Shake your booty at Tulalip: KC and the Sunshine Band
Published 1:55 pm Thursday, August 14, 2008
KC doesn’t sound too sunshiney when the topic of disco comes up.
Instead, the famed frontman for KC and the Sunshine Band sounds a bit irritated.
Asked about his favorite accomplishment as a musician, he runs through a litany of successes — a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Grammy wins, an American Music Award — before concluding with a slight. He hasn’t been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
He blames disco.
“It was R&B and pop music,” he said, speaking from his home in Miami Lakes, Fla. “Then … ‘Saturday Night Fever’ came out and they started calling it disco music. A lot of people have attached this negative thing to it.”
It probably shouldn’t upset him. KC, whose actual name is Harry Wayne Casey, has fans across the country. He still plays about 100 dates a year, he said, a full schedule that will bring him Wednesday to Tulalip Amphitheatre.
His set list, he said, will focus on the hits. He had been rotating in more obscure material during some shows, but he realized, as a concertgoer, that was a bad idea.
“You think, ‘Why in the hell are they playing that?” KC, 57, said.
Luckily, his back catalog includes plenty of hits: “Get Down Tonight,” “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty” and “Boogie Shoes,” to name a few.
He described the concert itself as a high energy performance.
“It’s a choreographed show,” he said. “It’s like a concert-meets-Vegas type thing, with the dancers and everything.”
While he’s been playing music for decades, KC doesn’t see retirement in sight. He enjoys playing too much, saying he’s been living the dream since the day he started.
“When you’re performing up there and you see how much happiness you’re bringing,” he said. “It’s a great feeling to know that something you love is bringing so much joy and happiness to other people.”
His group originally formed in 1973, when KC met bassist Richard Finch. The two were working at TK Records, according to the All Music Guide, and started recording during off-hours at the label. In the coming years, they would produce several No. 1 singles with their band, which drew its name from the Sunshine State of Florida. Selling tens of millions of albums, however, left the group vulnerable to the 1980s disco backlash. Finch ended up leaving the band.
The pair’s music may live on even after KC hangs up his microphone. Already the group’s songs have found some interesting outlets.
Along with Burger King commercials, songs have surfaced in the interactive video game “Dance Dance Revolution.” It might not be the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but it will do.
“It kind of solidifies the fact that they were more than just catchy little tunes,” he said. “A lot of people have put my music down. I think it solidifies how great the songs actually were.”
Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455 or e-mail arathbun@heraldnet.com.
