KC & The Sunshine Band

While the Bee Gees claimed the top spot among late-1970s disco acts, KC & the Sunshine Band stood nearly as prominent. The racially integrated ensemble, fronted by Harry Wayne “KC” Casey and Richard Finch, generated a steady stream of the decade’s most familiar dance-floor successes. The two bandleaders first crossed paths in 1972 at Miami’s TK Records, where Casey handled secretarial duties and booked shows for Timmy Thomas. Although the group officially assembled in 1973, its initial single, “Blow Your Whistle,” vanished without impact. Another Casey-Finch composition, “Rock Your Baby,” instead became a major hit for R&B vocalist George McCrae, just as KC & the Sunshine Band began releasing their own material and quickly landing substantial chart successes.

From 1975 onward the band maintained an unbroken sequence of dance hits that included “Get Down Tonight” and “That’s the Way (I Like It)” that year, “Shake Shake Shake (Shake Your Booty)” in 1976, “I’m Your Boogieman” and “Keep It Comin’ Love” in 1977, “Boogie Shoes” in 1978 (featured on the blockbuster Saturday Night Fever soundtrack), and both “Do You Wanna Go Party” and “Please Don’t Go” in 1979. Nine Grammy nominations and three wins, along with multimillion sales, could not shield the group from the anti-disco sentiment that emerged at the start of the 1980s, resulting in falling record sales and an eventual breakup in the early part of the decade—though Casey did notch a modest solo success with 1983’s “Give It Up.” Renewed fascination with 1970s culture during the 1990s rekindled public interest in the band, prompting reunion shows, a flood of compilation albums, and a VH1 Behind the Music episode chronicling their career trajectory. Casey guided the 1993 studio set Oh Yeah! and the concert recording Get Down Live!, drawn from performances across North and South America. The ensemble maintained a presence on nostalgia tours while issuing occasional new projects such as 2001’s I’ll Be There for You and 2007’s Yummy. In 2015 they released the 1960s-pop tribute Feeling You! The 60’s.