GEORGE BROWN,
1949-2023

George Brown, drummer, songwriter and a founding member of Kool & The Gang, died Thursday (11/16) at his home in Los Angeles. He was 74.

He had been battling stage-4 lung cancer.

Nicknamed “Funky,” Brown was one of the main songwriters in Kool & The Gang, whose hits "Celebration" (#1), "Joanna" (#2), “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swinging” (both Top 10) were drivers of pop-funk in the 1970s and '80s.

A Jersey City, New Jersey, native, he was influenced by jazz drummers like Elvin Jones, Art Blakey and Jack DeJohnette. In high school, keyboardist Ricky West introduced Brown to saxophonist Ronald Bell and trumpeter Robert Mickens and their jazz band was soon regularly playing clubs.

In 1969 the group became Kool & The Gang, playing a mixture of jazz, soul, funk, rock and pop. They struck commercial success in 1973 with Wild and Peaceful, which featured “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swinging.” Brown’s drumming on the early Kool & The Gang recordings became heavily sampled decades later by hip-hop artists.

Kool & The Gang were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018.

Brown and bassist Robert “Kool” Bell were the only two original members still performing with the band.