With over 70 million units sold worldwide throughout their long and illustrious career, Kool & The Gang have endured both the highs and the lows in the ever-evolving music industry, and succeeded to become one of the most uniquely versatile bands to ever do it both onstage and in the recording studio. Whether it's the jazzy flow of their hit songs 'Summer Madness' and 'Too Hot,' the raw funkness of 'Jungle Boogie' and 'Hollywood Swingin',' to the eclectic, global sounds of 'Celebration,' 'Ladie's Night' and 'Joanna,' these mega-talented brothers from Jersey City, New Jersey have touched everyone around the globe with timeless, classic music that will forever resonate within our consciousness for generations to come. The group's founding members - Robert 'Kool' Bell, his brother Ronald Bell (now known as Khalis Bayyan) and Dennis Thomas were honored by Fame-Wall (http://www.fame-wall.com/) for their lifetime achievements back on July 7, 2011 in New York City. Robert was kind enough to briefly share with me his views on how one can succeed in the current music industry, and well as offering up his thoughts on what it means to be in the spotlight.
RG: What's the best advice you can give to musically talented young men who strive to one day become successful in the current music industry?
RKB: Well, I always like to say that they need to try and be creative in their own right and have a distinct identity, which is kind of hard in today's popular music landscape with everything sounding so much alike. A lot of major record companies don't like to take risks like they used to in the past. It's also very important to learn about the business side of things in terms of how copyrights work, learning about publishing rights, lawyers handling the legalities of your contract, accountants managing your finances accurately and things of that nature. But the main thing for me is to never give up - if recording music professionally is what you really want to do because it's not always easy. There are always going to be hills and valleys along the journey, so you've got to make sure that you can weather the storm when it arises.
RG: Define 'being in the spotlight' from your perspective.
RKB: I guess 'being in the spotlight' is the fact that people recognize who you are and appreciate what you do. But also while you're in the spotlight, there is a lot of responsibility that comes with that to stay in the spotlight, because at any given moment, if you're not careful, the lights can go out, and you might no longer be in the spotlight (chuckles), so you have to continue to work hard to maintain a relevancy in the spotlight, especially in the music industry!
http://www.koolandthegang.com/
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