Maurice White, the kingpin behind the enormously famous American pop, funk, soul and disco band Earth Wind & Fire, started a band previous to the one that would become the EW&F that we all know and love today. In 1969, White gathered together Don Whitehead (keyboards) and Wade Flemons (vocals) to write songs with him for the Salty Peppers. When the Salty Peppers failed to slake the thirst of funk lovers in the Midwest, White moved the band to Los Angeles and there re-named the group Earth Wind & Fire. However, the West Coast version of Earth Wind & Fire didn't make a splash outside of college campuses, so instead of adding some much needed Water, White flushed all of the elements of the group (save for his brother, bassist Verdine White).

The new Earth Wind & Fire, which was never free from roster changes, was able to score some big-time hits. In terms of record sales, 1974's Open Our Eyes signaled the emergence of the band as a mainstream success story. After years of suffering under the distinction of having a "cult following," Earth Wind & Fire caught, well, fire.

A year later Earth Wind & Fire released That's the Way of the World, which contained the group's first single to hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, "Shining Star." Over the course of the next three decades, Earth Wind & Fire would go on to produce more than a dozen albums, although their work in the late 1970s and early 1980s achieved the best sales numbers and chart positions. Songs like "Getaway," "Sing a Song," "Boogie Wonderland," "After the Love Has Gone," "Let's Groove," "Serpentine Fire" and "Fantasy" dominated the airwaves when the band was at its peak. Nowadays, you can hear EW&F's hit songs played generously on oldies stations. Their approach to popular music inspired and influenced many artists and groups that followed them.