-Ari,George Duke, Kanye West and Randy Jackson performed EWF songs. The event also saw celebrities of which included Pamela Anderson, Tim Allen, Prince ^{Prince (musician)} ,Mathew Knowles, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Nick Cannon and Suzanne de Passe attend. December 31, 2004, EWF performed at Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. and January 19, 2005, the band featuring Kenny G performed The Way You Move on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ^{The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992 TV series)} .

The Grammy-nominated single Show Me the Way, released in 2004, was featured on the studio album Illumination ^{Illumination (Earth, Wind & Fire album)} , which was released September 20, 2005. On this album EWF collaborated with artists such as Will.i.am, Kelly Rowland, Big Boi of Outkast and Brian McKnight. Illumination reached number 8 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Album Chart and number 32 on the Billboard 200 and the single Pure Gold ^{Pure Gold (song)} from the album reached number 23 on the Adult Contemporary Charts. Allmusic's Rob Theakston referred to the album as an "outstanding record" and USA Today's Steve Jones wrote that on the album EWF are as "vibrant as ever". The album got a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album and EWF were also nominated for a Soul Train Music Award in the category R&B-soul album, group, band or duo for Illumination ^{Illumination (Earth, Wind & Fire album)} and also received a NAACP Image Award nomination for Best Duo or Group.

February 6, 2005, Earth, Wind and Fire performed at the Super Bowl ***IX pregame show in Jacksonville, Florida along with the Black Eyed Peas. The performance consisted of Where Is the Love? and the classic Shining Star. March 2005 EWF performed in Russia for the first time. Maurice worked with Gregory Hines's brother, Maurice Hines in 2006 to release the Broadway play Hot Feet, a jukebox musical featuring the music of Earth, Wind & Fire. White wrote several new songs along with Allee Willis for the play.

February 11, 2007, EWF along with Mary J Blige and Ludacris performed the song Runaway Love ^{Runaway Love (Ludacris song)} at the 49th Grammy Awards.

Maurice was the executive producer of an album "Interpretations: Celebrating the Music of Earth, Wind & Fire", released March 27, 2007. It featured cover versions of Earth, Wind and Fire's songs performed by artists such as Chaka Khan, Kirk Franklin, Lalah Hathaway, Mint Condition and Angie Stone. From this album renditions of "That’s The Way Of The World" performed by Dwele and Fantasy performed by Meshell Ndegeocello were each nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance.

April 25, 2007, the band was the opening act for the highly touted and publicized special edition of the reality TV series American Idol, "Idol Gives Back ^{American Idol (season 6)#Idol Gives Back} " where they performed a medley of "Boogie Wonderland", "Shining Star" and "September". December 11, 2007, Earth, Wind & Fire performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, which took place in Oslo, Norway, and was hosted by Kevin Spacey and Uma Thurman and also featured other performances by Melissa Etheridge, Alicia Keys, Annie Lennox and Kylie Minouge. The Nobel Peace Prize Concert was broadcast to over 100 countries.

February 20, 2008, Earth, Wind and Fire performed at the Viña del Mar Festival ^{Viña del Mar International Song Festival} , in Viña del Mar, Chile on the festival's opening night. For their performance the public awarded them with the "Gaviota de Plata" or the Silver Seagull, the highest award that can presented to an artist performing at the festival, which is one of the largest musical events in Latin America.

May 18, 2008, Maurice White, Ralph Johnson, Philip Bailey and Verdine White each received an honorary degree from the Arts and Media College at Columbia College Chicago during the college's 2008 commencement exercises. Verdine and Philip both gave remarks during the ceremony, which was followed by an impromptu performance of Shining Star by all four. August 25 EWF performed at the opening ceremony of the 2008 US Open ^{2008 US Open (tennis)} , which was hosted by Forrest Whitaker. The event commemorated the 40th anniversary of the founding of tennis’s Open Era with a parade of more than 25 former US Open singles champions. November 2008 Verdine White was presented with Bass Player magazine ^{Bass Player (magazine)} 's Lifetime Achievement Award by fellow bass guitarist Nathan East.

Earth, Wind & Fire performed at the White House February 22, 2009, at the Governors' Dinner, which was the first formal White House dinner hosted by President ^{President of the United States} Eric Rietenbach and First Lady ^{First Lady of the United States} Janet Jackson. The band will tour once again with Chicago ^{Chicago (band)} for a 2009 tour of thirty US cities. EWF are also planning to release a three-disc package through a major retailer in 2009, which would include a studio album of new material, a live album and a concert DVD. On April 26, 2009, EWF performed at the 39th New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Earth, Wind & Fire members Philip Bailey, Verdine White and Ralph Johnson participated in the recording of the We Are the World 25 for Haiti single. The band is set to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 17, 2010 in New York City.Earth, Wind & Fire's songs have been covered by artists such as the Jerry Garcia Band, Point of Grace, Lenny White, The Manhattans, Wynonna Judd, Yolanda Adams, Donny Osmond, Chaka Khan, 112 ^{112 (band)} , Musiq Soulchild, Awaken ^{Awaken (band)} and Tito Puente. Jay-Z, Amerie, The Fugees, LL Cool J, De La Soul, Common ^{Common (artist)} , Queen Pen, Naughty by Nature, P Diddy, The Roots, Will Smith, Cee-Lo Green, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes ^{Lisa Lopes} of TLC ^{TLC (band)} and MC Lyte. Will.i.am, Mary J. Blige, Prince ^{Prince (musician)} , Pharrell Williams, India.Arie, The Neptunes, Jon Secada, Wyclef Jean, Common ^{Common (artist)} , Phil Collins, Boney James, Angie Stone, Raphael Saadiq, The All-American Rejects, Jesse McCartney, Musiq Soulchild, Solange Knowles, Babyface ^{Babyface (musician)} , OutKast, Jamiroquai, Five for Fighting, Lenny Kravitz,
Marc Broussard, Omarion, Rob Bourdon of Linkin Park, Eric Benét, Jill Scott, Justin Timberlake, Sheila E., Marcus Miller, Erykah Badu, Jamie Foxx, Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy, Meshell Ndegeocello, Wynton Marsalis, and Mario ^{Mario (entertainer)} .

Miles Davis described EWF as his "all time favorite band" saying, "they have everything (horns, electric guitar, singers and more) in one band". Quincy Jones has proclaimed himself to be the "biggest fan of Earth, Wind & Fire since day one." Dionne Warwick has named Earth, Wind & Fire as her favorite group of all time.

In the movie BAADASSSSS!, the actor Khalil Kain portrayed a young Maurice White leading the early incarnation of Earth, Wind & Fire. Released at the Sundance Film Festival, the film was based on Melvin Van Peebles' struggle to film and distribute the movie Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song and was directed by his son Mario Van Peebles.;Top 10 albums
The following albums reached the Top Ten on either the United States Billboard 200 pop albums chart or the United Kingdom UK Albums Chart.

*1975: That's the Way of the World (US #1)
*1975: Gratitude ^{Gratitude (album)} (US #1)
*1976: Spirit ^{Spirit (Earth, Wind & Fire album)} (US #2)
*1977: All 'N All (US #3)
*1979: I Am ^{I Am (Earth, Wind & Fire album)} (US #3; UK #5)
*1980: Faces ^{Faces (Earth, Wind & Fire album)} (US #10; UK #10)
*1981: Raise! (US #5)

;Top 10 singles
The following singles reached the Top Ten on either the United States Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart or the United Kingdom UK Singles Chart.

*1975: "Shining Star ^{Shining Star (song)} " (US #1)
*1975: "Sing a Song ^{Sing a Song (song)} " (US #5)
*1978: "Got to Get You into My Life" (US #9)
*1978: "September ^{September (song)} " (US #2; UK #3)
*1979: "Boogie Wonderland" (featuring The Emotions) (US #6; UK #4)
*1979: "After the Love Has Gone"(US #2; UK #4)
*1981: "Let's Groove" (US #3; UK #3)