George Brown, Drummer And Co-Founder Of Kool & The Gang, Has Died

FILE - George Brown, from left, Ronald Bell, Dennis Thomas and Robert "Kool" Bell, of Kool and the Gang, appear at the 2014 Soul Train Awards in Las Vegas on Nov. 7, 2014. Brown died Nov. 16, 2023 in Los Angeles, after a battle with cancer. He was 74. (Photo by Omar Vega/Invision/AP, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — George Brown, the co-founder and longtime drummer of Kool & The Gang who helped write such hits as “Too Hot,” “Ladies Night,” “Joanna” and the party favorite “Celebration,” has died at age 74.

A statement from Universal Music says Brown died Thursday in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer.

Kool & The Gang has sold millions of records with its catchy blend of jazz, funk and soul, what Brown liked to call “the sound of happiness.”

Brown helped launch the Grammy-winning group in 1964. Kool & the Gang broke through in the mid-1970s with “Jungle Boogie” among others songs and peaked in the late ’70s and mid-1980s, with such hits as “Cherish” and “Celebration.”