Hey everyone, you are now 325K strong!
It was not that long ago I had 10K. So to mark this event, here is my take on "Celebration"!
Thank y'all so much. Stay healthy.
You can trace the origin of this band with Robert "Kool" Bell's first band, the Jazziacs in 1964 at the age of 14. Members included his brother Ronald, along with Robert Mickens, George Brown, Dennis Thomas and Charles Smith.
Changing their name to Soul Town Band in the late 60's to reflect the fusion of R&B/funk with their jazz roots, they began accumulating a large audience. This let to their new name "Kool & The Gang" in 1969 and their first release with the new name was "Kool & The Gang" a jazzy R&B instrumental on De-Lite Records that made it to the lower rungs of the pop chart at #59. It wasn't until 1973 that they had a bona fide hit with "Funky Stuff" that peaked at #29. Then two of their now signature hits "Jungle Boogie" peaked at #4 and "Hollywood Swinging" followed up at #6.
With disco on the rise, the band knew it had to adapt and adapt they did. Taking on smooth singing JT Taylor and working the jazz producer/artist Deodato, they improved their formula and were rewarded with the platinum selling LP "Ladies Night". During those recording sessions, Ronald Bell came up with the idea for "Celebration" and incorporated a line "come on let's all celebrate" into "Ladies Night", but held on to the melody and finished "Celebration" which became the title track of their next LP.
Bell explains he had the idea for the song two years earlier while he was reading the passage where God created Adam in the Qur'an and became inspired to write the basic chords and the line "Everyone around the world come on, celebration!". His vision was so clear on the direction he would take with this song that he spent a lot of time on the arrangement, one part at a time.
When it was finished, he said "This is it, this is going to be an international anthem, to be played at weddings, bar mitzvah's and all joyous occasions beyond our time on Earth. This is going to change us." Truer words have never been spoken. Released in September, 1980, it entered the chart on October 25, 1980 at #87 it leapt up the charts about 10 spots each week peaking at #1 February 7, 1981 and stayed there for two weeks pop but stormed the R&B charts peaking at #1 on December 20, 1980 and stayed there for six weeks. When the American hostages returned from Iran on January 26, 1981, this song is what greeted them upon their return.
