Robert Bell has been in the music business for decades, and he has no plans of stopping anytime soon.
The Kool & the Gang co-founder recently spoke with Military.com about his life and career that began in the 1960s, the most influential tracks that have stood the test of time, and his plans to keep the tunes rolling for America250. He is the only remaining member of the original seven.
He is among numerous other musical acts performing July 3 to kick off the anticipated holiday weekend celebrating the United States’ 250th birthday. The Friday show, titled “A CAPITOL FOURTH: 250th WEEKEND CELEBRATION,” is a special edition of the beloved annual holiday tradition that is in its 46th year.
It will be broadcast live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building and include stirring tributes in addition to fireworks set off from George Washington’s iconic home Mount Vernon!
Aside from Kool & the Gang, performers and speakers include the following:
- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame-inducted band Chicago.
- Tony Award-winning actor Joe Mantegna.
- Multi-platinum country musician Trace Adkins.
- Grammy Award-winning Patti LaBelle.
- Award-winning country star Carly Pearce.
- Award-winning, multi-platinum selling Country Music Hall of Fame member Alan Jackson from Nashville’s famed Ryman Auditorium.
- The cast of the Tony Award-nominated Broadway hit musical Just In Time starring Matthew Magnusson, Olivia Holt and Carrie St. Louis.
- Two-time Grammy Award-winning international soprano Angel Blue.
- The National Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of top pops conductor Jack Everly.
The event, hosted by Alfonso Ribiero, also includes a salute from Emmy Award-winning actor Gary Sinise to the groundbreaking Artemis II mission and crew that includes the astronauts Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen.
There will also be a tribute to Team USA’s Olympic athletes, featuring Olympians and Paralympians who competed at the Winter games, with a musical salute from the National Symphony Orchestra to America’s Milano-Cortina athletes in addition to a look-ahead to the upcoming 2028 games in Los Angeles, Calif.
Robert Bell’s Entrance into the Music Industry
Robert Bell, 75, was born in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1950 and roughly a decade later moved to Long Island, N.Y., with his mother’s sister and family.
“While we were in Youngstown, we were having a little rough time,” Bell told Military.com. “[My mother’s] sister came out to Youngstown to say, ‘Hey, you need to come back with us. So, first time to New York and New Jersey.”
While in Jersey City, Robert—who was nicknamed “Kool” due to his laid-back demeanor—and pals put together their first band, The Jazziacs, before renaming it the Soul Town Band to mimic the Motown R&B music scene that was on top of the industry at the time. They sang songs by The Temptations, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Junior Walker & the All Stars.
The Soul Town Band then turned into Cooling the Flames, although there was one problem: James Brown already had the famous The Flames.
“We didn’t want to have any problem with The Godfather, so our first producer and manager came up with Kool and the Flames,” Bell said. Now, ‘Kool’ was my nickname coming up out of Ohio. We said, ‘Well, why don’t we just change The Flames to The Gang? So, in 1969 we became Kool and the Gang. That was the beginning.”
The Hits Start Coming
The group’s self-titled debut album in 1969 featured the singles “Kool and the Gang” and “Let the Music Take Your Mind,” opening doors to a new audience and a potential career.
But it took until after the second and third albums, “Music is the Message” and “Good Times,” respectively, for the group to break through to the mainstream.
“Wild and Peaceful,” their fourth studio album, went gold and featured staples like “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swinging.” Another track on the album, “Funky Stuff,” hit the top five on the R&B charts.
Then came “Light of Worlds” which also went gold, hitting as high as No. 16 on the R&B charts and solidifying the group’s popularity. The big hit on that album was “Summer Madness,” which 16 years later received renewed attention due to an up-and-coming rapper and actor named Will Smith—who along with DJ Jazzy Jeff sampled the tune for their own hit, “Summertime.”
“‘Summer Madness,’ that was a big record,” Bell said.
The album “Open Sesame” featured a same-titled track that founds its way onto the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and further catapulted Bell and his companions on a trajectory to stardom.
“John Travolta was doing his thing on at that point,” Bell said. “We had one of the top-selling albums at that time. And then came Michael Jackson with “Thriller,” we were 20 million and he was 30 million.”
Connecting Music to the Military
Hits kept coming for Kool & the Gang. Meanwhile, their audience spread to include not just American military service members but those around the world.
“It was great. … In Europe we were able to play for the military bases; we did gigs for the German people or the French people,” Bell recalled. “You still had the American side to it because of the army bases, and then you had the fan base that became fans of Kool & the Gang. It was good, it was a great feeling.”
Bell was asked about the USO shows and how now, decades later, he is performing for 250th birthday festivities.
“I think it’s a blessing because you’re talking about celebration, you’re talking about unification, you’re talking about the various songs that we have had—like ‘Love and Understanding,” he said. “Then, you’re talking about ‘Music is the Message.’ We’re talking about the songs that we all were doing.”
It’s also a different time for Bell, who lost his group mates but has maintained others.
“Spain, we played in Romania, we played in Portugal, Russia, Africa, Asia, South America—that’s our background,” he said. “We’re getting ready to do that again, we’re getting ready to go to Sicily. That’s what we do. I think that’s what built us, kept us strong, that we still live on.
“I lost six of my seven members. I’m the seventh one, the only one that’s still living. We call ourselves the ‘Magnificent Seven.’ Oh, my guys are gone but now we have—I call them the ‘Magnificent 10’ because some of the guys, even though my original partners all passed, guys have been with me for 30 years, 35 years, that’s still there. So, you put that back together again. Now, it’s the Magnificent 10 and we’re getting ready to play the United States of America’s 250-year celebration.”
And on the day after the big Capitol event, Bell and his “Magnificent 10” will play for a large crowd on the 4th at an Air Force base in Warner Robins, Ga., situated between Atlanta and Macon.
“That’s a great feeling because we’re doing two things: We’re celebrating 58 years of Kool & the Gang, and the United States of America,” Bell said. “This is the second time we played in front of the White House. We played in front of the White House with the symphonic orchestra and a choir. It’s not our first rodeo.”
Decades of ‘Moving Forward’
Along with the military shows came big tours and other artists sampling their songs.
Bell reminisced about touring 48 cities at one point with Van Halen, Kid Rock sampled songs many years later, and others like Elton John and Dave Matthews played to the outskirts of jazz, funk and pop.
For Bell, who has lost people close to him including his brother, Ronald, the simultaneous challenge and goal is to just keep “moving forward.” He has made his way into the champagne business, he still gets offers from promoters to play abroad with his latest musical cohorts.
Playing in different pockets of the world keeps him gratified and happy. The melding of cultures and languages keeps Bell grounded, while the music that sprouted years ago continues to be heard in live concerts, on the radio or streaming platforms, and in TV shows and movies.
Suffice it to say, the last nearly six decades have been one big “Celebration.”
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