“He joins our brothers Maurice, Monte, and Ronald in heaven and is now drumming with the angels,” Verdine White wrote in a tribute
Fred White, drummer for the groundbreaking funk outfit Earth, Wind and Hearth — and half-brother of lead singer Maurice and brother of bassist Verdine White — has died, his household introduced on Jan. 1. White was 67 years previous.
“He joins our brothers Maurice, Monte, and Ronald in heaven and is now drumming with the angels,” Verdine White wrote in a tribute shared on Instagram. (He didn’t disclose a reason for loss of life; Maurice White died after a battle with Parkinson’s Illness in 2016.)
A toddler prodigy who started drumming at age 9 earlier than happening to earn his first gold document on the age of 16 for his work on Donny Hathaway’s Reside — which made Rolling Stone’s record of fifty biggest reside albums of all time — White joined his brothers’ band in 1974 simply earlier than the group shot to stardom on the success of its sixth studio album, That’s the Means of the World. Each the album and the one, “Shining Star,” hit no 1 on the Billboard charts.
Earth, Wind and Hearth went on to promote greater than 90 million data, cementing its standing as one of many best-selling bands of all time. Beloved by critics in addition to followers, the band was nominated for 17 Grammys, and received six.
Greater than two dozen members have cycled out and in of Earth, Wind and Hearth since its founding in 1969, however White was a part of the nine-man lineup inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame in 2000.
Whereas Maurice — Earth, Wind and Hearth’s vocalist, co-founder, and producer — started his profession as a drummer, it was Fred enjoying percussion on the Earth Wind and Hearth’s largest hits, like “September,” “Boogie Wonderland,” and “Shining Star.”