Element of Music
A RiverCity Examiner Exclusive
By Byron Lee
It takes someone special to leave a comfortable situation in order to pursue another vision. One man did just that and, with the help of a talented ensemble, changed both a people’s cultural outlook and the landscape of North American popular music, forever.
In this issue of the River City Examiner, we will spotlight the brilliance of Maurice White and the cultural relevance of Earth, Wind & Fire.
The saga of Earth, Wind & Fire begins with the birth of Maurice White on December 19, 1941, in Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis provided exposure to many different types of music, yet White was initially attracted to music for another reason. “I would see these white uniforms that [the members of the marching band] would wear,” he said, in the must-see documentary Shining Stars: Earth, Wind & Fire, “and here I was, a dirty-faced kid from the ghetto. I wanted to wear one of the uniforms.” White finally got to join the band, so to speak, when he left Memphis to go to college in Chicago to be a doctor. He was walking through a campus building, when he saw a group of students playing horns without a drummer. “I just slid behind the [drum] kit and started playing. People lost their minds. I decided, then, to change my major to music.” White would also get an informal, yet just as important, education when he became a session drummer for Chess Records, home of acts such as Fontella Bass and Etta James.
This job would lead to the gig of a lifetime: drummer for the popular jazz group The Ramsey Lewis Trio, named after the legendary pianist. White played on the Grammy- winning track “Hold It Right There” and was introduced to the Kalimba, the African miniature piano of which he would grow fond of playing.
In spite of his new position in the music world, White grew restless and left the trio in 1969, seeking to form a band that blended a variety of styles in an accessible way, while putting out a message of love and empowerment. His first group, called the Salty Peppers, had one regional hit but disbanded within six months. He then moved to Los Angeles with his brother Verdine, a bass player, in tow. Maurice formed a new band, and, in thinking of a new name, looked at his astrology chart. White, a Sagittarius, saw that his chart contained Earth, Fire and Air. “I changed the Air to Wind, and the rest is history,” he says.
The newly formed band’s first two albums, a self-titled work and “The Need of Love” garnered some critical attention, and the band landed the prime job of scoring black filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles’s 1972 landmark film “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song.”
Still, White was unsatisfied. He dismantled the group, retaining only Verdine, and recruited new band members. The most notable of the new acquisitions was Philip Bailey, a singer plucked from a Denver R&B band. Mimicking the voices he heard growing up in a house full of women had helped Bailey hone his falsetto to maximum effectiveness.
The group’s fortunes changed. After being seen while being the opening act for folk singer John Sebastian, record mogul Clive Davis signed them to CBS records, releasing Last Days and Time in 1972. 1973’s Head to the Sky, which featured the Latin-influenced Evil, helped expand the group’s fanbase.
White was happy with the group’s progress, but he wanted to push the band even further. He brought in studio maven Charles Stepney. “[Stepney] was the guy who would tell Maurice to shut up and he’d do it,” recalls Bailey in Stars. “[Stepney] would write a song, arrange it, show us how to play it and then produce it.” Stepney’s influence worked. 1974’s, Open Our Eyes brought more hits to the group, such as the hopeful ballad Devotion, the funk workout Mighty Mighty, and Kalimba Story.
This success was a prelude to the reception the band’s follow up would receive. Ironically, the group’s breakthrough album came on the heels of a failure. The film That’s The Way of The World starred the members of the band in a fictional story about the ups and downs artists face in the music industry. After seeing a sneak preview of the movie, the group was so convinced that it would be a bomb that they decided to release the soundtrack way ahead of the film’s opening.
The decision proved wise. The film tanked, but the soundtrack, which contained Yearnin’ Learnin’ and three songs that are, to this day, the group’s most recognized hits (the title track, Shining Star, and Reasons,) received raves across the board and has sold 3 million copies. (As interesting as the hits themselves are the origins/misconceptions behind them. White was inspired to write Shining Star during a break in recording. He was walking outside, when he looked up and saw stars in the sky. He says that he was then reminded of how he wanted his people to shine. Also, Reasons, has been played at too many weddings to count, despite the fact that it is a song about the aftermath of a one night stand.)
The success of That’s The Way of the World allowed White to further expand his vision. He added a horn section, dubbed the Phoenix Horns [Don Myrick on saxophones, Louis Satterfield (who had served as bass instructor for Verdine) on trombone, and Rahlee Michael Davis and Michael Harris, both on trumpet.] Harris’s mastery of the higher tones made Earth, Wind & Fire stick out from other groups with roots in Chicago soul. The horn player’s work is most notably showcased on Can’t Hide Love, and September. Also, Myrick’s solo on “After The Love Is gone” is arguably as endearing to listeners as the bridge and chorus. (The horn section became so popular that White loaned them out to other artists, most notably Phil Collins for his solo smash Sussudio.)
White started putting more into the group’s stage show, adding pyrotechnics, magic (courtesy of Dong Henning) and choreography presided over by George Faison. The result was a concert rivaling those put on by big name rock acts.
In addition to these attributes, the group’s album covers started including art displaying pyramids, conveying White’s belief that black Americans should tap into the power of their ancestors in order to reach their full potential and pass knowledge on to future generations.
White would long have an audience to whom he could convey his message. 1975’s Gratitude, an album that provided new hits such as Can’t Hide Love and Sing A Song, while also sporting live versions of earlier hits, sold well.
In the midst of the band’s growing popularity, tragedy struck. Charles Stepney, who had helped shaped the sound that brought so many rewards, died of a heart attack during the recording of the band’s next album, Spirit. The band was hit hard, yet White found himself strangely empowered (White says in Stars that he feels, to this day, that Stepney is giving him “guidance from the other side.”) White took over production completely and Spirit, released in 1976, was dedicated to Stepney. It was apropos, then, that the album’s biggest hit, Getaway, was a song that Stepney produced before his death. Also featuring Imagination and Saturday Nite, Spirit matched the success of That’s the Way… (In Stars, Verdine points out that the album’s competition its opening week, Stevie Wonder’s Songs In The Key of Life, was released two days before Spirit, in order to ensure Wonder the number one spot.) 1977’s All’N All, featuring Serpentine Fire, the tear-jerking I’ll Write a Song For You, (viewed by many as Bailey’s shining hour), the funk stomp of Jupiter, and the emphatic Fantasy, and 1979’s I Am, which included the ballad After the Love is Gone and the disco chestnut Boogie Wonderland, continued the band’s run. (Between the latter two releases, a Greatest Hits collection, featuring a new song, the festively nostalgic September, and the breezy Beatles cover Got to Get You Into My Life hit the marketplace.)
The gravy train began to slow down with the release of 1980’s Faces. While White says that this album is his favorite, due to the exploration it contains, both critics and fans were disappointed that the album didn’t have hits on par with those found on previous Earth, Wind & Fire LPs.
In response to the pressure he was feeling, White composed Let’s Groove for the band’s follow up, 1981’s Raise. While the song was, and continues to be, popular, astute listeners, such as cultural critic Nelson George, felt the forced nature of the enterprise. “Let’s Groove sounds like an Earth, Wind & Fire record,” he says in Stars, “but the songwriting and the social-consciousness are muted. It screams ‘I need a hit.’” The rest of Raise left fans disappointed, once more, and while 1983’s Powerlight was viewed as a definite step in the right direction, it sold poorly.
In response to the band’s diminishing returns, White made the drastic decision to fully embrace the synth-driven funk that was all the rage at the time. The result was 1983’s “Electric Universe,” an album universally deemed a disaster.
Along with the failure of Electric Universe, other factors were baring down on the group. The Phoenix Horns were forced to leave the group during the recording of Powerlight, due to the band’s lack of funds for payment. Also, White, who had been the leader of the group in many capacities while also working with other acts such as The Emotions and Deniece Williams was showing signs of fatigue. Finally, there had been a string of departures from the band since the lukewarm reception of “Faces.” With all of these tribulations in mind, White decided to put the group on hiatus. (During this time, both of the White brothers and Bailey embarked on their own endeavors, with Bailey finding the most pop success with Easy Lover, a duet with Phil Collins that sold 1 million copies.)
The group reunited a few years later to release 1987’s highly regarded Touch the World. They continue to record and tour, although Maurice White retired from the latter activity in 1995, due to his affliction with Parkinson’s Disease.
Earth, Wind & Fire’s place in music history, needless to say, is secure. Their influence is seen in the fashion sense and messages found on the recordings of Outkast. Furthermore, many acts have sampled the group’s music over the years. Most recently, rapper Hurricane Chris reworked Love's Holiday to make Playa's Rock. Queen Pen’s A Party Aint A Party owes a debt to On Your Face, Yo-Yo’s You Can’t Play with my Yo-yo is powered by Devotion, both Bone Thugs and Harmony’s Budsmokers Only and Cam’ron’s More Reasons are built upon Reasons. Moreover, the Roots, De La Soul, Terminator X, and Wu-Tang Clan affiliates Sunz Of Man have all used Shining Star, both Kid N-Play (Energy) and LL Cool J (Murdergram) have utilized Moment of Truth, MC Hammer protégés Oaktown’s 357’s Smoothin’ uses That’s The Way of the World, A Tribe Called Quest, Big Pun and Blackstreet.have all taken the beloved cadence of Brazilian Rhyme, and Puff Daddy’s Angels with Dirty Faces samples Fantasy. The group’s songs have had other commercial uses. That’s The Way of the World was used as the theme song for the John Ritter/Markie Post sitcom Hearts Afire. Likewise, Shining Star has been used by the National Basketball Association (NBA), and recently September, to some people’s chagrin, was used in an Old Navy ad.
Vocalist/percussionist Ralph Johnson says that he knows why the group’s music continues to endure. “The melodies are beautiful and the lyrics are uplifting,” he says in Stars. In addressing their legacy, Steve Huey of allmusic.com writes that “Not everything they tried worked, but at their best, Earth, Wind & Fire seemingly took all that came before them and wrapped it up into one dizzying, spectacular package.”
Earth, Wind & Fire, birthed from a special man, is a package that bears endless gifts.
