Biography
Earth, Wind & Fire originated in the 1970s under the leadership of multi-talented Maurice White, who contributed vocals, drumming, songwriting, and production. Earlier, White had served as a session drummer at the storied Chicago labels OKeh Records and Chess Records, supporting Etta James, Fontella Bass, Billy Stewart, Ramsey Lewis, Sonny Stitt on the 1966 release Soul in the Night, the Radiants, and additional acts. His goal was to assemble an ensemble that would stand apart from all prior pop acts, and the outcome proved transformative: EWF fused elite-level playing, broad stylistic exploration, and the era’s multicultural spiritual outlook laced with Biblical allusions.
The Chicago-rooted ensemble amassed 46 charting R&B singles alongside 33 pop entries, eight of them gold, captured six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and secured more than fifty gold and platinum albums. Charles Stepney—previously an arranger, producer, session player, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter at Chess—served as White’s principal partner on EWF material as well as projects issued through Kalimba Productions on the Columbia-distributed ARC imprint. Although EWF became White’s signature vehicle, he had first launched the Salty Peppers with brother Verdine White, the future EWF bassist; that duo placed “Uh Hun Yeah” backed with “Your Love Is Life” on Capitol Records.
White entered the world on December 19, 1941, in Memphis, Tennessee, drawing the EWF concept from a hometown drum-and-bugle corps. After touring with Santana, Weather Report, and Uriah Heep, he formed the group. A brief backstage introduction in Denver, Colorado, following an EWF performance connected him with vocalist Philip Bailey, an encounter that would reshape both careers and American popular music. Bailey left college the next year to chase music in Los Angeles, where he reconnected with White, who had arrived the previous year intent on building a boundary-defying, spiritually infused collective free of racial, cultural, or stylistic limits. Bailey embraced the vision and joined in 1972; his luminous falsetto meshed seamlessly with White’s commanding tenor.
After an initial Warner Bros. single—the ballad “I Think About Lovin’ You,” spotlighting Jessica Cleaves and reaching number 44 R&B in early 1972—the group moved to Columbia for the 1972 debut Last Days and Time. They gradually earned notice for inventive records and theatrical concerts featuring Doug Henning’s illusions, including levitating pianos and vanishing acts. Their first gold album, Head to the Sky, climbed to number 27 pop in summer 1973 and spawned the tangy cover “Evil” plus the title-track single. Open Our Eyes became the first platinum EWF LP; its title track reworked a Savoy Records classic by the Gospel Clefs, while “Mighty Mighty” hit number four R&B and “Kalimba Story” reached number six R&B.
White again shared the Columbia roster with Ramsey Lewis, whose Sun Goddess arrived in December 1974. The title track, issued as a single credited to Ramsey Lewis and Earth, Wind & Fire, peaked at number 20 R&B in early 1975; a fiery reading of Stevie Wonder’s 1973 number-one R&B hit “Living for the City” also drew heavy airplay. Sun Goddess itself went gold, attaining number 12 pop in early 1975. White had earlier appeared on Lewis’s high-charting Wade in the Water, whose title track climbed to number three R&B in summer 1966.
“Shining Star” took shape from reflections White experienced beneath the starlit skies above Caribou Ranch, Colorado, a favored 1970s recording retreat. The song first surfaced in the Sig Shore-produced film That’s the Way of the World, starring Harvey Keitel and widely regarded as one of the most realistic music-industry movies ever made. It held number one R&B for two weeks, topped the pop chart in early 1975, and anchored the double-platinum 1975 album That’s the Way of the World, which ruled the pop LP list for three weeks that spring. The title-track single reached number five R&B in summer 1975, and the set also introduced the enduring ballad “Reasons,” a perennial radio favorite. “Shining Star” later gained pop-culture immortality through Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s memorable “Elaine” dance on Seinfeld.
Gratitude, a two-million-selling set split between live and studio sides, occupied the number-one pop album spot for three weeks in late 1975. It contained the gold single “Sing a Song,” which topped R&B for two weeks and reached number five pop; the Skip Scarborough ballad “Can’t Hide Love,” which peaked at number 11 R&B; and radio staples “Celebrate,” “Gratitude,” and the live “Reasons.” In 1976 White pursued a spiritual project. The resulting double-platinum Spirit held number two pop for two weeks in fall 1976, yielding the gold number-one R&B single “Getaway” and “Saturday Nite.” The album ranks among EWF’s finest yet also marks the final collaboration with Charles Stepney, who passed away on May 17, 1976, in Chicago at age 43.
All ’N All achieved triple-platinum status, reached number three pop in late 1977, earned three Grammys, and was co-produced by Joe Wissert with arrangements by Chicago soul veteran Tom-Tom Washington and Eumir Deodato. Its singles included “Serpentine Fire,” which dominated R&B for seven weeks, and “Fantasy.” The platinum compilation The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1 featured a cover of the Beatles’ “Got to Get You into My Life,” which hit number one R&B and number nine pop in summer 1978; the B-side, the gentle acoustic “I’ll Write a Song for You” led by Bailey, enjoyed extensive R&B airplay. The group performed the track in the 1978 Bee Gees/Peter Frampton film Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Another single, “September,” reached number one R&B and number eight pop in early 1978, backed by the All ’N All favorite “Love’s Holiday.”
Around this period Philip Bailey enlisted EWF members for an album he produced for the Columbia/Epic act Free Life. Their Bailey-penned ballad “Wish You Were Here” charted at number 91 R&B in early 1979, alongside “Stomp and Shout” and the non-album “Dance Fantasy” b/w “There’s Something Better.” The album Free Life carried clear EWF stylistic fingerprints; “Wish You Were Here” later became a sought-after soft-soul collectible and appeared on multiple anthologies. The two-million-selling I Am rose to number three pop in summer 1979, propelled by the million-selling “Boogie Wonderland” with the Emotions—number two R&B for four weeks and number six pop—and the gold ballad “After the Love Is Gone,” written by David Foster and Allee Willis, which held number two on both R&B and pop charts for two weeks. Faces reached number ten pop in late 1980, earning gold behind “Let Me Talk” (number eight R&B), “You” (number ten R&B), and “And Love Goes On.”
The million-selling, funk-driven “Let’s Groove,” co-written by the Emotions’ Wanda Vaughn and her husband Wayne Vaughn, revived EWF’s momentum, topping R&B for eight weeks and hitting number three pop; Raise consequently went platinum and peaked at number five pop in late 1981. Their next gold album, Powerlight, climbed to number 12 pop in spring 1983 and included the Top Ten R&B single “Magnetic.” Electric Universe stalled at number 40 pop in early 1984, ending the band’s unbroken run of gold and platinum releases.
White elected to place EWF on hiatus. He secured a solo Columbia deal that yielded a tender cover of Ben E. King’s 1961 hit “Stand by Me,” which reached number six R&B. The 1985 album Maurice White also featured the island-tinged “Switch on Your Radio” and the airy ballad “I Need You,” a notable radio track. White contributed backing vocals to fellow Columbia artist Neil Diamond’s 1986 single “Headed for the Future” and can be heard on Diamond’s 1996 Sony compilation In My Lifetime. Rejoining EWF in 1987, the group scored another number-one R&B single, “System of Survival,” included on the gold album Touch the World. Their final charting pop LP, Millennium, appeared in fall 1993.
Earth, Wind & Fire, without White, performed on A&E’s Live by Request in July 1999. That same year White launched the Navarre-distributed Kalimba Records, whose roster featured Freddie Ravel and the band Sixth Sense. Through Kalimba Productions he had earlier scored hits with Deniece Williams, the Emotions, and DJ Rogers’ “Love Brought Me Back.” In 2000 White disclosed a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis. He passed away from the illness at his Los Angeles home on February 3, 2016, at age 74.
The Chicago-rooted ensemble amassed 46 charting R&B singles alongside 33 pop entries, eight of them gold, captured six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and secured more than fifty gold and platinum albums. Charles Stepney—previously an arranger, producer, session player, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter at Chess—served as White’s principal partner on EWF material as well as projects issued through Kalimba Productions on the Columbia-distributed ARC imprint. Although EWF became White’s signature vehicle, he had first launched the Salty Peppers with brother Verdine White, the future EWF bassist; that duo placed “Uh Hun Yeah” backed with “Your Love Is Life” on Capitol Records.
White entered the world on December 19, 1941, in Memphis, Tennessee, drawing the EWF concept from a hometown drum-and-bugle corps. After touring with Santana, Weather Report, and Uriah Heep, he formed the group. A brief backstage introduction in Denver, Colorado, following an EWF performance connected him with vocalist Philip Bailey, an encounter that would reshape both careers and American popular music. Bailey left college the next year to chase music in Los Angeles, where he reconnected with White, who had arrived the previous year intent on building a boundary-defying, spiritually infused collective free of racial, cultural, or stylistic limits. Bailey embraced the vision and joined in 1972; his luminous falsetto meshed seamlessly with White’s commanding tenor.
After an initial Warner Bros. single—the ballad “I Think About Lovin’ You,” spotlighting Jessica Cleaves and reaching number 44 R&B in early 1972—the group moved to Columbia for the 1972 debut Last Days and Time. They gradually earned notice for inventive records and theatrical concerts featuring Doug Henning’s illusions, including levitating pianos and vanishing acts. Their first gold album, Head to the Sky, climbed to number 27 pop in summer 1973 and spawned the tangy cover “Evil” plus the title-track single. Open Our Eyes became the first platinum EWF LP; its title track reworked a Savoy Records classic by the Gospel Clefs, while “Mighty Mighty” hit number four R&B and “Kalimba Story” reached number six R&B.
White again shared the Columbia roster with Ramsey Lewis, whose Sun Goddess arrived in December 1974. The title track, issued as a single credited to Ramsey Lewis and Earth, Wind & Fire, peaked at number 20 R&B in early 1975; a fiery reading of Stevie Wonder’s 1973 number-one R&B hit “Living for the City” also drew heavy airplay. Sun Goddess itself went gold, attaining number 12 pop in early 1975. White had earlier appeared on Lewis’s high-charting Wade in the Water, whose title track climbed to number three R&B in summer 1966.
“Shining Star” took shape from reflections White experienced beneath the starlit skies above Caribou Ranch, Colorado, a favored 1970s recording retreat. The song first surfaced in the Sig Shore-produced film That’s the Way of the World, starring Harvey Keitel and widely regarded as one of the most realistic music-industry movies ever made. It held number one R&B for two weeks, topped the pop chart in early 1975, and anchored the double-platinum 1975 album That’s the Way of the World, which ruled the pop LP list for three weeks that spring. The title-track single reached number five R&B in summer 1975, and the set also introduced the enduring ballad “Reasons,” a perennial radio favorite. “Shining Star” later gained pop-culture immortality through Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s memorable “Elaine” dance on Seinfeld.
Gratitude, a two-million-selling set split between live and studio sides, occupied the number-one pop album spot for three weeks in late 1975. It contained the gold single “Sing a Song,” which topped R&B for two weeks and reached number five pop; the Skip Scarborough ballad “Can’t Hide Love,” which peaked at number 11 R&B; and radio staples “Celebrate,” “Gratitude,” and the live “Reasons.” In 1976 White pursued a spiritual project. The resulting double-platinum Spirit held number two pop for two weeks in fall 1976, yielding the gold number-one R&B single “Getaway” and “Saturday Nite.” The album ranks among EWF’s finest yet also marks the final collaboration with Charles Stepney, who passed away on May 17, 1976, in Chicago at age 43.
All ’N All achieved triple-platinum status, reached number three pop in late 1977, earned three Grammys, and was co-produced by Joe Wissert with arrangements by Chicago soul veteran Tom-Tom Washington and Eumir Deodato. Its singles included “Serpentine Fire,” which dominated R&B for seven weeks, and “Fantasy.” The platinum compilation The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1 featured a cover of the Beatles’ “Got to Get You into My Life,” which hit number one R&B and number nine pop in summer 1978; the B-side, the gentle acoustic “I’ll Write a Song for You” led by Bailey, enjoyed extensive R&B airplay. The group performed the track in the 1978 Bee Gees/Peter Frampton film Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Another single, “September,” reached number one R&B and number eight pop in early 1978, backed by the All ’N All favorite “Love’s Holiday.”
Around this period Philip Bailey enlisted EWF members for an album he produced for the Columbia/Epic act Free Life. Their Bailey-penned ballad “Wish You Were Here” charted at number 91 R&B in early 1979, alongside “Stomp and Shout” and the non-album “Dance Fantasy” b/w “There’s Something Better.” The album Free Life carried clear EWF stylistic fingerprints; “Wish You Were Here” later became a sought-after soft-soul collectible and appeared on multiple anthologies. The two-million-selling I Am rose to number three pop in summer 1979, propelled by the million-selling “Boogie Wonderland” with the Emotions—number two R&B for four weeks and number six pop—and the gold ballad “After the Love Is Gone,” written by David Foster and Allee Willis, which held number two on both R&B and pop charts for two weeks. Faces reached number ten pop in late 1980, earning gold behind “Let Me Talk” (number eight R&B), “You” (number ten R&B), and “And Love Goes On.”
The million-selling, funk-driven “Let’s Groove,” co-written by the Emotions’ Wanda Vaughn and her husband Wayne Vaughn, revived EWF’s momentum, topping R&B for eight weeks and hitting number three pop; Raise consequently went platinum and peaked at number five pop in late 1981. Their next gold album, Powerlight, climbed to number 12 pop in spring 1983 and included the Top Ten R&B single “Magnetic.” Electric Universe stalled at number 40 pop in early 1984, ending the band’s unbroken run of gold and platinum releases.
White elected to place EWF on hiatus. He secured a solo Columbia deal that yielded a tender cover of Ben E. King’s 1961 hit “Stand by Me,” which reached number six R&B. The 1985 album Maurice White also featured the island-tinged “Switch on Your Radio” and the airy ballad “I Need You,” a notable radio track. White contributed backing vocals to fellow Columbia artist Neil Diamond’s 1986 single “Headed for the Future” and can be heard on Diamond’s 1996 Sony compilation In My Lifetime. Rejoining EWF in 1987, the group scored another number-one R&B single, “System of Survival,” included on the gold album Touch the World. Their final charting pop LP, Millennium, appeared in fall 1993.
Earth, Wind & Fire, without White, performed on A&E’s Live by Request in July 1999. That same year White launched the Navarre-distributed Kalimba Records, whose roster featured Freddie Ravel and the band Sixth Sense. Through Kalimba Productions he had earlier scored hits with Deniece Williams, the Emotions, and DJ Rogers’ “Love Brought Me Back.” In 2000 White disclosed a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis. He passed away from the illness at his Los Angeles home on February 3, 2016, at age 74.
Albums
Singles
