Earth, Wind & Fire revived their disco sound with funk to make dance music in 1981 and “Let’s Groove” was born and made the first single from their 11th album Raise. Maurice White co-wrote, produced and sang lead on the song that started the party with a vocoder on the introduction and became more intense with explosive horns. The band had done disco before on previous songs like “Getaway” and “Boogie Wonderland” but “Let’s Groove” was different because of the electronic and funk elements. The video would become the first one played on BET’s Video Soul and later provided inspiration for Bruno Mars’ “Treasure” video. “Let’s Groove” sat at the top of the charts, was Grammy-nominated and became one of the band’s most renowned songs. Raise was Earth, Wind & Fire’s strongest album of the ’80s. Maurice White passed in 2016 at the age of 74 after battling Parkinson’s disease for years. Earth, Wind & Fire has released 21 studio albums over their four-decade career with their 2014 Holiday album being their most recent.Â
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