The Story of Maurice White and Earth Wind and Fire

The reason I decided to prepared my paper on Maurice White, the founder of Earth Wind and Fire is because of the fond memories that I have listening to my parents music. Music from the parents era is very different from the music of today. Music from that era was more love oriented, rhythmic and rich in science of music and musical arrangements. Artists my parents are fond of consists of music from such groups as the Four Tops, the Dells, the Dramatics, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, the Chi-Lites and Stylistics. They also list Junior Walker and the All-stars, Al Jaureau, and Ronnie Laws, among others, as jazz groups. However, Earth Wind and Fire’s sound is unique and quite different from all other groups of that era.
In the early 1970s, a new brand of pop music was born - one that was steeped in African and African-American styles - particularly jazz and Rhythm and Blues (R&B) but appealed to a broader cross-section of the listening public. The musical band Earth, Wind & Fire, produced a sound that embraced traditional sounds of jazz, coupled with the popular R&B type ballads of the day and ushered in a new awareness of cosmic energy that revolutionized the music world and helped bridge the gap that has often separated the musical tastes of black and white America.
During this period of time in our history, America was bogged down with the morality of the Viet Nam War, coming out of a decade of experimentation, mind expansion and cosmic awareness. It was a very enlightening period in time in which Marvin Gaye asked the question, in his most popular single, “What’s Going On?”
The credit for the formation of the group belongs to Maurice White. Maurice White was born December 19, 1941, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was immersed in a rich musical culture that spanned the boundaries between jazz, gospel, R&B, blues and early rock. At age six, he began singing in his church's gospel choir but soon his interest turned to percussion. He began working