Do you remember the 21st day of September?
You will now.
CBS and the Recording Academy are putting on a live two hour special celebrating Earth Wind & Fire on September 21st.
Of course, that lines up with EWF’s probably most famous song, “September.”
Stevie Wonder, Jonas Brothers, Jon Batiste, and Janelle Monáe are among the artists set to make special appearances on the stage at the Hollywood Bowl.
They should really get Mariah Carey, who appropriated several of their songs for own records.
EW&F was originally composed of brothers Maurice White — the genius songwriter — and his brother, Verdine, a celebrated bass player who runs the show since Maurice’s death. The other main members are star vocalist Philip Bailey and the legendary Ralph Johnson.
The group released albums first on Warner Bros and then Columbia Records, where Clive David championed them. After a series of R&B hits, they broke out in 1975 with “That’s the Way of the World,” which featured the title track and “Shining Star,” which was number 1 for weeks.gon
After that EWF racked up hit after hit including “Let’s Groove,” and “After the Love Has Gone,” “Boogie Wonderland,” and “Fantasy,” which Mariah helped herself to as if — to paraphrase what Maurice once said to me — she was not just sampling but taking the whole buffet.
What a show this will be! No one deserves it more.
CBS and the Recording Academy are also giving Cyndi Lauper a long overdue special on October 5th. Taped recently at the Hollywood Bowl, special guests include Joni Mitchell, Cher, Angélique Kidjo, John Legend, SZA, Mickey Guyton, Trombone Shorty, and Jake Wesley Rogers, with a video tribute from Brandi Carlile.
Ben Winston, Patrick Menton and Harvey Mason jr. are executive producers of EW&F.For the second special Ken Ehrlich, Cyndi Lauper, Harvey Mason Jr., Brian Burke, and Lisa Barbaris — Cyndi’s fantastic manager — are executive producers. Ken Ehrlich Productions and GRAMMY Studios are producing.
CBS is seeing the end of these specials as they’ve lost the rights to the Recording Academy’s Grammy Awards and other shows to ABC beginning after January’s Grammy Awards. CBS really blew it, but at least they still have the American Music Awards and MTV specials. Yikes.
