He even started his own label, ARC, in 1978. In addition to overseeing Earth, Wind & Fire’s albums and tours, White was fast becoming one of the hottest producers around. Earth, Wind & Fire’s conquest of the Seventies continued with an unbroken run of multiplatinum albums: Gratitude (1975), Spirit (1976), All ‘N All (1977), The Best Of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol.
Their breakthrough album, That’s The Way Of The World (1975), yielded “Shining Star,” a GRAMMY Award-winning #1 hit on both the pop and R&B charts. “The essence of this band is hope,” White has said.Įarth, Wind & Fire attracted a then-untapped audience of hip, young urban audience of blacks and whites that reacted to the energetic music and charismatic presentation. We were jazz musicians at heart playing popular music.” Moreover, they were driven by idealism. “Our whole vision,” Bailey has commented, “derived from the greats before us: Miles Davis and John Coltrane and all the great singers…. The group’s tight, punchy horn section became a featured attraction, but the musical currents ran deeply. A definitive nine-man lineup coalesced in the early Seventies around a core of White, who sang and played the African kalimba his bass-playing brother, Verdine White and vocalist Philip Bailey. Following a stint with the Ramsey Lewis Trio, he formed Earth, Wind & Fire in Los Angeles in 1969. The group was founded by Memphis-born Maurice White, a session drummer who joined Chess Records’ studio band from 1963 to 1967. Even so, the anthemic power of “Shining Star,” “Serpentine Fire,” “Getaway” and numerous other crossover hits proved that Earth, Wind & Fire’s music could stand on its own. The group was known for employing magic tricks (often directed by the late Doug Henning) in their elaborate late-Seventies stage shows. A large and visually resplendent ensemble, its members often wore colorful African robes.
During the latter half of the Seventies, they issued a string of albums that changed the face of black popular music, linking thrilling music with uplifting messages of racial pride, African consciousness and spiritual unity. Earth, Wind & Fire drew from various streams of black music, synthesizing soul, funk, R&B, pop, gospel and African styles into a polished, precision-tooled approach.
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