KC and The Sunshine Band are celebrating 50 years in the music business. The multiple Grammy award-winning band was the first act to score four #1 pop singles in one 12-month period since the Beatles in 1964. They’re still touring and will perform on Thursday in Dodge City, as well as Friday at the Stiefel Theatre in Salina.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
KC, (Harry Wayne Casey) you always knew you wanted to be an entertainer. Where did that come from?
I was always around music. Grew up in the gospel church, and I just, from as far back as I remember, I just loved music. And my mother loved music. She loved R&B music. We always had music playing in the house. She loved to dance, and so she encouraged me to do that, or it just came all natural, I think. And so, that was just kind of natural for me to be around music all the time, no matter where we went — [even] to a family function, everybody sits around the piano and sings and or plays records and talks about music. So that's all I ever knew.
I wanted to ask you about your first number-one single, “Get Down Tonight.” That starts with a 17-second guitar solo by Jerome Smith, who passed away in 2000. How did that come about?
Well, it was actually, we slowed the tape down and recorded the guitar and sped the tape back up. So, you know, it was just a production idea that happened, and it worked really well.
It really did. That's when we would try to find someone to dance with. We'd hear that guitar solo and we had to go to the dance floor.
There you go, yeah.
Well, and “I’m Your Boogie Man” is a jam that gets people to the dance floor as well. How did you put pen to paper on that one?
Originally, when I wrote [the song] it was called “I’ll be a Son of A Gun.” So, when I got to thinking about it, and I used to sit in and DJ for the morning jockey here in Miami, and then just think about, you know, [how] the boogie thing was really written about DJs, in a way, because, you know, "be it early morning, late afternoon or at midnight, it's never too soon 'I'm your boogie man.” Back in my day, the DJs were our life. They were who we communicated with. They were who we shared a lot of feelings with, and we wanted them to play our songs for [the] people we're in love with, or [the] people we liked. So it was kind of a take on the idea of what the radio disc jockey is to us.
Often, as you’re performing, you come from behind that keyboard, and you would dance with your dancers. It is wonderful. I absolutely love seeing that. How does that make you feel?
It's exciting for me. I mean, I just love the energy of it. I couldn't just stand behind the keyboard all the time. …I love the interaction with the audience.
And the thing is, you know, you have such catchy lyrics. People can really relate and sing along. And all these years later, we're still singing along, you know, like, “That's the way, uh huh, uh huh, I like it.” I think, how did he come up with the “Uh huh?” I mean, what happened? I know you say you’re like a conduit, music comes through you, but who comes up with “uh huh?”
The “Uh huhs” were kind of moans and groans originally, kind of during the session. I thought, I better clean that up a little bit. So they became “Uh huhs.”
I see! That's where they came from. I was wondering about that. The energy and positivity of the music has helped DJs get the party started for decades. Why did you decide to create that kind of music?
At the time, I mean, I've been writing since I was 13, and I had co-pinned quite a few songs at TK Records before the success of my first song, “Rock Your Baby.” And at the time, when I first did the first KC single, I felt music had gotten really, really dark. We’d gone from a great time when music was very inspirational … [to] political and all that sort of things about what was going on in the world. …I wanted to just create something that was positive, that was up-tempo, that had a lot of energy to it. I always liked those kinds of records more than…I mean, I love all kind of music, even ballads and stuff, but … I would [hear] these great up-tempo songs and buy the album, and most of the album would be ballads. [I] was like, “Oh, come on!” So I thought, you know, let me do the reverse of that and make an album that's just all mid- to up-tempo songs on it, and that's what I set out to do.
Well, let's also talk about your new music. I was just listening to “I Get To Love You,” and I thought, “Okay, that's going to be part of my playlist.” I thought, “You know what? It's a great workout song. It’s just a great song all the way around.” Tell us about that one.
DJ Lewis Martin, called me up [and] he says, “I have this track for you.” And I said, “Cool, send it over.” And I came up with those words, like, “I Get To Love You,” because I think it's a great thing if you get to love someone. And we put it out, and I sent it to my friend Eric [Kupper] to mix it, and that's the version you have, and it's just part of … 56 brand new songs I'm going to be releasing soon. It’s going to be on seven different EPs that will come out. You know, it's just really exciting.
I was thinking about your musical, “Who do you love,” which debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland in July. Now tell us, how did you think they best captured your life story?
I thought they really did it very, very well. I mean, it was very emotional for me when I saw [it]. …It kind of brought that whole part of my life back to life. And, you know, the four characters, the other three characters, plus me and the actors and actresses who played me and my friends did an amazing job. It’s about me and three of my friends hanging out before I became successful, up until … the success of “Rock Your Baby.” So it's about those times, but it's all of my music in the musical. And it's amazing how all the songs … work so well with the words and the storylines, and there's four new songs in there that have never been released. So it’s laughter, it's tears and it's fun. And I'm just really excited. We got all four- and five-star reviews.
I'm curious about the musicians that you gathered along the way. I was thinking, “Did he grow up with these guys? Were they neighborhood kids? Or how did that all come about when you put your band together?”
Well, the initial group of musicians were musicians at the recording studio, and so there really wasn't a band. I hired everybody to play on the records, and then we started having success. I said, “Hey, how about going out as the Sunshine Band with me?” Because I came up with this. I didn't have a band. I was really by myself, but I had known some of the musicians. I'd done some shows with them, you know, prior to creating KC and the Sunshine Band. And then after that, everyone that came in pretty much had done [so] through auditions, or somebody who knows somebody. …The only person I really did [know personally] way before was the percussionist, Fermin Goytisolo, and I'd known him since I was working at the record store back in the 60s. But the family musicians that I grew up with told me I didn't have enough soul, so they let me go. (laugh)
Really? And now look at you. How about that? You got the last laugh on that one! (laugh)
(laugh) I’ve let them know through the years believe me!
You're celebrating just a little over 50 years in the business, what excites you when you hit the stage? What excites you now?
You know, my adrenaline starts pumping and just the excitement of doing the show, doing something I love. I mean, that's what life's all about, doing things you love. If you can keep doing things you love, then life is beautiful.
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