Multi-platinum “Shining Stars” Earth, Wind & Fire will bring their elemental brand of funk and pop to Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on June 27 at 7 p.m. Tickets go on sale Friday, March 26 at noon.
Earth, Wind & Fire (EWF) were one of the most musically accomplished, critically acclaimed, and commercially popular funk bands of the 1970s. Conceived by drummer, bandleader, songwriter, kalimba player, and occasional vocalist Maurice White, the six-time Grammy winning EWF’s all-encompassing musical vision used funk as its foundation, but also incorporated jazz, smooth soul, gospel, pop, rock & roll, psychedelia, blues, folk, African music and disco.
White founded Earth, Wind & Fire in Chicago in 1969. He had previously honed his chops as a session drummer for Chess Records, where he played on songs by the likes of Fontella Bass, Billy Stewart, and Etta James, Booker T. Jones and the popular jazz group, the Ramsey Lewis Trio.
After a move to Los Angeles, he renamed his band the Salty Peppers as Earth, Wind & Fire, after the three elements in his astrological charts. EWF released its self-titled debut album in late 1970 followed by the 1971 follow-up, The Need of Love. Neither attracted much commercial attention, despite a growing following on college campuses and a high-profile gig performing the soundtrack to Melvin Van Peebles’ groundbreaking black independent film, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song.
In 1972, White built a new lineup that included vocalist Philip Bailey, recruited from the band Friends & Love. In 1973, EWF truly began to hit their stride with Head to the Sky and the 1974 follow-up, Open Our Eyes. The single “Mighty Mighty” became EWF’s first Top Ten hit on the R&B charts and the album went gold, setting the stage for the band’s blockbuster breakthrough.
In 1975, EWF released “Shining Star” and it shot to the top of both the R&B and pop charts, making Earth, Wind & Fire mainstream stars; it later won a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Group. The album also hit number one on both the pop and R&B charts, and went double platinum; its title track went Top Five on the R&B side, and it also contained Bailey’s signature ballad, “Reasons.” White then developed EWF’s live show into a lavish, effects-filled extravaganza, which eventually grew to include stunts designed by magician Doug Henning and a then-unknown apprentice, David Copperfield. The band was also augmented by a regular horn section, the Phoenix Horns. Their emerging concert experience was chronicled later that year on the double-LP set Gratitude, which became their second straight number one album and featured one side of new studio tracks. Of those, “Sing a Song” reached the pop Top Ten and the R&B Top Five, and the ballad “Can’t Hide Love” and the title track were also successful.
The year 1976 saw Spirit with “Getaway” as a chart topper. All n’ All (1977) charted at number three and spawned the R&B smashes “Fantasy” and the chart-topping “Serpentine Fire.” The following year, EWF appeared in the film version of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, turning in a cover of the Beatles’ “Got to Get You Into My Life” that became their first Top Ten pop hit since “Sing a Song.” Released before year’s end, The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1 produced another Top Ten hit (and R&B number one) in the newly recorded “September.”
I Am (1979) contained EWF’s most explicit nod to disco, a smash collaboration with the Emotions called “Boogie Wonderland” that climbed into the Top Ten. The ballad “After the Love Has Gone” did even better, falling one spot short of the top. This was EWF’s sixth straight multi-platinum album. Other hits that followed included “Let’s Groove.”
After some solo projects, the band reunited in 1987 for Touch the World that produced two R&B smashes in “Thinking of You” and the number one “System of Survival.” Millennium (1993), In the Name of Love (1997), The Promise (2003) and Illumination (2005), among others, were subsequently released.
In 2000, the nine-piece, ’70s edition of Earth, Wind & Fire reunited for one night in honor of their induction into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Tickets cost $100, $80 & 60.* All seats are reserved and available at the Hard Rock Live Box Office, open Tuesday – Saturday from noon to 7pm and on Sunday & Monday – only open on event days at noon. Tickets also are available at all Ticketmaster outlets online at Ticketmaster.com or charge by phone: Miami-Dade (305) 358-5885, Broward (954) 523-3309, and Palm Beach (561) 966-3309. Doors open one-hour prior to show start time. *Additional fees may apply.