KC in 2015: Still Bringing Sunshine to Your Day
It seems hard to believe that it was 40 years ago this year that KC and the Sunshine Band scored their first #1 hit with “Get Down Tonight.” With five #1 singles in the United States and two other records that reached #1 outside of the US, the group was one of the most popular recording acts of their day. But as disco went by the wayside, some of the magic faded, and in the 1980s, Harry Wayne “KC” Casey called it quits. He eventually came out of retirement, and now, after four decades as an entertainer, he’s still singing the songs that epitomized the happy-go-lucky, live-for-today mindset of the ’70s — but he’s offering up a few new twists on some old standards, too. We caught up with KC and asked about those hits that made him famous, as well as his forthcoming album of ’60s covers called Feeling You! The ’60s.
REBEAT: Tell me a little bit about how you first got started in the business. I read that you worked in a record store and worked for T.K. Records when you were in your early 20s, and that somehow that eventually led to all the fame that came afterwards. What’s the back story?
KC: I started in retail and ended up in wholesale and was doing everything that I could to work with promotions and that sort of thing, and the place I ended up happened to have a recording studio in the back of the building. I had access to that studio, I was interested in music, and before you know it, I was doing different things around the studio and so on. But it wasn’t overnight; I was there five years before I had any major success. I got there in 1969 or ’70 and it wasn’t until ’74 or ’75 that I had a major hit record.
Speaking of that, I understand that your first #1 hit was actually a song you wrote for someone else — George McRae. You wrote and produced “Rock Your Baby” before you ever had a hit record of your own, didn’t you? Since that wasn’t a song you performed and had a hit with yourself, was that okay? I mean, was that a role you envisioned yourself in as opposed to being a performer?
Oh yeah, I was fine with that. I mean, I was part of a company and I co-wrote songs with people and performed on other people’s records, and I produced some for other artists before KC and the Sunshine Band, so I was just doing whatever I needed to do. It really didn’t matter to me where I was going to land there, whether it was as a songwriter or producer or artist or whatever, I was doing what I loved and enjoyed it and was having a lot of fun doing it. When I wrote “Rock Your Baby” I had already been putting together material for KC and the Sunshine Band, and honestly that song just didn’t feel like it was in the direction I wanted us to go in. It didn’t fit our group. So obviously I was happy for George McRae to have a hit with it.
I’d heard you worked with a lot of other artists. A few years ago I interviewed Archie Bell and he mentioned that he either worked with you or you were in the studio when he went to Glades after leaving Atlantic and he was working on “Dancing to Your Music” in 1973. Is that right?
Yes, I remember they did come to T.K. Studios and record some tracks, and I was semi involved with them because I did other things at the label. Of course I’d grown up in the ’60s so my influences were the Motown sound, Stax Records, the great Atlantic stuff like Aretha Franklin and the Drifters, Otis Redding — and Archie Bell and the Drells, too. All those great R&B performers. I always liked more R&B than anything else, and I grew up in a time of such great songs.
It wasn’t long after that period before your were having your own hits, and five #1 singles in the US is an incredible record, and then “Keep It Comin’ Love” was #1 in Canada and on the US R&B charts, too. Were any of those a particular favorite?
I really can’t narrow it down to one because they all mean something special to me. I don’t have one specific favorite really, but if I had to pick one it’d probably be “Get Down Tonight” because it was my first major hit and first #1 record. I love all of them though, and of course some I like are really obscure and I proably liked them but nobody else liked them.
Speaking of “Keep It Comin’ Love” and “Get Down Tonight,” I remember hearing those in high school and being struck by those double entendres. A lot of times it seems as if you were winking at the audience, as if you were saying, “You know, this might be about something else altogether.” Was that by design?
Well, I think any song can be interpreted in different ways, and I leave it up to the individual to decide what he or she thinks it means. They were really love songs and songs about being in love and all the things that go with being in in love. There was nothing really to hide; you could take them any way you wanted to take them. I want each and every one to interpret those songs the way they want to interpret them. We all do that anyway. Face it, music is the soundtrack of our life. I know sometimes I hear a song and could swear it had been written about me or my life, so my interpretation was what I thought it should mean. I think we do that when we listen to music anyway.
Well, whatever you were doing it was obviously successful, but towards the end of the ’70s, your music changed a little. “Yes I’m Ready” and “Please Don’t Go” were both more ballad-like and clearly different than the earlier records, but still successful. Why the change?
I was always trying to change because many of my peers were changing. The problem was a lot of people didn’t want me to change — they wanted the music to be exactly what I’d always done. Of course then there were those people who would say, “Well, that just sounds like KC and the Sunshine Band, like the old stuff.” How the hell….what do you want me to sound like? You know what I mean? Diana Ross sounds like Diana Ross. You hear one song she sings it sounds like her. But for some reason it seems like I was not allowed to change for whatever reason. But I wanted to, I wanted to experiment and try different things. Sometimes it worked, and I guess sometimes it didn’t work.
Based on the chart success I’d think it did work since “Please Don’t Go” went to #1 and “Yes I’m Ready” went to #2. And then in 1983 you did another great song, “Give It Up,” which had a different sound, too. Upbeat, but not really like the ’70s music. But isn’t there some kind of back story there?
I really thought it was a great record, and it had done really well in Europe and went all the way to #1 in England. I was with Epic Records by that time, and I wanted them to release it [in the US]. They wouldn’t , so I asked if I could release it myself. So they gave me $100,000 and the rights to the song, and I released it. It did well [in the US], and in fact there was some other stuff on that album that would’ve done well, I think, too, but we didn’t put it out. After that I left the label. I don’t think the way that was handled was very smart on their part. That was a great record.
You retired for a while not long after that and then came back, and you’ve been performing since. Now you’re about to release a new album in March called Feeling You! The ’60s. I’ve listened to it and there are a lot of standards on there — “You Really Got a Hold On Me,” “Both Sides Now,” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” “I Hear A Symphony,” “You Keep Me Hanging On,” and quite a few others. I was really surprised that you did “Oh How Happy” — it’s a song I like a great deal, but unlike most of the songs on the album that are very well-known, that one is a bit obscure. Great, but not as well-known as the others.
I’ve always loved that song all my life, and it was a big hit in Miami when I was growing up. I loved the happiness that song brought, and one of the things I was trying to bring out on the record is that happiness. I guess the album is semi-autobiographical in a way. How I feel about love, life, and the world a little bit. It’s just one of those songs that was very dear to me. I can’t wait to start doing that live.
When you talk about autobiographical, I have to say that when people think about your music they think about music that’s upbeat. Some of these songs
are a lot more low key. Why is that?
I was trying to show there was a little more depth to me vocally and some of these songs like “Words” or the slower version of “I Hear a Symphony” are different. I feel like the real feeling in “I Hear a Symphony” was lost in the up-tempo version. I thought it was such a tender song, and I wanted to have some tender moments on this album. Some that opened me up emotionally. I wanted to express that through my music for a change.
Another one I found interesting was “There’s Always Something There to Remind Me” because to me your version brings it back to that kind of Burt Bacharach sound it originally had in the ’60s when Lou Johnson first did it. The Naked Eyes version in the ’80s kind of moved away from that. Yours is more back to the grass roots sound.
I loved the way it turned out, too. I’m 64 years old, and when I chose this one, I was thinking of all these things, and that song is how I’m feeling now. How there’s always something to remind me of a past love. And it was just the prefect song for that.
When you perform now do you only do your old standards or do you do some of these from the new album? I mean, sometimes fans don’t want to hear anything but the old hits.
I do “Stand by Me” and “Bring It On Home” in my show, and they’ve been very well-received, and I’m excited about that. I’m looking forward to doing more of the songs live. But I throw them in at the right time and the audience really enjoys them and gets really involved with them
And the new album will be out March 10th, is that right?
Yes. It will be on iTunes and on CD. I’m really excited to have the new record coming out. It’s been in the works for two years, and it’s the first part of a two- or three-part process. I just had so much fun doing it, and I think my fans will enjoy it.
Pre-order Feeling You! The ’60s on Amazon now, and look for it in stores on March 10. For more KC and the Sunshine Band’s upcoming tour dates, check out their official website.
