Maurice White

Maurice White (December 19, 1941 – February 4, 2016) was an American singer, musician, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer. He was best known as the founder, leader, main songwriter and chief producer of the band Earth, Wind & Fire, also serving as the band's co-lead singer with Philip Bailey. Described as a "visionary" by Vibe and a "mastermind" by Variety, White was nominated for a total of 22 Grammys, of which he won seven. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame as a member of Earth, Wind & Fire, and was also inducted individually into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. White also worked with musical acts such as Deniece Williams, Cher, The Emotions, Barbra Streisand, Ramsey Lewis, and Neil Diamond. Biography Early career Maurice White was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on December 19, 1941. He grew up in South Memphis, where he lived with his grandmother in the Foote Homes Projects and was a childhood friend of Booker T. Jones and David Porter. Along with Jones, White formed a "cookin' little band" while attending Booker T. Washington High School. He also made frequent trips to Chicago to visit his mother, Edna, and stepfather, Verdine Adams, who was a doctor and occasional saxophonist. During his teenage years, White moved to Chicago where he studied at the Chicago Conservatory of Music, and played drums in local nightclubs. In 1962 he joined The Jazzmen, a student jazz trio at Crane Junior College in Chicago, Illinois formed by Louis Satterfield on trombone, Charles Handy on trumpet, and Don Myrick on alto saxophone. The Jazzmen later became the Pharaohs. Satterfield, White, and Handy became studio musicians at Chess Records in Chicago. While at Chess, he appeared, as a drummer, on the records of artists like Etta James, Chuck Berry, Rotary Connection, Junior Wells, Sonny Stitt, Muddy Waters, the Impressions, the Dells, Betty Everett, Willie Dixon, Sugar Pie DeSanto and Buddy Guy. White also played the drums on Fontella Bass's "Rescue Me" (with Satterfield on bass), Billy Stewart's "Summertime" and Jackie Wilson's "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher".