Maurice White, funk legend who co-founded Earth, Wind and Fire, dead at 74
Earth, Wind and Fire founder Maurice White, whose horn-driven band sold more than 90 million albums and made hits like September, Shining Star and Boogie Wonderland, died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles, his brother Verdine said.
White, who was 74, suffered from Parkinson’s Disease and had retreated from the public even as the band he founded kept performing.
Earth, Wind and Fire, a nine-piece band centred featuring the two White brothers, singer Philip Bailey and the distinctive horn section, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. The band’s most successful period started with the 1975 album That’s The Way of The World and continued through the rest of the decade. Other hits included Serpentine Fire, That’s the Way of the World and a cover of the Beatles’ Got to Get You Into My Life.
Comedian Chris Rock tweeted his condolences Thursday with a photo of White and the lyrics, “You can’t hide love”. Musician Nile Rodgers called White “one of the most amazing innovators of all time” on the social media platform, while songwriter Diane Warren said “this world just got a lot less soulful.”
White publicly revealed he had Parkinson’s at the time of the band’s Hall of Fame induction, but he had shown symptoms of the neurological disease back in the 1980s. He stopped touring with the band in 1995 because of weariness from the road combined with his health problems.
White said in an interview in 2000 that he wanted the band’s music to inspire instead of just entertain.
“That was the whole objective, to try to inspire young people to believe in themselves and to follow through on their ideas,” he said. “We’ve touched so many people with these songs.”
