Earth, Wind & Fire is an African American R&B band formed in Chicago,
Illinois, in 1969 and led by founder Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the
Elements or the Elements of the Universe, the band has won 10 Grammy Awards and
four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. Having sold over 90 million
albums worldwide has earned them a place on the list of best-selling music
artists, ranked as the seventh best-selling American band of all time.
Rolling Stone has described them as ?innovative, precise yet sensual,
calculated yet galvanizing? and has also declared that the band ?changed the
sound of black pop?.
The band?s music contains elements of African, Latin American, funk, soul,
pop and rock music, jazz and other genres, as well.
Billed as The Original Earth, Wind & Fire, the band is having a
concert at the PICC Reception Hall on Dec. 5.
Listed as EWF members are Maurice White, Philip Bailey, Ralph Johnson, John
Paris, B. David Whitworth, Greg ?G-Mo? Moore, Gary Bias, Bobby Burns Jr.,
Krystal Bailey, Kim Johnson, Reggie Young and Verdine White, the vocalist with
whom Funfare had an exclusive phone interview.
Excerpts:
Why do you call yourselves The Original Earth, Wind & Fire?
?That?s what we are, The Original, and that?s what everybody calls us. Other
people would call us The Fire for short. It?s a great name, isn?t it??