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Earth, Wind and Fire music biography continued...

a music industry veteran, who named the new band after the elements in his astrological chart. Originally, Earth, Wind and Fire was comprised of Michael Beale, guitar; Leslie Drayton, horns; Wade Flemons, electric piano; Sherry Scott, vocals; Alex Thomas, horns; Chester Washington, horns; Maurice White, vocals, drums, kalimba; Verdine White, bass; Donald Whitehead, keyboards; and Phillard Williams, percussion. After a couple of albums with Warner and some key lineup changes, the group moved to the Columbia label. Their first release from Columbia, 1974's Open Your Eyes reached #15 on the album charts, but Earth, Wind and Fire's big breakthrough came the following year, after their appearance in the film That's the Way of the World. The soundtrack album from that movie, which featured their music, climbed into the Top Ten album chart, propelled by the success their Grammy-winning single, "Shining Star." They appeared in another film, Robert Stigwood's 1978 release Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and scored another Top Ten hit with their cover of the Beatles' "Got to Get You into My Life."



The disco trend made EWF true superstars; hit singles, and gold, platinum and double platinum albums became commonplace. Between 1971 and 1988, they had 38 hits on the rhythm and blues charts, all but six of which crossed over to the pop charts. Changes in the group's lineup were fairly frequent, but never affected their appeal. Their popularity enabled Earth, Wind and Fire to fill large stadiums when they toured; they used these humungous venues to their advantage by creating an innovative stage show featuring magic created by the master of illusion, Doug Henning. Earth, Wind and Fire's influence on the sound of popular music was evident in their career retrospective, The Eternal Dance, released in 1992. One music critic called it: "Some of the most fluent, centered and elastic pop music ever recorded. Its influence is everywhere." EWF continued to release hit songs and perform with different musical collaborators throughout the nineties and well into the millennium, proving once and for all that great talent is timeless.