Claydes Charles Smith

Claydes Charles Smith (September 6, 1948 – June 20, 2006) was an American musician best known as co-founder and lead guitarist of the group Kool & the Gang.

Biography

Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, he was introduced to jazz guitar by his father in the early 1960s. In the late 1960s, he joined with Ronald Bell (later Khalis Bayyan), Robert "Kool" Bell, George Brown, Dennis Thomas and Robert "Spike" Mickens to become Kool & the Gang.

Kool & the Gang blended jazz, funk, R&B, and pop. The group remained popular from the 1960s through the 1980s.

Smith stopped touring in January 2006 due to illness.

Smith's family included six children: Claydes A. Smith, Justin Smith, Aaron Corbin, August Williams, Uranus Smith-Garay, and Tyteen Humes. He died in Maplewood, New Jersey, and is buried in Westfield, New Jersey's Fairview Cemetery.

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Gang

A gang is a group of recurrently associating individuals or close friends or family with identifiable leadership and internal organization, identifying with or claiming control over territory in a community, and engaging either individually or collectively in violent or illegal behavior. Some criminal gang members are "jumped in" or have to prove their loyalty by committing acts such as theft or violence. A member of a gang may be called a gangster or a thug.

Definition

In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen. In the United Kingdom, the word is still often used in this sense, but it later underwent pejoration. In current usage, it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. The word gang often carries a negative connotation; however, within a gang which defines itself in opposition to mainstream norms, members may adopt the phrase as a statement of identity or defiance.

The word "gang" derives from the past participle of Old English gan, meaning "to go". It is cognate with Old Norse gangster, meaning "journey."

Kool & the Gang

Kool & the Gang are an American jazz, R&B, soul, funk and disco group, originally formed in 1964 as the Jazziacs based in Jersey City, New Jersey.

They went through several musical phases during their recording career, starting out with a purist jazz sound, then funk and R&B, progressing to a smooth pop-funk ensemble, and in the post-millennium creating music with a modern, electro-pop sound.

They have sold over 70 million albums worldwide.

The group's main members over the years included brothers Robert Bell (Muhammad Bayyan) on bass and Ronald Bell (Khalis Bayyan) on tenor saxophone, lead vocalist James "J.T." Taylor, George Brown on drums, Larry Gittens on trumpet, Dennis Thomas on alto saxophone, Claydes Charles Smith on guitar, and Rick West (Westfield) on keyboards.

Early success

In 1964, thirteen-year-old Robert Bell, his brother Ronald and five high-school friends formed an instrumental band called the Jazziacs. They played an opening set every Sunday at jazz night at a small theatre. They changed their name to "Kool & the Flames" in 1967, then "Kool & the Gang" in 1969 (to avoid confusion with James Brown's Famous Flames) and were signed by Gene Redd to his new record label De-Lite Records in 1969.

Charles Smith

Charles or Charlie Smith may refer to:

Academics

Arts and entertainment

List of gay men's choruses

There are Gay men's choruses in many cities, including: