KC and the Sunshine Band- How it all Began
1974
It all started in 1974, when I was 14 years old. I was really into soul and funk rather than mainstream pop. I used to find all the soul programmes I could on the radio, and listen to the DJ's most likely to play soul. Some time during the summer of 1974, I heard a track called "Sound Your Funky Horn" (only the first time I heard it I thought the DJ said "Ride your Funky Horse!!") and I LOVED it. Later that summer "Queen of Clubs" was released and I loved that too. That made it on to mainstream radio (Radio One and IIRC Radio Luxembourg as well) playlists and it was a hit in the UK. The band of course were KC and the Sunshine Band. And they were destined to become my favourites for several years.
I remember there being a clip of film of KC and the Sunshine Band performing "Queen of Clubs" in about August time on Top of the Pops, and the first time I saw KC he didn't immediately steal my little teeny heart. I do remember him dancing though, swinging his hips and the camera zooming in... and my mum saying in disgust "What do we want a close up of that bit of his anatomy for?"!! (Answers on a post card to... )
Hold that page... look.... first a tiny still from that film..
and then thanks to You Tube...
I'll keep an eye on that link as things do come and go on YouTube, but this video is usually there uploaded by someone.
On the back of the success of "Queen of Clubs", "Funky Horn" was reissued and I was delighted because I loved it. It still is one of my fave KCSB songs 30 years later. In fact I still have my crackly old 45 of it on the Jayboy label. Singles cost about 45p in 1974. A whole weeks pocket money! A tour was hastily arranged and the band arrived in the UK for their first gigs. It was a bit of a whistle stop tour, I think they did two shows some nights. I hope to track down the tour schedule. KC went down with appendicitis the day before flying over here, I can remember Rick Finch saying in an interview in one of the music papers at the time "He was dying on his feet".
(5th August 2004) I now have the tour dates for that first tour. In fact the first set of dates had to be cancelled due to KC's appendix operation just before they were due to come over here. So a second tour was arranged. I will put both sets of dates on here. And I have also got a vinatge picture taken somewhere on the 74 tour, which was in one of the UK music papers at the time. The quality isn't brilliant, but I am so pleased to have it. I don't think I even had this in the 70's.
KC and the horn section on the first tour of the UK. I think it was only a 2 man horn section on that first tour.
Tour dates for the 1974 tour of the UK
On Thur 31st Oct 1974, KC and the Sunshine Band were on Top of the Pops performing "Funky Horn". It was a studio performance this time (I keep hoping it will be played on TOTP2 sometime, maybe I am not sending enough begging letters to the BBC to feature it!!). By the end of the performance, I had fallen for KC. My teenage heart was won over. For the next three years he was my heart-throb, until I had my first serious relationship.
I didn't get to see KC in concert on that first tour, but a girl at school, Jo Andrews did. (Jo- if you see this- email me!). She saw them at the legendary California Ballroom in Dunstable, Beds, where all the soul acts on tour seemed to play. She said they were brilliant and I guess I might have been just a teeny little bit jealous. In fact I probably gave the poor girl ear-ache asking for a blow by blow account of the show!
I can remember getting my first ever picture of KC as well. My friend Julie used to buy some of the music papers, and she remembered having seen a picture of him in one of them. She said I could have it. (Didn't we all do that, trade pictures of our favourites?). I remember she forgot to bring it to school the day she said she would, but I think I was going round to her house that weekend anyway and she gave it to me then. It was a tiny picture, about 2" wide by 3" down, black and white and was probably taken at the bands first photoshoot. I have actually tracked down a copy of it taken from a record sleeve but whether I can actually feature it here depends on my paintshop pro skills! I covered it with sticky tape to preserve it and it used to come everywhere with me, even in my school pencil case! OK, here it is. I am afraid this is a VERY bad copy and I have done what I can to make it better! Maybe I will actually track down a copy of this one day.
My first picture of KC
And here is a better copy, it was just KC from this photo
On Thur 5th December 1974 the performance of "Sound your Funky Horn" was repeated on "Top of the Pops". I can remember still how excited I was about it! I had been ill the night before so had to have the day off school and I can remember listening to the radio all day and counting down the hours until TOTP time. When the time finally came I think I had to wait until about half way through the programme before KC and the Sunshine Band came on. All the performances before that seemed to last for hours instead of minutes. But the time finally came and 3 minutes of rapture followed. We only had a black and white telly then too! I do have a picture of KC from that performance on an album cover- watch for a scan!
My Christmas present from my parents in 1974 was the bands first album, "Do It Good". I still have that original copy. It crackles a bit now and the sleeve is a bit worn, but I am so glad I kept it! It was eventually released on CD by EMI in Europe so I have a CD of it. But my original record is very precious. I still love that album now."All My Love" was always my favourite track. I remember my one disappointment being that there was no picture of the band on the cover. I have taken some photos of all my original KC albums so scan to follow!
There is nothing quite like a teen crush. The excitement of scanning all the likely magazines and music papers for information and cuttings. And pictures, in fact especially pictures. KC was never a really big teen idol here like he was in the USA, so there were no colour pinups, no "96 things you never knew about KC" type articles. He was featured fairly regularly in the Soul press ("Black Echoes", a weekly music paper, "Blues and Soul" a magazine which varied between being bi-weekly and monthly, and "Black Music", a monthly magazine). "Record Mirror" also used to carry news items. I used to have that and "Black Echoes" delivered by the newsagent every week. It was only in the latter stages of my teen affair that I found a friend who had loads of US penpals, and who used to send me KC cuttings via them. A whole new world was opened up. Colour pictures!! Personality type features rather than music orientated ones. I think my cuttings collection doubled in a few weeks in the summer of 1977. What a shame it happened right near the end of the span of my teen interest. And what a clot I was not to keep it all as well!
I hope to track down some record/concert reviews and I think there might even have been an interview in "Record Mirror" in 1974, which I will add if I can find them. (Probably a day in the British Library!)
Watch this space.... and this will get more interesting as I add pretty pictures and things!
Last update 4th Feb2008 by Jackie Hewitt