KC and the Sunshine Band are celebrating their 50th anniversary as a band with the release of 23. remixes of their new single “I Get To Love You (Original Club Mix Radio).” Written and produced by frontman and founder Harry Wayne Casey (KC) and Lewis Martineé (DJ Lewis Martineé), “I Get To Love You” delivers an all-night dance party all year long. I’m on a high / I’m living life, sings Casey through the nu disco-dipped single.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been 50 years,” Casey tells American Songwriter, reflecting on his five decades with KC and the Sunshine Band. “‘I Get To Love You’ was born out of a desire to create something that captures the joy and vibrancy of life.”
KC and The Sunshine Band broke out in the early 1970s with their 1974 debut Do It Good, and became one of the biggest disco and funk bands selling more than 100 million records worldwide with No. 1 hits, including “Get Down Tonight” from 1975, along with “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty,” “I’m Your Boogie Man,” “That’s the Way (I Like It),” and more.
In 1979, KC and the Sunshine Band won a Grammy for Album of the Year in 1979 for their contribution to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, “Boogie Shoes,” and became the first acts to earn four No. 1 pop hits within a year since th Beatles in 1964.
Videos by American Songwriter
On the collaboration with Martineé, Casey adds, “It has been a fun collaboration, and hopefully, we will do some more.”
Martineé broke out in 1987 after writing and producing Exposé’s freestyle hit, “Seasons Change,” which went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Along with his contributions to the freestyle movement during the ’80s, Martineé also wrote, produced, and remixed tracks for Celine Dion, Pet Shop Boys, Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias, Vanessa Williams, and Dead or Alive, among others.
Along with the release of remixes, Casey has produced the upcoming musical Who Do Ya Love which debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland on July 31. The musical is inspired by Casey’s early years at the start of his journey with KC and The Sunshine Band and the band’s rise throughout the disco era.
Developed with Casey and written by J. F. Lawton (Pretty Woman, Under Siege), the musical features more than 20 of the band’s most iconic hits including “Give It Up,” “That’s The Way (I Like It)” and “Get Down Tonight,” performed by a cast of eight, including Paige Fenlon (Pretty Woman: The Musical) and Fionán O’Carroll (The Rocky Horror Show, Urinetown).
KC and the Sunshine Band have released more than 30 albums through Feeling You! The 60’s and A Sunshine Christmas in 2015.
Photo: Larry Marano / Courtesy of Adkins Entertainment
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.