Every year, September is a reason to celebrate for the iconic music group Earth, Wind & Fire.
The group released their hit “September” in 1978, which remains one of their biggest hits to this day. In 2018, the hit was added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.
The group, whose drummer Fred White died last year at the age of 67, is embarking on a new Heart & Soul tour that will include Chicago, continuing in Seattle on September 3.
They recently spoke candidly about the song and the many doors it has opened… including receiving keys to several cities over the years.
“I mean, we got keys to several cities in September,” said Philip Bailey, who added, “If you don’t know Earth, Wind & Fire in September, you probably will.”
Every year when the month of September arrives, it’s a reason to celebrate for the iconic music group Earth, Wind & Fire
The group released their hit song “September” in 1978, which remains one of their biggest hits to this day, and was added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry in 2018.
“The whole month is ours,” Verdine White added in an interview with Peoplewith Ralph Johnson adding, “Yes, it’s our month.”
The song opens with the now-iconic lyric “Do you remember/the 21st night of September,” though the group’s late songwriter Allee Willis insisted that the date had no significance to the group before the song.
“We went through all the data.”Do you remember the first, the second, the third, the fourth … “and the one that felt the best was the 21st,” Willis said in a 2004 interview with NPR, 15 years before she died in 2019 at age 74.
Willis co-wrote the song with former members Al McKay and Maurice White. Bailey admitted, “We never could have come up with that.”
He added that the song is even more popular now than it was almost 50 years ago when it was released. “We’re just really proud to have been given this particular song.”
Yet the group continues to insist that they are not doing so, despite the song’s huge success.“really do something special” every year.
“We don’t really have any plans to celebrate that day because the world celebrates it, so we just sit back and watch it,” Bailey said, adding that it’s a “pretty natural day.”
After decades of performing, the group maintains that they never get tired when they take the stage.
“The whole month is ours,” Verdine White added in an interview with People, while Ralph Johnson added, “Yes, it’s our month.”
The song opens with the now-iconic lyric “Do you remember/the 21st night of September,” though the group’s late songwriter Allee Willis insisted that the date had no significance to the group prior to the song’s release.
Willis co-wrote the song with former members Al McKay and Maurice White, with Bailey admitting: ‘We couldn’t have come up with that ourselves’
“We don’t really have any plans or anything to celebrate that day because the world is celebrating it, so we just sit back and watch,” Bailey said, adding that it’s a “pretty natural day.”
“We have fun every night, and that’s exactly what we do every night when we’re on stage. We’re all trying to break our own records and we take that very seriously,” Johnson said.
“We’re lucky that we have a catalogue of songs that we’re making because it allows us to go in a lot of different directions as he puts the show together,” he added.
Earth, Wind & Fire’s Heart & Soul Tour with Chicago continues with shows in Inglewood, CA (September 6), Palm Desert, CA (September 7) and Holmdel, New Jersey (September 14).
They’ll then play seven shows at The Venetian Theatre in Las Vegas from October 9-19, plus a stop at ONE MusicFest in Atlanta on October 26.