Robert "Kool" Bell of Jersey City's Kool and the Gang, shown performing at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Florida on Jan. 25, 2020.
© Joe Rondone/The Commercial Appeal via Imagn Content Services, LLC + © Jon Austria/Naples Daily News US / USA TODAY NETWORK
(Jersey City, NJ) – The Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2024 will include a New Jersey band. Kool and the Gang, which first released its self-titled debut album 55 years ago, learned they would be honored by the hall of fame this weekend.
The band formed in 1964 in Jersey City. Robert “Kool” Bell is the group’s last surviving original member and told Billboard “it feels great” to be honored this way. He went on to say “all the guys would love it.” Two others with Tri-state connections will be included in the hall of fame class: Yonkers’ Mary J. Blige and Brooklyn’s “A Tribe Called Quest”.
Among Kool and the Gang’s biggest hits are 1979’s “Ladies Night”, 1980’s “Celebration”, and 1981’s “Get Down on It”.
