Harry Wayne Casey who was the lead singer of the American band KC and the Sunshine Band has been a Miami Lakes resident for more than 30 years.
Born in Hialeah, Casey formed his famous band in the Miami Lakes/Hialeah area while working as a record store employee and later at TK Records.
While attending Miami-Dade College in 1972, Casey was packing records for shipment in the company’s warehouse, where he met bassist and part-time recording engineer Richard Finch.
The two formed a creative partnership and cut numerous demo tapes of their vocals and music at the warehouse after midnight hours.
While at a wedding reception for TK Records in 1973, Casey was introduced to songwriter/producer Clarence Reid when he initially heard the junkanoo, a highly festive, rhythmic-layered, horn-punctuated musical genre that originated in the Bahamas.
After assembling some studio musicians, Casey and Finch made their first professional recording as KC and the Sunshine Band and the group’s first single, “Blow Your Whistle,” went to No. 27 on the Rhythm and Blues Chart in 1973.
The group's second single, "Sound Your Funky Horn" climbed to No. 21 on the R&B charts a year later.
“That’s the Way I Like It,” went to No. 1 on the R&B and pop charts in 1975.
In 1976, KC and the Sunshine Band won five Grammys and the reissued “Queen of Club,” became a hit song in the U.S. and UK, and “Shake, Shake, Shake” was the group’s third number one hit topping the R&B charts for a month.
The group’s third album, “Part 3,” made it to the No. 5 spot on the R&B charts in 1976, which included the hit singles, “I Like to Do It,” which went No. 4 on the R&B charts and “I’m Your Boogie Man,” which reached No. 1 on the pop charts and No. 3 on the R&B charts.
Perhaps among the band’s best loved hits was, “Keep It Coming Love,” which peaked at No. 1 on the R&B charts and No. 2 on the pop charts.
KC and the Sunshine Band was part of the then-biggest movie soundtrack from the 1970s.
In 1977, the soundtrack for the movie “Saturday Night Fever” starring John Travolta, sold 11 million copies and held the top on the pop charts for 24 weeks in 1978.
KC and the Sunshine Band's song "Boogie Shoes" was included in the soundtrack and the single reached No. 1 on the pop charts that same year.
As a result of the soaring popularity of New Wave and Synth-pop in the early 1980s, Casey dissolved the Sunshine Band and recorded several pop-oriented solo albums but faced a major setback.
In 1982, Casey survived a near fatal car wreck that left him partially paralyzed and had to relearn how to walk, dance and play the piano.
He bounced back in a big way in 1984 when his solo hit, “Give It Up,” reached No. 1 in the UK and was a top 20 hit in the United States.
After he temporarily retired from the music business in 1985, Casey reformed the Sunshine Band in the 1990s and the group toured throughout the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean, and also toured England, Italy, Australia and South America.
Casey performed on the results show of American Idol in 2009 and at the 125th Tournament of Roses Parade last year, and KC and the Sunshine Band performed at halftime of the Liberty Bowl in Memphis in 2011.
Some of KC and the Sunshine Band’s hits were featured in the NBC-TV miniseries “The 70’s,” which aired in 2000.
Today, Casey and his band continue their performances while he produces other artists and is active in charity work in Miami and the Miami Lakes and Hialeah areas.