“James Brown always said, ‘I’m the most humble man out there – and Kool, that guy’s number two to me’”: Kool & The Gang’s Robert Bell on how he laid down three top 10s in a single session – and became one of the most sampled artists in history

Robert “Kool” Bell, the founding member of Kool & The Gang, likes to keep the bass simple: “It’s always about the foundation,” he says. “Then we build the house. We start with the drummer, then the keyboards, guitar, horns, and the lead singer.”

From that approach, cuts like Funky Stuff and Jungle Boogie became ‘70s funk staples, as did ‘80 tracks Celebration and Get Down on It. As a result, Kool & The Gang has been sampled many times. “They’re all over the place,” Bell says.

“Questlove once told me, ‘Do you know you’ve been sampled 1800 times?’ But like James Brown always said, ‘I’m the most humble man out there – and Kool, that guy’s number two to me.’”

Bell is the last man standing from his band’s original members, but he’s not slowing down. “Our career has been an accomplishment,” he says. “We were doing those tracks in the early ‘70s, and we didn’t really have a singer. It was more of a group chanting. I think that’s why a lot of people loved us. Our music and our grooves helped create other people’s music and grooves, which became hip-hop.”

How did you start on bass?

Me and the original members were together, and I’d learned one song called Coming Home, Baby – on one string! We were working in a club called New York called Café Wha? They’d have what they called a hootenanny. We’d get some potato chips, a turkey sandwich, and hang out.

My brother Ronald said, “Let’s play that one song.” So we played Coming Home, Baby as the The Jazziacs, and it worked out. I gravitated toward the bass and learned more after that.

Who were your biggest influences?

In the early stages I’d listen to the radio and our guitarist would show me things. James Jamerson and the Motown hits influenced me. But I was also into the jazz guys; I listened to a lot of McCoy Tyner, Reggie Workman and Ron Carter. But I didn’t play upright. I always played Fender electric basses back then.

In the ‘70s Kool & The Gang had several hits, like Jungle Boogie, Funky Stuff and Hollywood Swinging. How did those come together?

Our record company, Delight Records, said, “There’s a guy called Mongo Dibango. He has a song called Soul Makossa, and it’s a big record. We’re talking to his producer. You should look into him producing one of your records.”

We met once, then we went to downtown New York City, to a place called Baggie’s in the Village. We got to the studio around eight o’clock in the morning, and when we finished at 12 o'clock at night, we had created Funky Stuff, Hollywood Swinging and Jungle Boogie. I played my Fender Precision on those songs.

What amps were you using back then with your Fender basses?

My production manager would put all that together; he would know better than me. But I had mostly Fender amps. Today I’ve gone to in-ears. It took me a long time to get used to those, because I had this big rig all coming into my ears!

But it’s always been about sounding better on stage. I’m hearing that a lot of guys are going back to the big rigs, man. But I finally got used to in-ears.

Jungle Boogie in particular was, and remains, massively popular. Did that catch you off guard?

Funky Stuff was a top-five record too! We had no idea it was going to jump like that. And right after that the others were big hits. We had Light of Worlds and Summer Madness. Just ask Will Smith – he sampled us, got a platinum record and became a movie star!

Kool & The Gang - Celebration - YouTube

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In the early ‘80s, Kool & The Gang had more hits including Ladies Night and Celebration. What’s the story there?

My wife and I were hanging out in New York City in Studio 54. I got to my guys, “I’ve got a great idea for a song: Ladies Night. My brother said, “Man, they’ve got those all over the world!” We ended up winning two American Music Awards.

With Celebration, we were celebrating at an award thing and my brother said, “I’ve got another idea!” We got back to New Jersey, he played this track, and it just had a down-home feel to it – it had the “yahoo” and all that in there.

How about Get Down on It, which came after those songs?

A friend of ours asked my brother, “Have you ever listened to Bob Marley? You should listen to a little bit.” So my brother came up with this idea, which was not quite reggae but had a reggae feel to it. We ended up calling it Get Down on It – and again, we had no idea it was gonna become so big.

What did you think of the sampling when it started happening?

We felt very good about it. But we had to put somebody on sample patrol to catch who was playing what! Eventually, they said that when you sample a record, you’ll be charged for the sample. After that, we became – and still are – the most sampled group in hip-hop, and in the world.

Lately you’ve been playing custom Zon basses. What led to that?

I’d been playing Fender Precision and Jazz Basses for a long time.Then I went to a Steinberger with a short neck. It was funny – with that neck, you’d miss the whole rest of the bassline!

Then my guitar player said, “Kool, are you familiar with Zon?” We were out in LA in a music store, and he showed me the design. I fell in love with that. I found the neck was smaller and didn’t fall out of tune. I became a Zon man.

I’ve got five of them. I like the neck, which is like a Jazz Bass. The Jazz was always easier for me to play compared to the Precision. And the Zon has a great sound.

What’s next for Kool & The Gang?

We’re getting ready to tour Europe again. We’ve had great success there. We did two more albums recently, Perfect Union – my brother passed after that – and People Just Wanna Have Fun. After that we went back to Europe, and we found that people had a great time. So we’re going back over there again.

• People Just Wanna Have Fun is on sale now.