Kool & The Gang Will Add a Piece of Youngstown to the Rock Hall

It’s time for another celebration for Kool & The Gang.

There are few accolades that have yet to be bestowed upon the legendary R&B-funk band. Kool has garnered multiple Grammy and American Music Award statuettes, earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and has had one of its songs (“Celebration”) selected by the Library of Congress National Recording Registry.

On Saturday, the band will receive another salute when it is inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Robert “Kool” Bell, the last living original member of the group, and his bandmates will also perform at the ceremony and concert, which will take place at 7 p.m. at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland. Bell and his late brother, Ronald (Khalis), are likely the first Youngstown-born artists to be enshrined in the Rock Hall. As a measure of the band’s esteem, it must be noted that Kool & The Gang was selected in its first year of eligibility.

Rap superstar Chuck D (Public Enemy) will do the honors of presenting the band at the ceremony.

For those without a ticket, the ceremony and concert will be livestreamed on Disney+. It will also be available to stream after the ceremony.

ABC will air a prime time special featuring the evening’s biggest moments at 8 p.m. Jan. 1, which will be available on Disney+ and Hulu on Jan. 2.

Joining Kool & The Gang in the performers category in the Rock Hall class of 2024 will be Mary J. Blige, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Ozzy Osbourne and A Tribe Called Quest. In the musical influence category, Alexis Korner, John Mayall and “Big Mama” Thornton will be inducted, all of whom are deceased.

Additionally, Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Dionne Warwick and Norman Whitfield will enter the Rock Hall on Saturday in the musical excellence category, and Suzanne de Passe will be given the Ahmet Ertegun Award.

The event is always a star-studded affair that attracts stars of multiple genres as performers and presenters. In addition to Chuck D, this year’s list includes Busta Rhymes, Dr. Dre, Demi Lovato, Dua Lipa, Ella Mai, James Taylor, Jelly Roll, Julia Roberts, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Lucky Daye, Mac McAnally, Method Man, Roger Daltrey, Sammy Hagar, Slash, The Roots, Andrew Watt, Billy Idol, Chad Smith, Jack Black, Jennifer Hudson, Kelly Clarkson, Maynard James Keenan, Robert Trujillo, Steve Stevens, Tom Morello, Wolfgang Van Halen and Zakk Wylde. More names will likely be added at the last minute.

History

Robert “Kool” Bell and his brother, Ronald, were born in Youngstown in 1950 and 1951, respectively, and lived with their family on the East Side. The Bell family moved to Jersey City, N.J., when Ronald was about 10 years old.

The Bell brothers, along with their neighborhood friends Robert “Spike” Mickens, Dennis “Dee Tee” Thomas, Ricky Westfield, George Brown and Charles Smith, launched Kool & The Gang in Jersey City in 1969.

The band would go on to become part of the American soundtrack and the most sampled band in hip-hop recordings. Its music has also become part of many movie soundtracks, including “Rocky,” “Saturday Night Fever” and “Pulp Fiction.”

Kool & The Gang’s long list of hits includes “Celebration,” “Too Hot,” “Joanna,” “Ladies Night,” “Get Down On It,” “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swinging.”

Last summer, the band became the first inductees in the Youngstown Walk of Fame and was honored at a ceremony before its concert at the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre.

In continuing the party theme that fueled its success, the band’s most recent album, “People Just Wanna Have Fun” (2023), spawned the single “Let’s Party.”

The early days of the band were marked by enthusiasm, even if the members had no idea of the success that lay in their path.

In an interview this month with the Associated Press, Bell expressed his happiness over being named to the Rock Hall.

“It feels wonderful, man, after all these years,” he said. “When we first started, we didn’t know where we were going, but we loved what we were doing.”

Robert became the last original band member following the recent deaths of drummer and songwriter George Brown last year; saxophonist, flutist and percussionist Dennis Thomas in 2021; and composer Ronald Bell in 2020.

“That is a bittersweet sort of feeling,” he said, noting that the original lineup in the early ’60s was nicknamed “The Magnificent Seven.”

“And now there’s only one left – and that’s me,” he said.

Still Going

The band continues to tour, and Robert still takes the stage with the younger lineup. The act delivers the band’s time-tested hits with the energy and spirit of the original lineup.

Kool & The Gang played at the Sea.Hear.Now festival on the beach in Asbury Park, N.J., last month before an afternoon crowd of roughly 30,000.

For those who want to learn more about the band’s history and legacy, Robert will sit down with Jason Hanley, vice president of the Rock Hall’s education department, for a live onstage interview at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased HERE.

A few resale tickets remain for the Oct. 19 induction ceremony and concert. Click HERE.

Every year, the Rock Hall inducts artists in three categories:

• Performers: Artists who have created music whose originality, impact and influence has changed the course of rock ’n’ roll. 

• Musical Influence Award: Artists whose music and performance style have directly influenced, inspired and evolved rock ’n’ roll and music impacting youth culture. 

• Musical Excellence Award: Given to artists, musicians, songwriters and producers whose originality and influence creating music have had a dramatic impact on music.

• Ahmet Ertegun Award: Nonperforming industry professionals who have had a major influence on the creative development and growth of rock ’n’ roll and music that has impacted youth culture. 

To be eligible, an individual artist or band must have released its first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination.

Pictured at top: Robert “Kool” Bell at a ceremony at Covelli Centre in Youngstown last year to mark Kool & The Gang’s induction into the Youngstown Walk of Fame.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.