Top 10 KC & The Sunshine Band Hits from TK Records
KC and The Sunshine Band are one of the world’s most popular musical groups. With a song on the Saturday Night Fever movie soundtrack (“Boogie Shoes”), 10 Grammy nominations, 3 Grammy awards for its writers, and the unstoppable rhythm of “That’s The Way I Like It,” “Shake Shake Shake (Shake Your Booty),” “I’m Your Boogie Man,” “Boogie Shoes,” “Keep It Comin Love,” and “Please Don’t Go,” to name a few, their music has been global since the 1970’s.
They earned five Billboard #1 pop singles, and were the first band since The Beatles to score four #1 pop hits in a 12 month period.
See KC & The Sunshine Band’s Chart History on BILLBOARD.com
The group was born in Hialeah, FL from the combination of T.K. Production’s powerhouse label owner Henry Stone’s industry moves, the open-door policy that kept his company full of Miami’s most talented musicians, namely The Ocean Liners band; the teamwork between young engineer and bass player Rick Finch, and keyboard playing band leader Harry Wayne Casey (KC for short), guitar player Jerome Smith, drummer Robert Johnson, percussionist Fermin Goytisolo, and the influence of Caribbean rhythms on dancey, bass heavy American R&B.
The band’s famous horn section, dancers, congas, and rhythm section made up of the best local players on the scene locked their sound into the beat of history.
Here are KC & The Sunshine Band’s Top 10 Hits on Henry Stone’s TK Records.
10. Please Don’t Go
In 1980, this ballad was a worldwide hit and sold tons of copies. Amazingly, it was a Billboard #1 when T.K. Records went bankrupt thanks to banks and creditors reacting to the anti-disco backlash that closed out the 1970s. This was the first #1 Billboard pop hit of the 1980s, and Henry Stone’s last time to get there. Still a classic today.
9. Keep It Comin Love
You may have heard this song in the soundtrack to the movies Howard Stern’s Private Parts (1997), Blow (2001), Inside Deep Throat (2005), Wedding Crashers (2005), and Freak Out (2006). The track was very popular thanks to its driving beat and sexual double entendres.
8. Queen Of Clubs
It was a number one record in the UK. The band supported it out there playing 2 or 3 shows a night. Steve Alaimo took the group out there. And it was recorded before all the big #1 pop hits.
7. Sound Your Funky Horn
This was one of the early recordings too before the big hits. KC and his little junkanoo band played it at one of Clarence Reid’s weddings. Not too many people know about it, but it’s a good little record. It came out on Jay Boy Records in the UK. Clarence Reid co-wrote it with KC.
6. That’s The Way I Like It
This single from KC & The Sunshine Band’s second album is one of only a few pop hits in history to go #1 on the charts in non consecutive weeks. At the time it was released some people considered it risky for radio due to the subject matter suggested by the lyrics. It went #1 from the USA to Norway to the UK.
5. Shotgun Shuffle
This song is remarkable for being an instrumental radio hit. It came out in 1975 and quickly became a smash on dance floors and then airwaves across America.
4. I’m Your Boogie Man
This classic track appears on the soundtracks to Roll Bounce, The Watchmen, Superbad, and all five Scary Movie films. It’s from the band’s third album, 1976’s aptly titled Part 3. The track has even been covered by White Zombie for The Crow: City of Angels soundtrack.
3. Shake Your Booty
This was the first #1 pop hit to receive mainstream radio play for a song with the word “booty” in it. Due to the controversial nature of the word, and its perception as having a sexual connotation, there were naysayers within the TK ranks who said it would never be a hit. Henry Stone refused to listen, decided it would be a smash, and promoted it as a single which successfully topped charts around the world in 1976. It changed the face of modern dance music and is still incredibly influential today.
2. Boogie Shoes
Ever since hitting it huge on the soundtrack to the Hollywood disco classic Saturday Night Fever in 1977, “Boogie Shoes” has been a timeless and unforgettable song. That album initially shipped 15 million copies, and spent 18 weeks as the number 1 album on the pop charts. It can be originally heard on the band’s self titled second album from 1975 as well as the movies No Escape (1994), Mallrats (1995), Boogie Nights (1997), Detroit Rock City (1999), and The Wedding Date (2005). Miami rapper Trick Daddy sampled it for his song “Take It To Da House.”
1. Get Down Tonight
“Do a little dance. Make a little love. Get down tonight! Get down tonight!” This was the first of KC & The Sunshine Band’s 5 songs to go number 1 on the pop charts. It has appeared in the movies Sid and Nancy (1986), Forrest Gump (1994), Rush Hour (1998), Deuce Bigalow Male Gigalo (1999), and Arlington Road (1999). The track inspired the Beyonce Knowles song in the Mike Myers film Austin Powers: Goldmember. It also plays in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002). It is noted for its very distinctive opening made by playing a guitar solo at 200% speed over a normal speed guitar track.
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