KC and the Sunshine Band

Biography

KC and the Sunshine Band are an American disco and funk band that was founded in 1973 in Miami, Florida. Their best-known songs include the hits "Get Down Tonight×Get Down Tonight11 February 1975 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAGet Down TonightBYou Don't Know", "That's the Way (I Like It)", "⁠(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty×(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty1976 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksA(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty3:06BBoogie Shoes2:15", "I'm Your Boogie Man", "Keep It Comin' Love", "Boogie Shoes", "Please Don't Go×Please Don't Go1993 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 16 tracks1Please Don't Go3:532That's the Way (I Like It)3:083Sound Your Funky Horn3:074Get Down Tonight3:165I'm Your Boogie Man4:066Shake Your Booty (Shake, Shake, Shake)3:097Queen of Clubs3:228Keep It Comin' Love3:579Boogie Shoes2:1410Let's Go Rock and Roll3:3811Give It Up4:0812Do You Wanna Go Party3:5013I Like to Do It2:5914Shotgun Shuffle2:5215Wrap Your Arms Around Me3:4616All I Want4:26", and "Give It Up×Give It Up1982 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAGive It Up4:13BIt’s Too Hard to Say Goodbye3:08". The band took their name from lead vocalist Harry Wayne Casey's last name ('KC') and the 'Sunshine Band' from KC's home state of Florida, the Sunshine State. The group had five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart: four in the 1970s and the first number one song of the 1980s.

1970s

The band was formed in 1973 by Harry Wayne Casey (KC), who was a record store employee and part-timer at TK Records in Hialeah, Florida. The band was originally called KC & The Sunshine Junkanoo Band because KC used studio musicians from TK and a local Junkanoo band called the Miami Junkanoo Band. During this time, bassist Richard Finch had been engineering records for TK, which is how the Casey-Finch musical collaboration began. They were soon joined by guitarist Jerome Smith and drummer Robert Johnson, both TK studio musicians.
The first few songs, "Blow Your Whistle" (September 1973) and "Sound Your Funky Horn×Sound Your Funky Horn1973 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksASound Your Funky HornBWhy Don’t We Get Together" (February 1974), were released as singles, and did well enough on the U.S. R&B chart and overseas that TK wanted a follow-up single and album. The first album Do It Good×Do It Good1974 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1Do It Good2:25A2Sound Your Funky Horn2:59A3Baby, I Want Your Lovin’3:30A4Queen of Clubs3:15A5Blow Your Whistle2:35B1I’m a Pushover3:45B2You Don’t Know2:30B3I Need a Little Lovin’2:25B4All My Love4:25 was released on April 12, 1974. In the meantime, while working on demos for KC & the Sunshine Band, the song "Rock Your Baby" (George McCrae) was created. Written by Casey, it featured Smith on guitar and became a number one hit in 51 countries in mid-1974. The band's "Queen of Clubs×Queen Of Clubs1974 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAQueen Of Clubs3:00BDo It Good3:04", which featured uncredited vocals by McCrae, was a hit in the UK, peaking at number 7, and they went on a tour there in 1975.
KC and other band members were frequent guests on WHYI-FM, branded as Y-100, one of southeast Florida's more powerful FM pop stations, that covered Dade and Broward Counties and beyond. This gave the band significant hometown exposure, during the rise of the disco genre in one of its epicenters.
The release of the self-titled second album KC and the Sunshine Band in 1975 spawned the group's first major U.S. hit with "Get Down Tonight×Get Down Tonight11 February 1975 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAGet Down TonightBYou Don't Know". It topped the R&B chart in April and hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in August. The group received two nominations at the 18th Annual Grammy Awards held in February 1976. "That's the Way (I Like It)" also became a number one hit in November 1975. The 1976 album Part 3×Part 31976 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracksA1Baby I Love You4:35A2Wrap Your Arms Around Me3:42A3I Like to Do It2:56A4Shake Your Booty (Shake, Shake, Shake)3:07B1Let’s Go Party2:54B2Come on In3:27B3I’m Your Boogie Man4:02B4Keep It Comin’ Love4:29 yielded two number one singles: "I'm Your Boogie Man" and "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty×(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty1976 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksA(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty3:06BBoogie Shoes2:15". For the latter, the group received a nomination at the 19th Annual Grammy Awards. Another hit, "Keep It Comin' Love" (1977), peaked at number two in the US.
Their success continued with their fifth album from 1979, containing their last chart topping single "Please Don't Go×Please Don't Go1993 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 16 tracks1Please Don't Go3:532That's the Way (I Like It)3:083Sound Your Funky Horn3:074Get Down Tonight3:165I'm Your Boogie Man4:066Shake Your Booty (Shake, Shake, Shake)3:097Queen of Clubs3:228Keep It Comin' Love3:579Boogie Shoes2:1410Let's Go Rock and Roll3:3811Give It Up4:0812Do You Wanna Go Party3:5013I Like to Do It2:5914Shotgun Shuffle2:5215Wrap Your Arms Around Me3:4616All I Want4:26" which hit number one for one week in January 1980.

1980s

"Please Don't Go×Please Don't Go1993 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 16 tracks1Please Don't Go3:532That's the Way (I Like It)3:083Sound Your Funky Horn3:074Get Down Tonight3:165I'm Your Boogie Man4:066Shake Your Booty (Shake, Shake, Shake)3:097Queen of Clubs3:228Keep It Comin' Love3:579Boogie Shoes2:1410Let's Go Rock and Roll3:3811Give It Up4:0812Do You Wanna Go Party3:5013I Like to Do It2:5914Shotgun Shuffle2:5215Wrap Your Arms Around Me3:4616All I Want4:26" was the first Billboard number one hit of the 1980s. With the explosion of new wave music and the declining popularity of disco, the group explored other styles and changed labels, joining Epic Records in 1980 after TK Records went bankrupt. With a change in styles, Casey enjoyed success, dueting with Teri DeSario with "Yes, I'm Ready", which hit number 2 in March 1980; the adult contemporary sound was much different from his disco hits of the 1970s, and his first major success away from the Sunshine Band.
In 1981, the partnership between Finch and Casey came to an acrimonious end. Two years after the release of the previous album, K C released a solo album: Space Cadet Solo Flight (1981). and again under the band's name the album The Painter×The Painter25 September 1981 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracksA1Stand Up2:56A2Don't Say No4:12A3It Happens Every Night4:21A4Go Now (Before There's Trouble)3:02A5The Painter3:10A6Sway2:56B1Summer Nights3:18B2Baby, I'm Yours3:18B3Love Me3:24B4All Through the Night4:35B5Something's Happening3:36 . These albums did not chart, but in 1982, with All in a Night's Work a track called "Give It Up×Give It Up1982 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAGive It Up4:13BIt’s Too Hard to Say Goodbye3:08" brought a return to success, first in the UK. U.S. Epic Records, however, refused to issue the song as a single. Because of this, a frustrated Casey formed Meca Records, releasing the single himself on this label in a final attempt to garner the song some success in America. It worked, the song was a Top 40 hit (one year later, in 1983, in the U.S.), but the next album on Meca, late 1983's KC Ten×KC Ten28 December 1983 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Give It Up4:032Are You Ready?3:043On the Top3:344Don’t Break My Heart3:115Nobody Knows3:506Uptight Everythings Alright3:277Too High3:348Don’t Let Go4:369In My World3:3710Let’s Get Together3:0311Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)4:53 still failed to meet expectations. This led to the group falling into stasis around 1984 with Casey's retirement. .

1990s

A revival of interest in disco music in 1991 brought Casey out of retirement. He reformed the band with some new members and two other original members, (percussionist Fermin Goytisolo and vocalist Beverly Champion-Foster) and began touring once again. The new band has released a large number of compilation albums through Rhino Records, along with some newly recorded material. The album Oh Yeah×Oh Yeah8 April 1993 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1Megamix8:082Somebody Somewhere3:093Will You Love Me in the Morning3:374Hold Me Tight3:085Give It Up3:326Please Don't Go3:137Coast to Coast3:108I Can't Forget3:449Gonna Let It Go4:2110Don't Stop3:2411Turn the Music Up3:2012Desire2:5813High Above the Clouds4:09! was released in 1993 after a ten-year gap between new albums (excluding compilations).

2000s and beyond

On July 28, 2000, guitarist Jerome Smith died while working as a bulldozer operator.
On August 2, 2002, KC and the Sunshine Band were given a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 2001 and 2007, the band released the albums I'll Be There For You and Yummy×Yummy2007 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Git Off3:312Satisfy Me3:373Let Me See You Move2:474Dance Baby Dance3:575When It Come To Love3:376Hard3:137Do It4:268Yummy3:479Love Disappears3:3510Don't Stop5:3611You're My Friend5:2512Secret World8:14. Both were composed of archived material recorded before their hiatus.
They appeared in the 2003 remake of the movie The In-Laws.
On July 6, 2013, KC and the Sunshine Band were honored with a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.
On July 1, 2024, the KC and the Sunshine Band Musical Who Do Ya Love? premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. A reworked version of the musical was scheduled to transfer to the Charing Cross Theatre in London's West End in September 2025 under the name Get Down Tonight.

KC and Finch works

Songwriter: H.W. Casey & Richard Finch

"Rock Your Baby" (1974) - George McCrae, pop number one
Dance Across the Floor (1978) - Jimmy "Bo" Horne
"Get Happy" (1978) - Jimmy "Bo" Horne
"Gimme Some" (1978) - Jimmy "Bo" Horne
"I Wanna Go Home with You" ((1978) - Jimmy "Bo" Horne
"Don't Worry about It" (1978) - Jimmy "Bo" Horne
"It's Your Sweet Love" (1978) - Jimmy "Bo" Horne
"Let Me" (1978) - Jimmy "Bo" Horne
"Ask the Birds and the Bees" (1978) - Jimmy "Bo" Horne
"You Get Me Hot" (1979) - Jimmy "Bo" Horne
Goin' Home for Love(Foster/Casey/Finch/Horne) ((1979) - Jimmy "Bo" Horne
"I Get Lifted" (1979) - Jimmy "Bo" Horne
"Without You" (1979) - Jimmy "Bo" Horne