Kool & The Gang Drummer George ‘Funky’ Brown Dead at 74

George “Funky” Brown — the important thing drummer and one of many founding members of Kool & The Gang — has died … TMZ has discovered.

Sources with direct data inform us the legendary musician died from most cancers at his dwelling in Los Angeles Thursday evening, ending his wonderful 59-year profession as a songwriter and drummer for the legendary funk band. He’d been battling stage-4 most cancers.

A rep for the group tells TMZ, “George Brown died November 16, 2023 in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer. Brown has co-written many of the band’s iconic songs, including “Girls Night time,” “Too Scorching,” “Jungle Boogie,” “Celebration,” and “Cherish.” When asked to describe his music, Brown always replied, ‘The sound of happiness.'”

GB had been identified with lung most cancers, and truly recovered for some time earlier than hitting the street once more to tour and carry out — however he suffered one other setback this yr when the most cancers returned. George chronicled his well being struggles final month with KCAL News.

George and the remainder of the group got here collectively in 1964 to create the supergroup in Jersey Metropolis, NJ. The different founding members included brothers Robert Bell (bass) and Ronald Bell (keyboards), Dennis Thomas (saxophone), Robert Mickens (Trumpet), Ricky West (keyboards) and Charles Smith (guitarist).

The band landed their first recording cope with De-Lite Data, cranking out their debut album titled, “Kool & The Gang,” in 1969.

However they did not attain stardom till 1973 after they launched their fourth report referred to as “Wild And Peaceful,” that includes a few of their greatest songs like “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swinging.”

They adopted up with a string of tremendous profitable data named “Ladies Night” (1979), “Celebrate!” (1980) and “Emergency” (1984), which offered a whopping 2 million albums within the U.S. alone. All three data produced a slew of very talked-about tunes, together with “Celebration,” which rocketed to primary on the charts.

Over time, Kool & The Gang has been widely known within the music business, snagging 2 Grammy Awards, 7 American Music Awards, a Music Enterprise Affiliation Chairman’s Award and a Soul Practice Legend Award. They have been additionally given a star on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame.

Robert “Kool” Bell is the one surviving unique member of the band.

A spokesperson says donations may be made in his honor to the Lung Most cancers Society of America.

Brown is survived by his spouse, Hanh Brown and his 5 kids.