Soul Music News
R.I.P. Kool & the Gang Founder Ronald Bell, Dead at 68
Ronald Bell, co-founder of the R&B, soul, and funk group Kool & the Gang, has died at the age of 68. According to Universal Music, Bell passed away suddenly early Wednesday morning (Sept. 9th) at his home in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The two-time Grammy Award-winning Kool & the Gang was formed in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1964 by Ronald “Khalis” Bell, his brother Robert “Kool” Bell, Dennis “D.T.” Thomas, Robert “Spike” Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown, and Ricky West. Over the course of their five-decade career, the group has sold over 70 million albums worldwide and achieved 12 top ten singles in the US. Their songs filled the radio airwaves throughout the 1970s and ’80s, in addition to soundtracks for films like Rocky, Saturday Night Fever, and Pulp Fiction. Ronald is cre...
