Mark Hughes CobbTuscaloosa News
"Shake shake shake." "That's the way (uh-huh uh-huh)." "I'm your boogie man."
A writer whose work summon icons — Scrooge, Boo Radley, Macbeth ― could be called accomplished. Legend, even.
More: Tuscaloosa-raised Chuck Leavell plays with Rolling Stones on Hackney Diamonds tour
So what do we say about a musician who sets toes tapping in simple, repetitive phrases? Hear for yourself when KC and the Sunshine Band funk up Tuscaloosa's Mercedes-Benz Amphitheater on June 7, with Rose Royce and Dazz Band opening.
Born Harry Wayne Casey in Opa-Locka, Florida, and raised in Hialeah, he fronts the conglomerate conjoining his own and his state's nicknames. In 1973, he was working in a record store, and at TK Records, an independent label, when he co-founded with songwriter/engineer/bass player Richard Finch a group originally called KC and the Sunshine Junkanoo Band, using musicians from the studio, and from a local group, the Miami Junkanoo Band.
(Junkanoo is a festival with origins in the Caribbean, celebrated by people of African and Amerindian ancestry; the associated music is heavily percussive. Junkanoo parades have been seen in movies including "Thunderball," "After the Sunset" and "Jaws the Revenge," and on TV shows such as "Miami Vice," where they're often mistaken for Mardi Gras celebrations.)
Finch and Casey co-wrote and produced worldwide No. 1 "Rock Your Baby," sung by George McRae, backed by the Sunshine gang. It sold more than 11 million, and is considered one of the boosters that launched the disco era. Musicians varied as John Lennon and songwriters Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus claimed it as influences, on "Whatever Gets You Through the Night," Lennon's only solo No. 1 single, and ABBA's "Dancing Queen."
The first KC and the Sunshine Band album, "Do It Good," came out in '74, but the '75 self-titled second disc blew doors open, led by "That's The Way (I Like It)" and "Get Down Tonight," both No. 1s on Billboard Hot 100 and R&B Singles charts. "Boogie Shoes" became a hit after inclusion in "Saturday Night Fever." It had originally been an album cut, and B-side for 1976 No. 1 "(Shake Shake Shake) Shake Your Booty." That one came from album "Part 3," which also showcased "I'm Your Boogie Man" and "Keep It Comin' Love."
Casey wasn't thinking "disco." The term had only become popularized in '73, for mixes of dance-led music seen as a bounce-back from '60s and '70s guitar-heavy rock.
"I knew I was writing uptempo music," he said, in a phone interview. "I thought music had gotten very dark. ... I really favored danceable music, so I wanted to create an album that was all party, from Side A to Side B."
It wasn't until the sixth disc, the 1979 "Do You Wanna Go Party" that they cut a ballad, the No. 1 "Please Don't Go." With the rise of punk and new wave, some of the helium had fizzed out of disco, so the band began moving more pop, with dwindling success.
In 1980, Casey scored a hit duet with Teri DeSario, on Barbara Mason's "Yes I'm Ready." Finch and Casey split not long after. In '84, frustrated by lack of label support — TK went bankrupt in 1981, and the band moved to Epic ― Casey first formed Meca Records to release "Give It Up," then went on hiatus not long after. He brought a Sunshine group back together, mostly to tour, in the '90s.
Compilations, covers (by Alex Chilton, Annie Lennox, Chrissie Hynde, Rob Zombie, Isaac Hayes, Dionne Warwick, Spin Doctors), soundtracks ("True Detective," "Forrest Gump," "Legally Blonde," "Watchmen," "Superbad") and samples (Bloodhound Gang, Trick Daddy, Stereo MCs) kept KC's Side A to Side B get-down mixed in the zeitgeist.
"I've been on a lot more records than many people realize. I don't know if there's a rhyme or reason" to how he works, Casey said, though the dance drive derives from love of R&B, from Motown, Stax and Atlantic Records. He's not even sure where hooks come from.
"I don't know. it's just something that kind comes natural to me," he said. "It just comes up from the sky, from God, I mean. It's something I guess was born with.
"My songs are stories," he said, laughing, "but they're the Cliff Notes versions. Let's just get to the point of it!"
At the Mercedes-Benz Amp, you'll hear side-to-side party. Recent set lists show KC and the Sunshine Band playing what you'd expect, plus the Commodores' "Brick House" and the Jacksons' "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)," which Casey mashes with "Give It Up."
"I try to keep as close to the original as possible," he said. "We might add something to the intro, but then we do the song in its entirety, top to end. And maybe we add something to the end, augmented or whatever. But we keep the original guts of the song."
Some change may be audible, he said.
"First of all, I'm 73 years old," he said, laughing. "I'm not 23 anymore. I don't have the original band. But I think I sound better," with 15 members on stage: horns, percussion, guitars, keyboards, background singers and dancers. KC sings, and sits in on keys for "Shake Your Booty," "I'm Your Boogie Man" and "Get Down Tonight."
He's used to seeing diverse crowds, "... from babies to grandmas. Last year I went to England, did a couple of shows, and I don't think there was anybody older than 30 out there," he said, "everybody having the best time."
How to get tickets
KC and the Sunshine Band, Rose Royce, Dazz Band will play the Mercedes-Benz Amphitheater at 6:30 p.m. Friday June 7. Tickets are on sale through www.ticketmaster.com, and at the venue's box office, 2710 Jack Warner Parkway, downtown Tuscaloosa. Prices are $99.50, $89.50, $59.50, $49.50, $29.50 and $19.50, not including fees and taxes. For more, see www.mercedesbenzamphitheater.com.
Reach Mark Hughes Cobb atmark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com.
