History Music / EarthWindAndFire

Earth, Wind & Fire are an American {{Soul}} group most popular in the 1970s. They were formed in UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} in 1969 by Maurice and Verdine White, who later recruited eight other members to form the original 10-person lineup. They released two albums in 1971 while signed to Creator/WarnerBrosRecords, including a [[SelfTitledAlbum Self Titled Debut Album]]. In 1972 they became a 12-piece group and switched labels to Creator/ColumbiaRecords.

* RevolvingDoorBand: Verdine White is the only founding member left. Only he, Philip Bailey and Ralph Johnson are left from the band's heyday in the '70s.

** It's "Serpentine Fire", not "Gonna Tell the Story" or "Oh Yeah".

* RefrainFromAssuming: "Let's Groove" is sometimes labelled as "Let's Groove Tonight".
** It's "September", not "Dancing in September".
** "Love's Holiday" is not "Would You Mind?"

* [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Loads and Loads of Band Members]]: EWF is fairly famous for having about a dozen members at a time and a huge amount of ex-band members, as shown on the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Earth,_Wind_%26_Fire_band_members other wiki]].

!!Discrography

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* CoverVersion: Their cover of Music/TheBeatles' "Got to Get You Into My Life'', from the soundtrack of the ''Film/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand'' film, topped the ''Billboard'' R&B chart and made the Top 10 of the pop chart.

->''Hey, hey, Hey!\\

Ba-dee-ya, never was a cloudy day''

Earth, Wind & Fire are an American {{Soul}} group most popular in the 1970s. They were formed in 1969 by Maurice and Verdine White, who later recruited eight other members to form the original 10-person lineup. They released two albums in 1971 while signed to Creator/WarnerBrosRecords, including a [[SelfTitledAlbum Self Titled Debut Album]]. In 1972 they became a 12-piece group and switched labels to Creator/ColumbiaRecords.

During their run, Earth Wind & Fire have mainly considered themselves an African American pop group, specializing in jazz and funk songs with a broad pop appeal as they strove to break the musical color barrier. During the Disco Era, they also [[FollowTheLeader Followed The Leader]] with some disco songs, though EWF have otherwise not considered themselves a disco group.

** After developing Parkinson's disease, Maurice no longer toured and only rarely made public appearances, although he was still a formal member up to his death and his estate owns all rights to the band.

* BuildLikeAnEgyptian: The band had a lot of Egyptian themology in their album covers, costumes and stage shows, including having a pyramid-shaped UFO onstage.

* RevolvingDoorBand: Verdine White is the only founding member left. Only he, Philip Bailey and Ralph Johnson are left from the band's heyday in the 70's.

** Both "After the Love Has Gone" and "Fantasy" shift up a couple steps for the last few chorus repeats.
** "Kalimba Story" suddenly jumps from A-minor to D in the second half of the chorus, but drops back to A-minor for the following verses.

** "After the Love Has Gone" shifts up a couple steps for the last few chorus repeats.

* TruckDriversGearChange: "After the Love Has Gone" shifts up a couple steps for the last few chorus repeats.

* BandOfRelatives: Brothers Maurice and Verdine White were founding members, with younger brother Freddie joining later on. More recently, Philip Bailey and his son, Philip Bailey Jr.

* BuildLikeAnEgyptian: the band had a lot of Egyptian themology in their album covers, costumes and stage shows, including having a pyramid-shaped UFO onstage.

* TruckDriversGearChange: "After the Love Has Gone" shifts up a couple steps for the last few chorus repeats.

* TheBandMinusTheFace: Their 2013 album ''Now, Then, & Forever'' was their first recorded without any creative input from Maurice White.