Not long after Harry Wayne Casey founded KC and The Sunshine Band with some of his musician friends in the 1970s, he knew he was becoming a part of something groundbreaking. As an interracial R&B group, KC and The Sunshine Band had a unique place in the music industry, and their disco songs inspired a dance revolution. With hits like "Get Down Tonight" and "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty," the group sold 100 million records worldwide -- they even became the first group to have four No. 1 pop songs in a single year (1975) since the Beatles.
During the height of their success, however, Casey struggled with his loss of anonymity, as he tells "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" in the above video.
"The reaction for us, to me, felt like Beatlemania," he says. "It was crazy with us. I mean, there would be 5,000 people outside of our hotel everywhere we went. I couldn't go anywhere."
While fans were clamoring to get close to the star, Casey felt more alone that ever.
"People say, 'Well, wasn't that exciting?' For me, it was the most loneliest time of my life," he says. "I remember just looking out of my hotel window down into that crowd and wishing that I could just stand in the middle of them."
Even thinking about that loneliness and pain 40 years later makes Casey emotional.
"I really wanted to go there; I wanted to be a part of it. And, for some reason, I didn't feel a part of it," he says, wiping away tears. "Sorry. I've never gotten that way before."
The isolation was too much to bear. "I just wanted out," Casey says. "I started taking prescription drugs... I just started partying."
Following his struggle with addiction, Casey reunited KC and The Sunshine Band in the '90s. "I've been touring all over the world," he says. "We've now recorded a new album... 'Feeling You! The 60s.'"
In the decades since his initial rise to fame, the 64-year-old frontman has come to view his experience in the entertainment industry through a wider lens.
"It's taken me 40 years to understand who Casey of KC and The Sunshine Band is," he says. "I know that my music has brought a lot of enjoyment to a lot of people. We all have purposes here on earth. That's one of my purposes. My purpose was to bring joy into people's lives, and I'm so glad that God used me as His tool to help facilitate that."
"Oprah: Where Are They Now?" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on OWN.
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Before You Go
Part of that comes from Bruce’s distinct, blue-collar lyrics, in turns joyful and melancholic. And part of that comes from the unparalleled E Street Band, whose contributions cannot be overstated—especially pianist Roy Bittan and saxophonist Clarence Clemons. That’s him supporting Bruce on Born to Run’s iconic cover, and when he passed in 2011, Springsteen eulogized: "He was my great friend, my partner, and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music." R.I.P., Big Man.
Needless to say, At Folsom Prison was a hit. In fact, the album was so successful, Cash followed it up in 1969 with At San Quentin, which was nominated for Album of the Year and included one of Cash’s signature tunes, "A Boy Named Sue," written by poet Shel Silverstein.
And hey, if "Tumbling Dice" isn’t the one of the best rock-and-roll songs ever written (if not the very best), we don’t know what is.
A sad postscript: Bridge Over Troubled Water cemented Simon and Garfunkel’s place in music history, but at the cost of their partnership. Their relationship grew tense over the year it took to record, and they broke up shortly after its release.
P.S. The thing moves. Just listen to "As" or "Sir Duke" and try not to shake what God gave you.
The result wasn’t received well at first—even by the other Beach Boys. "Mike Love famously didn't like the album," says Brian Ives, producer at Radio.com. "But Paul McCartney did; it inspired him to start work on Sgt. Pepper." Audiences warmed up over time, and today, Pet Sounds is a trippy, gorgeous cultural touchstone.
"And come on," Ives adds. "'God Only Knows' is one of the loveliest songs of all time."
The result? Rumours—a hands-down gem that, 37 years later, still sounds like it could have been made yesterday.
"It may have been painful for the members of Fleetwood Mac, but it was great for everyone who ever listened to this album (which is almost everyone in America for at least two decades after its release)," says Ives. Between classics like “The Chain” and “Gold Dust Woman,” he says, "The definitive '70s FM radio record holds up remarkably well, and their current tour has been a can't-miss affair (no pun intended)."