KC & the Sunshine Band

KC & the Sunshine Band
a.k.a. KC & The Sunshine Band With Silver Convention

THE BOOGIE MAN

After 25 Years, H.W. Casey Is Still Getting Down
In 1975, Harry Wayne Casey became the first white singer to reach No. 1 on both the pop and R&B charts. The song was "Get Down Tonight" by K.C & the Sunshine Band, and it helped launch a dance-music revolution. Today, coming up on 25 years after the Sunshine band first got down on the pop charts, H.W. Casey and company are being celebrated on Rhino's wonderful 25th ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION, and Casey is set to release a solo album, YUMMY. In conversation with barnesandnoble.com's Jon Dolan, Casey reflected on his music, its legacy, and the era that bore it.

barnesandnoble.com: As you've matured and grown, have you found it increasingly difficult to "shake your booty" like you used to?

Harry Wayne Casey: Actually, I've found it easier, because I have matured and grown. The first time around, so much is coming at you at one time, you don't have time to put things in perspective. When you get older and start doing it, you can kind of learn to separate things, accept things, and know why they're happening.

bn: So the song has a philosophical connotation?

HWC: Oh, yeah. "Shake Your Booty" has more meaning than people realized. It was a song about building people's confidence, telling them to get out there and shake your ass. "If you feel like doing it, shake it. Don't worry about what someone else says. You are the best in the world. I know it, you should know it." Go back and listen to it, listen to the words.

bn: What kind of music were you into as you and Rick Finch were sculpting the KC sound?

HWC: The Motown sound, the Stax sound. That's what I grew up listening to, that's what was hot at the time. There were groups like Three Dog Night that I really liked, their vocal harmonies and stuff. I liked Joe Cocker and Leon Russell and that whole bunch. Anything that has keyboards, horns, percussion, I was like, "Yeah, gimme more!"

bn: What kind of music do you like now?

HWC: I always listen to everything. I love Shania Twain, I love the Backstreet Boys, I love Matchbox 20. You know, whoever's the hottest flavor of the month. The kind of music I like is rhythm and blues. There hasn't been a lot of rhythm-and-blues music lately, because most of it is rap music, which I can't really call music, because it doesn't have a melody -- not to put it down, because I've been sampled, and I love some of it. My favorite song right now is the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way." The words [sings a few] -- there's something infectious about it.

bn: Did you ever imagine that your music would be so huge?

HWC: Ya know, I always had this feeling I was gonna be successful. That's why I kinda goofed off in school, because I knew I wasn't gonna be a doctor or a lawyer. Something was always in the back of my head saying, "I've already got your destination planned out, buddy. Your future's already planned." When we were recording those songs you could feel this aura, as if some big hand or some type of spirit was over that room taking control of it, and you could feel this oneness, an out-of-body experience type of thing. It's always been hard for me to explain, and I really haven't talked about it to that many people.

bn: Why do you think your music has endured so well?

HWC: Because for the people who lived in that era, it was an era of real music, of what freedom is about in America. I think the memories that period draws up for people -- which are so happy -- have inspired the kids in the new generation, who, in looking for that same thing, found the '70s. There's so much darkness out there today, with kids afraid to go to school -- we didn't worry about these things in the '70s; we didn't even worry about who we had sex with. The last part of the '70s was kind of a culmination of what the '60s was all about. Everything the '60s preached, peace and love and all that kind of stuff -- finally, people let go in the '70s and showed more love to everyone. The whole latter part of the '70s was a celebration, though some people did a little over-celebrating&.

bn: Did you do any over-celebrating?

HWC: I didn't really have time. I did my over-celebrating in the '80s.