Grammy Award-winning R&B singer, songwriter, musician and producer Maurice White – born in Memphis, Tennessee on December 19, 1941 – was best known as the founder / leader of R&B / soul group Earth, Wind & Fire. His musical journey began when he formed his first band with Booker T. Jones while they were both in high school. After moving to Chicago, Illinois, he joined a few jazz groups while attending college. Alongside some of his jazz bandmates, he became a session musician for Chess Records, playing on albums by Etta James, Chuck Berry, Junior Wells, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, the Impressions and others. In 1966, Maurice White joined the Ramsey Lewis Trio. Three years later, he started writing songs with Wade Flemons and Don Whitehead and then signed with Capitol Records. They initially called themselves the Salty Peppers and eventually moved to Los Angeles, California where they changed their name to Earth, Wind & Fire. They released three moderately successful albums – Earth, Wind & Fire (1971), The Need of Love (1971), and Last Days and Time (1972) – before their commercial breakthrough with the 1973 album Head to the Sky. The group began appearing regularly on the R&B Top 10 Singles chart with tracks like “Mighty Mighty” (1974) and “Kalimba Story” (1974). They scored their first R&B number 1 with “Shining Star,” which also reached the top spot on the Hot 100. More R&B number 1 singles included “Sing a Song” (1975), “Getaway” (1976), “Serpentine Fire” (1977), “Got to Get You into My Life” (1978), “September” (1978), “Let’s Groove” (1981), and “System of Survival” (1987). They also scored more than a dozen Top 10 hits in the US and even more Top 20 and Top 40 hits. The band’s success went global in the 1970s and 1980s and Earth, Wind & Fire were one of the most successful R&B bands in the world. They had many albums chart internationally in the 1970s and 1980s, reaching the Top 10 or Top 20 with All ‘n All (1977), I Am (1979), Raise! (1981), Powerlight (1983), and more. Thanks to his success with Earth, Wind & Fire, Maurice White was able to help other artists and wrote and or produced hits for Deniece Williams, the Emotions, Minnie Riperton, Deodato, Barbara Streisand, Neil Diamond, Atlantic Starr, and many others. Maurice White released a handful of solo albums including Maurice White (1985) and the posthumous Manifestation (2019). Maurice White was nominated for 22 Grammy Awards and won seven with Earth, Wind & Fire between the years 1975 and 1980. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, Maurice White died on February 4, 2016, at the age of 74.
