Formed in 1964 in Jersey City, New Jersey, Kool & the Gang are American funk, R&B, and soul legends whose six-decade career has produced some of the most enduring dance songs in popular music history. Brothers Robert "Kool" Bell (bass) and the late Ronald Bell (saxophone, keyboards) founded the group with Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas (sax/flute), Spike Mickens (trumpet), George Brown (drums), Ricky West (keyboards), and Charles Smith (guitar). Originally known as The Jazziacs, the group cycled through several names before settling on Kool & the Gang in 1969.

They scored their commercial breakthrough with Wild and Peaceful (1973), which produced the funk classics "Jungle Boogie" and "Hollywood Swinging." Late-1970s and early-1980s singles like "Ladies' Night," "Too Hot," and the chart-topping "Celebration" (1980) — which spent two weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — turned them into one of the era's most successful crossover acts.