Robert “Kool” Bell

Pursuit of Happiness

Robert “Kool” Bell, co-founder of the iconic funk/R&B faction Kool & the Gang, along with the band has just released an inspirational and joyful single “Pursuit of Happiness” a song designed to act as an arc of humanity calling for all the people on the planet to live in peace, love and harmony. The song is also a last will and testament from Ronald Khalis Bayyan Bell who had co-written the track and was the chief composer of the “Celebration” phenomena. The song is a prelude for the new Kool & the Gang’s forthcoming album “Perfect Union” set to release in 2021 via Omnivore Recordings.

“Kool & the Gang” is one of the most influential bands in the history of music with a barrage of hits including, “Celebration”, “Jungle Boogie”, and “Ladies Night.” Considered to be the masters of funk, pop, and soul, the band’s inauguration over 50 years ago has earned them multiple Grammy and American Music Awards, as well as the respect of generations of musicians and recording artists who incorporated their influence into their own music. Their music belongs to and is enjoyed by the entire human race....

I spoke with Robert “Kool” Bell regarding the group’s new song, the tragic death of his brother and peace on earth...

So tell me how you became inspired to do the “Pursuit of Happiness” and what does the pursuit of happiness mean to you?

Well, let me start off with the “Pursuit of Happiness” was one of the last songs my brother wrote before he passed. He passed almost 8 weeks ago, and it was part of the constitution. As you know when Biden was nominated he played “Celebration.” He also at his speech spoke about the “Pursuit of Happiness” which is a part of The Constitution. That’s what my brother came up with before he passed. He passed right after that. So that’s what this song is all about. “The Perfect Union”, the “Pursuit of Happiness”, living together around the world, the pursuit of happiness because the hope of the song is world peace. Now my pursuit of happiness, I would like to see one day that we do have world peace around the world.

And you plan to follow this with a new album release?

The album is going to be called “Perfect Union,” and it will be coming out the first quarter of the new year.

“Kool and the Gang” is one of the most influential music groups ever, so you have been around for a while. Have you had your ultimate stage fantasy?

We are celebrating 50 years of being “Kool and the Gang, and 40 years of the song “Celebration.” There have been many ultimate shows around the world, but we’ve been blessed to be around for over 50 years. There were some spots for example we played with Elton John in London. Another would surprise a lot of people. We did 48 shows with Van Halen. I lost my brother Eddie Van Halen who passed away a couple weeks ago. That was a tough one for us. We were on the road for 48 shows.

That had to be an interesting musical combination.

Yeah, a lot of people were wondering Kool and the Gang and Van Halen? David Lee Roth saw us in London at the Glastonbury Festival. That’s a big one. He called up Alex and Eddie and said, “I’ve got the perfect group to tour with us”, and it was a big celebration of them coming back together. They thought Kool and the Gang? What are you thinking? He said “listen, I just saw those guys rock Glastonbury and I want them on the show.” He told me that we were more

than an opening act, that we were a support act. He told me that back in the day he used to play our songs in the clubs. He said “the center of my audience are ladies and you wrote the song “Ladies Night”, and of course you have “Celebration.” He said, “Kool, let’s go out and have a party...a big party.”

That had to be some huge party. Can you recall a moment that changed the trajectory of your life?

I would say probably in the mid 70s when we came out with “Jungle Boogie”, the funky stuff. The record Company was putting pressure on us. They wanted us to meet with the producer to work on our next album. We met with the producer once and we just weren’t feeling that. So,we went to the rehearsal studio in downtown New York. We went there at 8 o’clock in the morning and we just jammed. So by midnight we had ”Hollywood Swinging”, “Jungle Boogie” and “Funky Stuff.” There was no problem from the record company after that.

If you would’ve had the technology that we have today, when you recorded back then, would you have done anything differently?

No. In The latter part my brother was a major producer and he did use some of the modern technology, a drum machine here and there. In the hip-hop world they sampled what we did back then. We are told that we are one of the most sampled groups out there in the industry. James Brown turned around and said, “Kool and the Gang is number 2, I’m number 1.” We didn’t want to have any problems with the godfather so we agreed.

I love it.

I have a saying, “You live and learn and you learn to live.” It kind of gave us insight to where we are today. The blessing is that we are still out here.

Totally. Back when you heard your first hit on the radio do you remember what your reaction was?

Oh yeah... You’re talking about back in 1968 or 69. Our first record was called “Kool and the Gang.” We introduced ourselves to the industry as “Kool and the Gang.” Our album was called “Kool and the Gang.” We started out as the Jazziacs and then we changed it to The Soul Town Band. Then we changed it to Kool & the Flames and when we met our first manager he said we can’t use Kool & the Flames because James Brown began his career with Famous Flames. We didn’t wanna have any problems with the godfather so we changed the name to “Kool & the Gang.” When the record came out I said “ that’s us.” Everyone thought we were a Spanish band because of the horns but we were very proud of ourselves on the radio.

How does it feel to know that every single wedding on the planet, every single sweet 16, every single bar mitzvah, plays “Celebration” at the party?

I’ll tell you, it’s a great feeling because we didn’t know that “Celebration” was going to become the record that it has become. “Celebration” came about because of my brother who just passed. We had just won an American Music Award for “Ladies Night.” We decided to celebrate when my brother said, “that’s another song.” He wrote the track and played it and it had a down home Alabama rocking feel, but he never thought it would ever become what it became.

Well, there probably isn’t a soul on the planet that doesn’t know the song. When you tour you always play that, I bet?

We can’t get around it. We have to do it. Only one time we didn’t do it and it was in Tampa Florida. The Pittsburgh Steelers were playing the Cardinals and we were contracted to play for the Cardinals after party. The Cardinals lost. The owner came to us and said, “Please don’t play Celebration.”

I understand that you also have your very own champagne? Yeah, this is the second year we’ve been pushing it. It’s slowed up because of COVID-19. I was touring in Europe a couple of years ago. We were playing in France. The promoter came up to me and told me that he had just done a champagne with the late Barry White and also with the Bee Gees. He asked if we wanted to do something like that for

our tour. I told him that I really didn’t think my fans would want to buy a bottle of champagne at my concert. They like T-shirts, posters and things like that. I told him what I really wanted to do was have some on the shelf where they could reach out. So, I came up with this idea for a name, “Le Kool” champagne. The reason I wanted to call it “Le Kool” champagne was because I wanted it to come from Europe, from France. They have Dom Perry on Dom Perignon, etc, etc. And that’s how it started. I’m just hoping that things are starting to happen with “Le Kool” champagne.

If you could have me ask you any question on the planet what would you want me to ask you?

Well.....how does it feel to be in the music business? My answer would be again, ”Living and Learning and Learning and Living”, and understand what this business is all about. When you’re young you’re having fun. When you get older, you’ll understand when you get to know about publishing, and writing, and getting yourself a good lawyer and you have to pay your taxes. There’s so many things that you have to understand. You get to the point where you understand it’s the music business as well as the music. We try to keep our own identity, our own sound, at the same time we had problems, our own ups and downs. I said you live and learn, you learn and live. Sometimes you don’t get the right lawyer, sometimes you don’t understand what you’re supposed to be doing for example with copyrights. But we have accomplished that now. many years later but.....

Is there anything else that you want to discuss they we haven’t talked about yet?

I’ve got the “Kool Kids Foundation” that my wife came up with several years ago. My wife passed 2 years ago. She wanted to deal with the music in schools. She wanted to make sure kids got a good music education and that was part of the Kool Kids Foundation. We did a tour called “Its Kool to Stay in School.”, and the whole thing was about pushing education. The other thing is we’re doing a project with Dusty Baker which is a solar energy project that we are pushing in Africa and we wanted to do it, so I called it “Power” concerts where the concert is powered by solar energy.

That’s brilliant.

When things get better in the world, we want to push the whole solar energy concept and do those “Power” concerts in Africa which will be powered by solar energy.

Many artists during this pandemic say that it’s been a creative time for them, what is your viewpoint?

Right now, we’re dealing with social media and we’re talking to the world through podcasts etc. A lot of people are home. Even radio stations are not even at the station sometimes. It’s kind of different, but in a way it’s more loose. Usually a radio station would only give you 10 minutes in between commercials for Burger King. Of course, you want to be on the road again and your fans want you out there. Hopefully things will get better in 2021 and will be out there on the road again.

What would you say to your fans right now?

I’d like to thank my fans for supporting “Kool & the Gang” for so many years through our ups and our downs. We thank you and we are looking forward to seeing you guys again hopefully in 2021.