Guilty pleasures
By NewsPress Now
Member of Kool & the Gang to represent group at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
NEW YORK | You can call the music of Kool & the Gang funky or R&B, soulful or disco, pop or dance. What you cannot call it is partisan.
When Iowa’s delegation at this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago announced its vote for the Harris-Walz ticket, they played “Celebration.” That was the same song picked a few weeks earlier when Donald Trump reached the number of delegates he needed to win the Republican nomination in Milwaukee.
“The Democrats and Republicans, they’re both using ‘Celebration,’” Robert “Kool” Bell, bass guitarist and co-founder of Kool & the Gang marveled recently. “Our music is for everybody.”
After fueling so many other people’s political and non-political parties, it will be time for Kool & the Gang to finally celebrate when they are inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame next month in Cleveland.
“It feels wonderful, man, after all these years,” says Bell, who was born in Youngstown, Ohio. “When we first started, we didn’t know where we were going, but we loved what we were doing.”
Bell is the only living member of the original lineup, following a cluster of recent deaths, including drummer and songwriter George Brown in 2023, saxophonist, flutist and percussionist Dennis Thomas in 2021 and Bell’s composer brother, Ronald, in 2020.
“That is a bittersweet sort of feeling,” said Bell, who noted the original lineup in the early ‘60s was nicknamed “The Magnificent Seven.” “And now there’s only one left — and that’s me.”
The opening of the Hall of Fame door for Kool & the Gang coincided with a change in hall leadership in 2023 that led to invites for key legacy acts like Foreigner, Peter Frampton and Cher.
On Oct. 19, they’ll join Mary J. Blige, A Tribe Called Quest, Ozzy Osbourne, Dave Matthews Band, the late Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Dionne Warwick, Alexis Korner, the late John Mayall and Big Mama Thornton in the class of ‘24.
Rock, pop and hip-hop royalty will be on hand to help usher them in, including Busta Rhymes, Dr. Dre, James Taylor, Demi Lovato, Dua Lipa, Jelly Roll, Keith Urban, Ella Mai and Kenny Chesney.
Kool & the Gang had 12 Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 including the 1980 chart-topper “Celebration” as well as “Cherish,” “Get Down On It,” “Ladies Night” and “Joanna.” They’ve been eligible for the hall since 1994.
They won seven American Music Awards and were included on the Grammy-winning soundtrack for “Saturday Night Fever” and Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction.” Several members — including Bell — were asked to sing on the mega-selling 1984 charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
Kool & the Gang never let go of its grip on pool parties, weddings and cookouts. The group’s “Misled” was featured in Netflix’s “Leave the World Behind” in 2023, and their music was played during this year’s NFL playoffs and Super Bowl.
The induction coincides this fall with the release of Brown’s posthumous album, “Where I’m Coming From,” a 16-track collection that shows off the drummer as a versatile multi-instrumentalist who explored Brazilian rhythms, country, cool jazz, romantic ballads and pure dance — proof that members of the Gang had lots to offer.
“I wish George was here and the rest of the original members because they well deserve this recognition,” says his wife, Hahn Brown. “These gentlemen of the band itself needs to be recognized for their body of work and the changes they made in the music industry.”
The band began in 1964 with brothers Kool and Ronald “Khalis” Bell, along with high school friends Dennis “D.T.” Thomas, Brown, Robert “Spike” Mickens, Ricky West and Charles Smith in Jersey City, New Jersey. They grew from jazz roots in the 1960s to become one of the major groups of the 1970s and ‘80s, blending jazz, funk, R&B and pop.
A pivotal moment came when the group hired James “JT” Taylor as lead singer in 1979, fueling most of their ‘80s hits. The first song he recorded was “Ladies’ Night,” a tune Bell conceived of while hanging out at Studio 54 and Regine’s in Manhattan.
“I came back, I said, ‘I got a great idea for a title.’ So my brother said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Ladies’ Night.’ He said, ‘Wow, they got one of those all over the world.’ And that was his first song.”
The group was honored with a BET Soul Train Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014 and inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame four years later. During the very last space shuttle mission in 2011, one of the wake-up songs was “Celebration.”
That party-time juggernaut was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2016 and added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry in 2020.
Kool & the Gang have been sampled by everybody from A Tribe Called Quest, Eric B. & Rakim, Ice Cube, Kid Rock and TLC. They can be heard in DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince’s “Summertime,” Jhené Aiko’s “Summer 2020,” Madonna’s “Erotica” and Public Enemy’s “Welcome to the Terrordome.”
Last year, Kool & the Gang released a new album, “People Just Wanna Have Fun,” with the first single the infectious, happy “Let’s Party,” featuring vocals from Sha Sha Jones.
Joining Bell in the current Kool & the Gang lineup are trumpet player and singer Michael Ray; guitarist and lead singer Shawn McQuiller; and saxophonist, keyboardist and music director Curtis Williams.
Reality TV star Julie Chrisley resentenced to seven years
ATLANTA | A federal judge on Wednesday resentenced Julie Chrisley to seven years in prison for her conviction on bank fraud and tax evasion charges, declining the reality TV star’s request for less time in prison than was originally imposed.
Chrisley and her husband, Todd Chrisley, gained fame on their show, “Chrisley Knows Best,” which followed their tight-knit family and extravagant lifestyle. A jury in 2022 found them guilty of conspiring to defraud community banks out of more than $30 million in fraudulent loans. The Chrisleys were also found guilty of tax evasion by hiding their earnings.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in June upheld the Chrisleys’ convictions but found a legal error in how the trial judge had calculated Julie Chrisley’s sentence by holding her accountable for the entire bank fraud scheme. The appellate panel sent her case back to the lower court for resentencing.
Julie Chrisley’s attorney, Alex Little, asked the judge to reduce his client’s sentence to no more than five years. He argued that she was a minor player in the crimes, that her “scattered offenses” were “dramatic mistakes.” He also noted that she has behaved well and taken advantage of enrichment opportunities during her 20 months in prison so far, receiving more than 70 certificates.
In a court filing, Little had argued that Chrisley’s two youngest children are struggling with “day-to-day functioning” because of their mother’s absence.
Federal prosecutor Annalise Peters urged the judge to reimpose the seven-year sentence. She argued that prosecutors had been conservative in charging the Chrisleys, that Julie Chrisley was a “core part” of a fraudulent scheme and that she had not apologized, shown remorse or admitted wrongdoing.
Chrisley’s good behavior in prison does not cancel out an “11-year journey of fraud after fraud after fraud,” Peters said.
Peters said she felt sympathy for Chrisley’s family but that their suffering was “a natural consequence of this defendant’s criminal choices.”
Chrisley, dressed in a navy blue prison uniform and with her formerly blond hair now dark brown, addressed the judge.
“I apologize for my actions and what led me to where I am today,” she said, later adding that her time in prison has been “the most difficult time in my life” and has been hard on her family.
“I cannot ever repay my children for what they have had to go through, and for that I am sorry,” she said.
Before the Chrisleys became reality television stars, they and a former business partner submitted false documents to banks in the Atlanta area to obtain fraudulent loans, prosecutors said during their trial. They accused the couple of spending lavishly on luxury cars, designer clothes, real estate and travel, and using new fraudulent loans to pay off old ones. Todd Chrisley then filed for bankruptcy, according to prosecutors, walking away from more than $20 million in unpaid loans.
U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross said that when she originally sentenced Chrisley she took into account her age, health and the fact that she was a caretaker for young children and elderly parents. Ross said she imposed a sentence that fell below the guidelines for Chrisley’s crimes and situation and below what prosecutors had requested. That departure from the guidelines was not based on the loss amount or the number of years that Chrisley was involved, so her sentence will not change, Ross said.
The judge noted that many people she has sent to prison have children and most don’t have the resources or the support system the Chrisleys have.
“It saddens me every time I see children going through that,” Ross said, later adding that she reminds herself, “I am not the one who made the choices to put the children in that situation.”
Two of Chrisley’s adult children, Savannah and Chase, attended the hearing. Savannah Chrisley, who spoke in support of Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy at the Republican National Convention in July, told reporters outside the courthouse that the prosecution and sentencing of her parents was politically motivated.
“That’s what you get with an Obama-appointed judge,” she said as her mother was led out of the courtroom by U.S. marshals. Ross was appointed to the bench by then-President Barack Obama and took the bench in November 2014.
She said her mother will appeal the new sentence.
Todd Chrisley is serving a sentence of 12 years behind bars. The couple was originally ordered to pay $17.8 million in restitution, but Ross said Wednesday that the amount now stands at $4.7 million.
Todd Chrisley, 56, is at a minimum security federal prison camp in Pensacola, Florida, with a release date in September 2032, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons website. Julie Chrisley, 51, had been held at a facility in Lexington, Kentucky, and is expected to return there.
Rapper Fatman Scoop died of heart disease, medical examiner says
HAMDEN, Conn. | Hip-hop artist Fatman Scoop, who collapsed onstage while performing in Connecticut last month, died of heart disease, the state medical examiner’s office has determined.
The official cause of death for the performer, born Isaac Freeman III, was hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, a spokesperson for the Connecticut medical examiner’s office said Wednesday.
Fatman Scoop, 56, collapsed while performing in Hamden on Aug. 30 and was taken to a hospital.
His family said later on Instagram that “the world lost a radiant soul, a beacon on stage and in life.”
A New York City-born rapper and hype man, Fatman Scoop was known for his single “Be Faithful,” which topped charts in Europe in the early 2000s, and for his contributions to hits by Missy Elliott, Mariah Carey and others.
His family cherished him as “the laughter in our lives, a constant source of support, unwavering strength and courage,” his relatives said.
“His music made us dance and embrace life with positivity,” his family members said. “His joy was infectious and the generosity he extended to all will be deeply missed but never forgotten.”
—From AP reports
