Earth, Wind & Fire

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Earth, Wind & Fire is an American funk band, formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1969. Led by Maurice White, they are best known for their hits of the 1970s, among them "After the Love Has Gone", "September", "Reasons", and "Shining Star". Earth, Wind & Fire became the first black performers to headline throughout the world without an opening act, to receive Madison Square Garden's Gold Ticket Award for selling more than 100,000 tickets and to receive the Columbia Records Crystal Globe Award for selling more than five million albums in foreign markets. They have gained the BET's Lifetime Achievement Award and ASCAP's Rhythm & Soul Heritage Award. They were the first black artists to have a single ("Shining Star") and and its accompanying album (That's The Way Of The World) at number one status on the pop charts at the same time.

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History

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Early years

Bandleader Maurice White began his recording career as a session drummer, working for Chess Records. After spending time as a member of the Ramsey Lewis Trio, he formed a band called The Salty Peppers and signed to Capitol Records, releasing a regionally successful single called "La La Time".

White moved his band to Los Angeles, California and changed its name to "Earth, Wind & Fire". This was based on the fact that White's astrological sign sign was Sagittarius, whose primary elemental quality is Fire, but whose seasonal qualities are Earth, and Air [1] (hence the omission of water). Their self-titled debut album, Earth, Wind & Fire, was released in 1970 to great critical acclaim, as was The Need of Love (1971). However, neither album was commercially successful.

In 1972, White dissolved the line-up (minus himself and brother Verdine White), and added Jessica Cleaves (vocals), Ronnie Laws (flute, saxophone), Larry Dunn (keyboard), Ralph Johnson (percussion) and Philip Bailey (vocals, formerly of Friends & Love). The new line-up was signed to CBS Records by Clive Davis and released Last Days and Time without much success. At this time, Laws and Bautista left the band, and Andrew Woolfolk, Al McKay, and Johnny Graham were added to the lineup. The Keep Your Head to the Sky album (1973) was a moderate success, but 1974's Open Our Eyes was a major hit. Cleaves, a former member of the Friends of Distinction, left after the "Head to the Sky" album. Up until this time, EWF had at least one female vocalist in the group.

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Breakthrough success

Earth, Wind & Fire's true breakthrough, however, came in the form of the soundtrack to That's the Way of the World in 1975. Though the film was not a success, the song "Shining Star" became a huge mainstream hit and launched the band's career. By then drummer Fred White had joined the band and Johnson turned to vocals.

Also in 1975, Earth, Wind & Fire released Gratitude, a live album which featured performances of singles from previous albums such as "Sun Goddess" with jazz legend Ramsey Lewis, "Shining Star", and the quiet storm classic "Reasons". New studio hits such as "Sing A Song" and "Can't Hide Love" were also included.

Earth Wind & Fire released Spirit in 1976; and had hits with singles such as "Getaway" and "Imagine." During the recording of this album, producer and songwriter Charles Stepney died of a heart attack. In 1977, the group released another classic album, All 'N All, featuring songs such as "I'll Write A Song For You", "Serpentine Fire", "Love's Holiday" and the pop hit "Fantasy."

In 1979, the band performed "September" at the Music for UNICEF Concert, broadcast worldwide from the United Nations General Assembly. They donated their royalties from the song to UNICEF. Later that year, they released the critically acclaimed I Am with the mainstream ballad "After The Love Is Gone". After the releases of Faces (1980) plus Raise! (1981) which featured the popular single "Let's Groove", and Powerlight which included the single "Fall In Love With Me," the band's success started to wane. White disbanded Earth, Wind & Fire in 1983 after Electric Universe was released to poor sales and reviews.

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Later years

In 1983, Earth, Wind & Fire contributed the song "Dance, Dance, Dance" to the soundtrack of the animated film Rock & Rule.

A 1987 Earth, Wind & Fire reunion with the album Touch the World was a mild success, but the band was never able to return to the kind of success they had achieved in the 1970s. The band continued to periodically release new albums, including 1990's Heritage and 1993's Millennium. The song "Sunday Morning" from Millennium was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Beginning in the 1990s, many radio formats began stressing the classic sounds of the 1970s, and Earth, Wind & Fire's dynamic arrangements and soaring vocals became a familiar sound again on American airwaves. An example that really illustrated this effect was the song "Fantasy", which became more popular in the 1990s and 2000s than it had been originally, when it was only a minor hit.

In 1993, saxophonist Don Myrick was fatally shot by the Los Angeles Police Department in a case of mistaken identity. Five years later, Maurice White announced that he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease.

"Let's Groove" is a song that one can dance to on the popular "Dance Dance Revolution" ("Extreme" or "8th Mix" version) arcade game.

Maurice White released two new Earth, Wind & Fire albums on his own label, Kalimba Records, in 2002: Live In Rio, a live album from a 1980 tour, and The Promise, the band's first all-new studio album in six years. The Promise received good reviews upon its release, and was first issued in the United States and Japan; it was issued in Europe in early 2004. it garnered a grammy nomination for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance (For solo, duo, group or collaborative performances, with vocals. Singles or Tracks only, for the song, Hold Me from the aalbum the Promise.

Earth, Wind & Fire was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, and into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003.In Addition Earth, Wind & Fire were inducted into Hollywood's RockWalk on Monday, July 7, 2003

In 2005 trombonist Louis Satterfield died.

In 2004-2005 Earth, Wind & Fire toured jointly with the band Chicago; a DVD recorded during that tour, Chicago/Earth, Wind & Fire - Live at the Greek Theatre, was certified platinum just two months after its 2005 release.

In the summer of 2004, Earth, Wind & Fire signed an exclusive record deal with Sanctuary Urban Records Group, owned by Matthew Knowles, father and manager of pop star Beyoncé. The album Illumination, the band's 23rd, was released September 20, 2005. The album's first single is "Show Me the Way", featuring Raphael Saadiq. The album was nominated for a grammy for best R&B album in 2005.

For the 2005 Holiday Season as part of Target Corporation's advertising, they wrote a song titled after Target's slogan, "Gather Round".

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Members: Past and Present

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Current Members

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Past Members

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Discography

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Studio albums

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Compilations and live albums

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Singles

Year Title Chart positions Album
U.S. Hot 100 U.S. R&B/Hip-Hop
1970 "Love Is Life" #93 #43 Earth, Wind and Fire
1971 "I Think About Lovin' You" - #44 The Need of Love
1973 "Evil" #50 #25 Head to the Sky
1973 "Keep Your Head to the Sky" #52 #23 Head to the Sky
1974 "Kalimba Story" #55 #6 Open Our Eyes
1974 "Devotion" #33 #23 Open Our Eyes
1974 "Mighty Mighty" #29 #4 Open Our Eyes
1975 "That's the Way of the World" #12 #5 That's the Way of the World
1975 "Shining Star" #1 #1 That's the Way of the World
1975 "Sun Goddess" #44 #20 Gratitude
1975 "Can't Hide Love" #39 #11 Gratitude
1975 "Sing a Song" #5 #1 Gratitude
1976 "Getaway" #12 #1 Spirit
1976 "Saturday Nite" #21 #4 Spirit
1976 "On Your Face" - #26 Spirit
1977 "Serpentine Fire" #13 #1 All 'N All
1977 "Fantasy" #32 #12 All 'N All
1978 "Got to Get You into My Life" #9 #1 The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1
1978 "September" #8 #1 The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1
1979 "In the Stone" #58 #23 I Am
1979 "Boogie Wonderland" (feat. The Emotions) #6 #2 I Am
1979 "After the Love Has Gone" #2 #2 I Am
1979 "Star" #64 #47 I Am
1980 "You" #48 #10 Faces
1980 "Let Me Talk" #44 #8 Faces
1980 "Let's Groove" #3 #1 Raise!
1981 "Wanna Be With You" #51 #15 Raise!
1981 "Lookin for You" #93 #43 Hero
1983 "Fall in Love With Me" #17 #4 Powerlight
1983 "Side by Side" #76 #15 Powerlight
1983 "Spread Your Love" - #57 Powerlight
1983 "Magnetic" #57 #10 Electric Universe
1987 "System of Survival" #60 #1 Touch the World
1987 "Thinking of You" #67 #3 Touch the World
1987 "Evil Roy" - #22 Touch the World
1987 "You and I" - #29 Touch the World
1988 "Turn on (The Beat Box)" - #26 The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 2
1990 "For the Love of You" - #19 Heritage
1990 "Heritage" - #5 Heritage
1990 "Wanna Be the Man" - #46 Heritage
1993 "Sunday Morning" #53 #20 Millennium
1993 "Spend the Night" - #42 Millennium
1993 "Two Hearts" - #88 Millennium
1997 "Revolution" - #89 In the Name of Love
2003 "All in the Way" - #77 The Promise
2005 "Pure Gold" - #76 Illumination
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See also

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External links

fr:Earth, Wind and Fire nl:Earth, Wind and Fire ja:アース・ウィンド・アンド・ファイアー pl:Earth, Wind & Fire simple:Earth, Wind & Fire sv:Earth, Wind & Fire

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