Ravinia 2026 Issue 5

e music was there. ey simply needed a name. “We started as e Jazziacs, and then the name was changed to the Soul Town Band,” remembers Bell. “ en, we changed it to Kool & the Flames, but we changed that because there was already James Brown and e Famous Flames, and we didn’t want to have any problem with ‘ e Godfather.’ ” Bell laughs out loud, a hearty laugh that hints at the joy of those early days. “In our live production, you will see a picture of them,” he says of the original members of Kool & the Gang. “We had a history with songs like ‘Jungle Boogie,’ ‘Funky Stu ,’ and ‘Hollywood Swinging,’ which ended up being our rst num- ber-one on the R&B charts.” But the success story of Kool & the Gang truly came into focus with the ad- dition of James “JT” Taylor, who joined the band in and stood alongside Bell and the boys during the days of massive hits such as “Get Down On It,” “Joanna,” “Cherish,” and the iconic number-one hit “Celebration.” When talking about “Celebration,” iconic may be an understatement. Re- leased in , the song reached the top of Billboard ’s Hot , spent six weeks leading the R&B chart, and has since been selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Record- ing Registry. “We did that together,” says Bell, who says he talks to Taylor “o and on” these days. “We did the ’ s together.” Certainly, no one can speak of the ’ s without a mention of the Kool & the Gang classic “Ladies Night,” one of the many songs in the band’s repertoire that have seemingly lived on farther and further than they probably were ever intended to be. “I came up with the title, and JT, my brother Ronald, and George Brown put the whole song together,” remembers Bell. ose timeless hits—and many more—will ll the summer air at Ravin- ia on August when Kool & the Gang take the brand-new Hunter Pavilion’s stage alongside special guests Morris Day and e Time and ConFunkShun. And while Bell nds himself contin- ually doing his best to “push the group” into the future, he also has a number of his own side ventures. “I’m doing a musical now called Be Kool ,” he says. “I have Le Kool Champagne. And I have the Kool Kids Foundation, which tries to bring music back into the schools.” Make no mistake—Bell likes being busy. “When you get to be my age, you sit around and if you don’t stay busy, you’ll just waste away,” he says. “I don’t be walking around with no cane and all that stu . I’m still red up, and I stay en- ergetic by doing all the things, because I’ve got so many projects that I’m doing now. at keeps me young.” Others are far quicker to celebrate Bell’s in uence than Bell himself. “I don’t feel like I’m a legend, but maybe I am,” he says with a laugh. “Bruno Mars said, ‘Man, you my favorite bass player’—and a lot of other people said—because I’m basic. I’m not fancy. I stay with the group, and I work with the drummer. I’m not a bass player that’s all over the place. I’m right there with the groove.” And when it comes right down to it, he wouldn’t really want to go back. “In terms of a time machine, everything that has happened was meant to happen,” he concludes. “ e good, the bad, ups and the downs in this business. You think you have made it and then you haven’t. But you can’t give up. I’m still here. e band is still known around the world. Life is good.” Tricia Despres is a Chicago-area freelance entertainment writer whose work has appeared in the Chicago Sun- Times , Taste of Country , People , and numerous local, regional, and national publications. X: @CHIWriter Kool & the Gang at the Hampton Court Palace Festival in 2023 RAVINIAMAGAZINE • AUGUST 24 – SEPTEMBER 6 , 2026 8 PREVIOUS SPREAD: NANCY DAGATA;THIS PAGE: JOSHUAATKINS