Kool & the Gang Drummer Dies: George 'Funky' Brown Was 74

George Brown is featured in the songs 'Celebration' and 'Too Hot.'

By Brian Jones

George "Funky" Brown, the drummer of the band Kool & the Gang, has died, TMZ reports. He was 74 years old. Brown, who was one of the founding members of Kool & the Gang, died from cancer at his home in Los Angeles on Thursday night, a representative for him told the outlet. He was battling stage 4 cancer at the time of his death. 

"George Brown died November 16, 2023, in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer, a rep for the group told TMZ.  Brown has co-written many of the band's iconic songs, including 'Ladies Night,' 'Too Hot,' 'Jungle Boogie,' 'Celebration,' and 'Cherish.' When asked to describe his music, Brown always replied, 'The sound of happiness.'"  

Brown and the rest of the group came together in 1964 to create Kool & the Gang. The other founding members are brothers Robert Bell (bass) and Ronald Bell (keyboards), Dennis Thomas (saxophone), Robert Mickens (Trumpet), Ricky West (keyboards) and Charles Smith (guitarist). The band continues to perform today and released an album in July titled People Just Wanna Have Fun, which Brown produced. During their time as a band, Kool & the Gang has produced 10 top-10 hits and one No. 1 hit was "Celebration."  They have won one Grammy Award, which was Album of the Year for their work on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. 

Earlier this year, Brown spoke to NPR about creating music now compared to earlier in his career. "It's changed quite a bit, but we still do some of the old-fashioned ways of writing the music and performing it," he said. "We get everybody in the studio still – drums, real horns, real piano, real everything. We might take a loop on some of them to lock it up a little bit, but that's about it."

Brown also talked about having many members in the group over the years. "It's the chemistry. If the chemistry is there, bingo, it works," he said. "And you want to make it happen, and you want to see people happy, and you want to be successful with it. And you want to help create a culture, a world culture, where people come together with that music. That music is bringing people together and making this one-world culture greater than it was before." Brown is survived by his wife, Hanh Brown, and his five children. 

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