Kathleen Loves Music

KC & The Sunshine Band > Keep It Comin’ Love
KC & The Sunshine Band > I’m Your Boogie Man

OK, go ahead and laugh. I love K.C. & The Sunshine Band. Why? Because they were one of the great Southern funk bands. Really.

I never saw the band in the flesh until the 90s (by which time they were a pale nostalgia act playing a Nick-at-Nite party) but on television they were a revelation. Like everyone else, I’d dismissed them as a pop disco band. But watching them focused me on the band who grooved as hard as anyone I’d ever seen including James Brown and Kool & the Gang. A white rhythm section & African-American horns it turned out they were among the studio musicians who’d backed Betty Wright, George & Gwen McCrae, and lots of others in TK Records‘ Florida heyday. Richard Finch and Henry Casey (K.C.) wrote material for all of them, including the KC&TSB’s great hits. Sure K.C. was no Teddy and the lyrics were barely disguised sex songs, it didn’t matter. Their funk and their melodies made sure the band would be on my playlists forever.

I’ve posted two tracks here, you probably think you’ve heard them too many times before. Give ‘em another chance, listen to the funk. Really.

KC & The Sunshine Band > Keep It Comin’ Love
KC & The Sunshine Band > I’m Your Boogie Man