![]() ![]() ![]() “That opened the door to the ’70s and ‘Jungle Boogie,’ and people started to really take notice,” Bell said. “Miles Davis and John Coal Train were big inspirations,” Bell said.īy 1969, Kool and the Gang’s music expanded to include funk and R&B. When the group started out, jazz was the main focus. “We didn’t want to cause any confusion with James Brown and the Famous Flames,” Bell said. Three years later, they changed the name of the group to Kool and the Flames, and in 1969, became Kool and the Gang. He liked the sound of Kool with a K, and it stuck. Around that same time, Bell said everyone in the neighborhood in Jersey City, N. “And we’ve definitely had thick and thin.”Īt just 13 years old, Bell and his brother, Ronald, a tenor saxophonist, and five friends formed a group called the Jazziacs. “Our mothers told us that we should stick together through thick and thin, and treat each other like family, and that’s what we’ve always done,” he said.
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