George Brown, a drummer and songwriter who co-founded the band Kool & the Gang, died on Thursday. He was 74.
George Brown, a drummer and songwriter who co-founded the band Kool & the Gang, died on Thursday. He was 74.
The news was confirmed to CNN via email from Kool & the Gang’s publicist Jerry Digney. Brown died in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer, according to Digney.
At first calling themselves the Jazziacs in 1964, Brown – along with Ricky Westfield, Ronald Bell and his brother Robert “Kool” Bell, and neighborhood friends Spike Mickens, Dennis Thomas and Charles Smith – began making music together that melded jazz, soul and funk.
After taking on various other monikers, including The New Dimensions, The Soul Town Band and Kool & the Flames, they landed on Kool & The Gang, officially launching in 1969.
