Founder of Earth, Wind & Fire, Maurice White dies at 74


Maurice White, co-founder and leader of the groundbreaking ensemble Earth, Wind & Fire, died at his Los Angeles home Thursday. 

He was 74. His brother and bandmate, Verdine White, confirmed his death to the media.  

The source for a wealth of euphoric hits in the 1970s and early '80s, including "Shining Star," "September" and "Boogie Wonderland," Earth, Wind & Fire borrowed elements from funk, soul, gospel and pop for a distinctive sound that yielded six double-platinum albums and six Grammy Awards.

The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, and although White had ceased touring with the group since a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease in the '90s, the group had continued to tour.
Born in Memphis, Tenn. 

on Dec. 19, 1941, Maurice White sang in his church's gospel choir at an early age, but his interest quickly gravitated to the drums. He earned his first gig backing Booker T. Jones before the organist founded the MGs. 

He moved to Chicago in the early '60s and studied composition at the Chicago Conservatory of Music and eventually found work as a session drummer for the Chess and OKeh labels.

"That's where I learned about the roots of music," White told the Chicago Tribune in 1990. "I learned about playing with feeling."

After also backing jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis in the '60s, White moved to Los Angeles in 1969 with a band called the Salty Peppers. The group failed to gain much traction, and White changed the group's name in 1971 to Earth, Wind and Fire, a name that reflected White's spiritual approach to music.

"In the beginning," White told the Tribune in 1988, "My message was basically trying to relate to the community. From that it grew into more of a universal consciousness; the idea was to give the people something that was useful."

White's hits spanned a particularly influential space between soul, R&B, funk and disco that remains current. 

His music with Earth, Wind & Fire was prominently sampled by scores of hip-hop and pop acts, including Jay-Z and 2Pac among many others. 

His mix of incandescent soulfulness and suave, funky arrangements informed recent best-selling albums by Daft Punk and Kendrick Lamar.

Remembrances of White came from all corners of the music world. On Twitter, Nile Rodgers, the Chic founder and record producer who was White's peer in the '70s disco scene, wrote "RIP my soulful brother -You're one of the most amazing innovators of all time." Bootsy Collins, bassist of the funk mainstays Parliament-Funkadelic, wrote that White was a "legend, pioneer lifelong friend."

Even U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch wrote that she was "Mourning the loss" of "the voice of my generation."

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times