- published: 05 Feb 2016
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Harry Wayne "K.C." Casey (born January 31, 1951) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and producer. He is most famous for his group, KC and the Sunshine Band, and as a producer of several hits for other artists.
Born in Opa-Locka, Florida, to an Irish-American father and an Italian-American mother, Casey became interested in music at an early age. As a teenager he played and sang with several local bands and played piano at the Pentecostal church his family attended. He also attended Hialeah High School in Hialeah, Florida, that is where Casey further developed his music talent. He studied music at Miami-Dade Community College and worked part-time in a record store. KC noticed that often customers would come in not remembering the titles of the records they wanted, and the store would lose the sale — this is the reason so many of his songs repeat their titles over and over.
While working at the record store, Casey often made deliveries to the headquarters of TK Records in Hialeah, and spent so much time visiting the studio that he was eventually hired to work in the warehouse. On August 12, 1973, Casey signed a contract with TK and formed KC and the Sunshine Junkanoo Band, using other recording artists at the studio for backgrounds and instrumentation. The Miami Junkanoo Band was a local group brought in to perform on the record. Casey played electric piano and sang lead with the group. As the second single, "Sound Your Funky Horn", was released, the group's name was finalized as KC and the Sunshine Band. Casey brought in Richard Finch's musical talents and their production team (also the only white members of the group) was initiated. In 1974, they had their first Number One hit as songwriters with George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby." Casey and Finch also wrote and produced songs for Betty Wright and Jimmy "Bo" Horne.
KC and the Sunshine Band is an American musical group. Founded in 1973 in Miami, Florida, their style has included funk, R&B, and disco. Their most well known songs include the disco hits "That's the Way (I Like It)", "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty", "I'm Your Boogie Man", "Keep It Comin' Love", "Get Down Tonight", "Give It Up", and "Please Don't Go". They took their name from lead vocalist Harry Wayne Casey's last name ("KC") and the "Sunshine Band" from KC's home state of Florida ('The Sunshine State').
The group was formed in 1973 by Harry Wayne Casey (KC), a record store employee and part-timer at TK Records in Miami. KC originally called the band KC & The Sunshine Junkanoo Band, as he used studio musicians from TK and a local Junkanoo band called the Miami Junkanoo Band. He was then introduced to Richard Finch, who was doing engineering work on records for TK. This was the beginning of the Casey-Finch musical collaboration. The initial members were just Casey and Finch, but they soon added guitarist Jerome Smith (June 18, 1953 - July 28, 2000) and drummer Robert Johnson, both TK studio musicians.