If ever a band name reflected the nature of their music and the city of their origin, then it’s KC & The Sunshine Band!! 2013 sees KC & The Sunshine Band celebrate the milestone of their 40th Anniversary, having formed in Miami in the “Sunshine State” of Florida in 1973.

The author has been a fan of KC & The Sunshine Band for all but one of their forty years, having become acquainted with them in September 1974, when they had their first hit single in the UK with “Queen Of Clubs”. The song impacted on me straight away as being very different, as a pioneer song in the new “Disco movement” from the USA. However I have grown to love and appreciate “Queen Of Clubs” and KC & The Sunshine Band’s wider portfolio of songs more and more as the years have elapsed.

KC & The Sunshine Band is the brainchild of Harry Wayne Casey (KC), a record store employee and part-timer at TK Records in Miami in the early 1970s, who teamed up with Richard Finch, an engineer at TK Records. Together they melded the band into the distinctive funk & R & B sound we associate with KC & The Sunshine Band. The wonderful uptempo brass sections are the signature of their early songs and also the songs of George McCrae, who’s hits paralleled KC & The Sunshine Band’s early chart success and sound in 1974 and 1975. There was a very good reason for this – Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch wrote and produced George McCrae’s hit songs, including the disco anthem “Rock Your Baby”, which sold over 11 million records as a No1 in 51 different countries. Infact somewhat ironically George McCrae’s Casey / Finch penned songs eclipsed the success of KC & The Sunshine Band in 1974 and 1975.

The success of KC & The Sunshine Band and George McCrae went hand in hand in 1974 and 1975 as they pioneered the Disco sound in the USA and UK and across Europe. The two disco acts worked in parallel – the sweeping brass sections on both acts’ songs would immediately uplift and draw people onto the disco dance floor across the world.

To celebrate KC & The Sunshine Band’s 40th Anniversary, they will be releasing a double album. One album is 60s classics, and the other is going to be more contemporary, mixed in with KC and the Sunshine Band songs. In addition there will be a new single “I Can’t Get You Out of My Mind”. For KC & The Sunshine Band their legacy was assured 40 years ago when they pioneered the musical genre of disco, in conjunction with George McCrae. To celebrate KC & The Sunshine Band’s 40th Anniversary, here’s a Top 5 Best KC & The Sunshine Band Songs –

Top 5 Best KC & The Sunshine Band Songs

1) Queen of Clubs ( 1974 )

2) That’s The Way I Like It ( 1975 )

3) Get Down Tonight ( 1975 )

4) Shake Shake Shake, Shake Your Booty ( 1976 )

5) Please Don’t Go ( 1979 )

Top 5 Best George McCrae Songs

1) It’s Been So Long ( 1975 )

2) Rock Your Baby ( 1974 )

3) You Can Have It All ( 1974 )

4) I Can’t Leave You Alone ( 1974 )

5) I Ain’t Lyin ( 1975 )

Which are your favourite Disco songs? Let us know in the Reply Box below.

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