The collection also re-fashioned previous hits, with an instrumental version of 'Rock Your Baby' and 'Sound Your Funky Horn', redone as 'Funky '75'. At their busiest, the group toured six to nine months a year, with up to eleven members on stage, representing the multiracial face of America.Ĭasey had always wanted to do an instrumental album, and in September of '75, taking advantage of their newfound success, he fulfilled his dream when the band released 'The Sound Of Sunshine', which featured the mid-charting 'Shotgun Shuffle'. Casey's vocal delivery and good looks, along with the high-voltage stage energy of the entire band, more than satisfied fans of the records. In fact, The New York Times compared his stage presence to Elvis Presley's, and he told Billboard magazine that he took a cue from Diana Ross in never losing his composure or his happy face. Casey was petrified at the outset of touring, because he hadn't ever played keyboards and sung at the same time on stage.

The band members' pace of life picked up considerably when their follow up, 'That's The Way (I Like It)' also climbed to the top of the charts a mere six months later.

In the Summer of 1975 'Get Down Tonight' went to number one in America and stayed in the Top 40 for nine weeks. It was, quite simply, one of the happiest-sounding, most satisfying party records anyone had ever made. The song shared the pumping yet trancelike quality of 'Rock Your Baby', while adding festive horns and female vocals. He realized, once again, that they'd caught lightning in a bottle. Casey experienced a strange feeling of euphoria as they played back the track over and over. One particular night was magic when they came up with a song called 'Get Down Tonight'. The four would work out the changes and keep going over the song until they felt it flowed enough to turn the RECORD light on. Every day, Rick, Harry, Jerome and drummer Robert Johnson would do a new track. Not only did they co-write with Betty Wright her Grammy winning 'Where Is The Love', but they also produced Gwen McCrae's fiercely churning 'Move Me Baby' and Jimmy 'Bo' Horne's 'Gimme Some'. With a #1 hit to their credit, Casey and Rick hit their stride, and they stepped up their writing and production for other T.K. The song was released and went on to top both the Billboard R&B chart and the Hot 100. Then, George McCrae, who happened to be in the studio, heard the instrumental, and in a mere two takes, put down his own vocals. Company brass, Henry Stone and Steve Alaimo, felt the song had potential and offered it to Gwen McCrae, who passed on it. As studio musicians, Casey and Finch recorded the rhythm track in just forty-five minutes, with just one additional player, Jerome Smith, on guitar. But the best news was yet to come courtesy of one George McCrae and a song he wrote called 'Rock Your Baby'. Top 10, and The Sunshine Band was in demand for live gigs all around the country. The first real sign that the Casey/Finch sound was really clicking came in September of 1974, when 'Queen Of Clubs' reached the U.K. KC And The Sunshine Band released two singles from their first album, 'Do It Good' and hit the R&B charts when 'Blow Your Whistle' went to #27 in the Fall of '73 and 'Sound Your Funky Horn' made it to #21 in early '74. It didn't take much experimenting for the two to get their own eclectic sound together. Not only were the boys thrifty, but thanks to the sessions they had already played in the studio, they were also fast. 'It was expensive, so I would take it out of the trash can, wind it up on the reel, clean it up, and use that for recording'. A lot of people would throw tape away because they couldn't figure out how to make the machine erase properly,' Rick recalled. 'He found out I played bass and drums, and I found out he played keyboards, and when the studio was empty in the evenings, we would go up there and find out what kind of music would happen. 'Everybody else had a team together already,' said Rick. It was Casey's idea for him and Finch to pool their skills. Rick had worked his way up to assisting producers, while Harry's duties included processing returns and boxing up records, and sometimes playing keyboards in recording sessions. Records, above the warehouse of Tones Distributors. The seeds of KC And The Sunshine Band were planted when two South Florida boys, Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch, met while working at the attic studio of T.K.

Kc richard finch sunshine