Happy Birthday Maurice White (born December 19, 1941). He is the founder of the band Earth, Wind & Fire and the older brother of current and former Earth, Wind & Fire members Verdine White and Fred White respectively. Maurice served as the bands main songwriter and record producer, and he was co-lead singer (along with Phillip Bailey). Maurice White has won seven Grammys, and he has been nominated for Grammys 21 times in total. Maurice White was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame as a member of Earth, Wind & Fire, plus individually inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame also. He has worked with several famous recording artists including, Jennifer Holliday, Deniece Williams, The Emotions, Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond. He was diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease in the late 1980s & stopped touring with his band. In 1985, Maurice White released a solo album entitled Maurice White. By 1966, he joined the Ramsey Lewis Trio, replacing Isaac Red Holt as the new drummer. In 1969, Maurice left the Trio and joined his two friends, Wade Flemons and Don Whitehead, to form a songwriting team who wrote songs for commercials in the Chicago area. The three friends got a recording contract with Capitol Records and called themselves The Salty Peppers. Maurice then migrated from Chicago to Los Angeles, and altered the name of the band to Earth, Wind & Fire, the bands new name reflecting the elements in Whites astrological chart. With Maurice as the bandleader and producer of most of the bands albums, EWF has earned legendary status, selling over 90 million albums worldwide. The groups across-the-board breakthrough came in 1975 with their soundtrack album for the little known movie Thats the Way of the World. The albums lead single, the bright, horn-laden, funky number Shining Star, took the Soul and Pop worlds by storm, topping both charts and taking the album with it. The mid tempo title track was a worthy follow-up single, and, with the album cut Reasons, established EWF as a new popular musical force. The success of Thats The Way of the World set the stage for Gratitude, an album that documented the extravagant EWF live performances, which were becoming must-see concerts around the world. The groups next two albums, Spirit and All n All continued their winning ways and boasted a number of now classic cuts, including Saturday Night, Singasong and Fantasy. During this period, Maurice White wrote and produced songs and sounds that were years ahead of anyone else, and the vocal combination of White and Philip Bailey (often overdubbed several times for backing vocals) worked marvelously with the material and arrangements. EWF released I Am, included the ballad After the Love Has Gone and the dance anthem Boogie Wonderland (with the Emotions). The albums flowed in the 80s, Raise that included , Lets Groove, Faces etc. Maurice has also written songs for the movies Coming to America and Undercover Brother. The band are still receiving major chart success, Now, Then & Forever, the groups first album in eight years, charted at #11 in the US album chart & #25 in the UK last year. They have just released a Holiday Christmas album.. GARY
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 11:19:46 +0000
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