Maurice White

Maurice White was an American musician who, as a founding member of the R&B group Earth, Wind & Fire, won six Grammys, and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, White took an early interest in music. As a child he would travel with his grandmother to Chicago, whose thriving blues music scene inspired the young Maurice to want to make music for a living. In his early teens White relocated to Chicago and began studying music at the Chicago Conservatory of Music. He quickly took an interest in drumming and began honing his craft by playing at nightclubs throughout the Windy City. Then in the mid-'60s White was offered a steady gig as a session drummer at Chicago's legendary blues label Chess Records. While working for Chess, White had the opportunity to play with some of the biggest names in blues, including Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy. However, White longed to write and record his own music, so in the late '60s he packed his bags and moved to Los Angeles where he formed the R&B group Earth, Wind & Fire. As a founding member of Earth, Wind & Fire White was essentially the group's leader and primary producer in the studio, and was responsible for the group's enormous success in the '70s and '80s. It was during Earth, Wind & Fire's peak period that the group won six Grammys, while selling nearly 100 million records. Some of the group's hit songs during this period included such classics as "September," "Fantasy" and "Let's Groove." By the late 1980s the group's popularity waned, but White continued to write and produce most of Earth, Wind & Fire's songs. In 1987 White was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, which forced him to retire from touring with the band in the mid-1990s. Although he still remained relatively active on the business end of the band, White made few public appearances in the years that followed. On February 3, 2016 Maurice White died peacefully in his sleep after a long fought battle with Parkinson's, thus leaving behind one of the greatest music legacies of the Twentieth Century. He was 74.