Ronald Bell (R) with brother and fellow band member Robert in 2014
Ronald Bell – one of many founder members of the soul-funk band Kool & the Gang – has died on the age of 68.
He began the band along with his brother Robert “Kool” Bell.
The band’s songs had been large hits within the 1970s and 1980s, and included Celebration, Women’ Evening and Jungle Boogie.
Their music additionally featured in a number of movies, together with Saturday Evening Fever for which they obtained a Grammy in 1978, and Pulp Fiction.
Bell died at his dwelling within the US Virgin Islands, along with his spouse by his aspect, his publicist stated. The reason behind demise was not given.
A self-taught saxophonist and singer, he based the band in New Jersey in 1964 together with Robert, in addition to Dennis Thomas, Robert Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown and Ricky West.
The band is best-known for its fusion of jazz with funk, disco, R&B and pop.
- BBC Music: Kool & The Gang
“My favorite tune is Celebration…” Ronald Bell instructed Reuters information company in 2008.
“I had no clue, you realize, I used to be clueless, considering that that was going to be successful. I had no concept.
“However in spite of everything these years, there are occasions on the finish of the present, once I see all of those individuals singing a tune, and in spite of everything of an hour and a half, you ask them to leap up and down and so they nonetheless bounce up and down. That is form of overwhelming for me.”
The group obtained a star on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame in 2015 for his or her contribution to the world of leisure.
