KOOL & THE GANG RESIDENCY
Around for more than 50 years, Kool & the Gang is still entertaining with its mix of funk, soul, jazz, R&B and rock. This fall, original mem Robert “Kool” Bell and George Brown and the band begin a Las Veg residency. Parade spoke with Bell, '2, about the group’s longevity.
What are you looking forward to about your residency? We’re excited about it. My cousin, he also works with Kool & the Gang, saw an article about the old acts returning to Vegas. At Westgate, you have Barry Manilow, Frankie Valli and now Kool & the Gang. We’ve been in and out of Vegas for the last 20 years. I’m happy to be back. I got a little saying, “All roads lead to Vegas.”
What will the Vegas show look like? We’ll have the ability to use the staging and the lighting, so we’ll put together some interesting material on the screens. We’re going to tell a little history about Kool & the Gang. I’ll go back to the Magnificent Seven, which is the original guys.
Which one of your songs does the audience insist you play? Well, I’ve got to go with my top three: “Ladies Night,” “Get Down on It” and “Celebration.” They’re classics people love. Also “Jungle Boogie,” “Hollywood Swinging,” “Funky Stuff” and “Summer Madness.” Those songs are still popular at clubs and some of our songs have
been used in movies. “Sum mer Madness” was in the Rocky movie, “Open Sesame movie, and, of course, they used the songs a little bit in Pulp Fiction.
They’re very danceable. That’s true. Our newest single is “We Are the Party.” We have a video on that one. We haven’t had a video in 10 years. Our new album is People Just Want to Have Fun. Everybody wants to party after COVID.
Tell me a little about the Kool Kids Foundation.
It started almost 10 years ago with my wife, who I lost almost five years ago. She wanted to bring music back into the schools, so we put together the foundation. When we were coming up, schools had music classes. You don’t have that anymore. My two sons and their partners are running the foundation, and we enjoy that.