The co-founder of that heavyweight funk group behind hits like “Fresh,” “Cherish,” “Celebration,” “Jungle Boogie” “Ladies’ Night” and many more great hits, back in the day, Ronald Bell has passed on to eternal glory, at the age of 68.
Bell founded Kool and the Gang with his brother Robert and friends Dennis Thomas, Robert Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown, and Ricky West in the early 1960s, fusing a foundation of jazz with smatterings of funk, disco, R&B, and pop.
The group became a major smash in the 1970s, its brassy funk putting it in a class with Earth, Wind and Fire, the Isley Brothers and Sly and the Family Stone as well as the Temptations.
Kool and the Gang scored a Grammy in 1978 for their contributions to the soundtrack for “Saturday Night Fever” starring John Travolta.
The group was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018.
Born in Youngstown, Ohio in 1951, Bell also went by his Muslim name Khalis Bayyan.
A self-taught musician, he wrote some of the ensemble’s major hits including “Celebration,” which is still a popular anthem at sporting events till tomorrow.
The group remains a DJ favorite and is heavily sampled especially in the rap world, its tracks appearing in songs by artists including Jay-Z, Nas, NWA, Tupac, The Wu-Tang Clan, Snoop Dogg, A Tribe Called Quest, and Busta Rhymes.
Those who love great old school tunes can never forget the group Kool And The Gang, meaning we can never forget Ronald Bell, the man who was behind the success of the funk group.
