Michael Sumler, who labored alongside funk legends Kool & the Gang as their hype man and was often known as “Chicago Mike,” died in a automobile crash on Sunday in Georgia. He was 71.
Native Atlanta tv station 11Alive reported that Sumler was touring on Veterans Memorial Freeway in Cobb County when he collided with one other car. The group confirmed Sumler’s demise in a assertion shared to social media.
“We’re deeply saddened to listen to concerning the passing of our longtime wardrobe valet, Mike Sumler,” wrote Kool & the Gang. “Mike labored alongside Kool & the Gang from 2000-2015, ensuring the blokes regarded their finest on stage each night time. He additionally hyped the gang along with his vitality and dance strikes on the present.”
Sumler had carried out Sunday night in Mableton with the group Con Funk Shun, whose frontman paid tribute to Sumler. “Thanks Mike for at all times supporting Con Funk Shun,” mentioned singer Mike Cooper. “We had no concept that Sunday night time’s Love’s Practice can be your final journey. Relaxation in heavenly peace.”
Final yr, after first being eligible for the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame for 3 a long time, Kool & the Gang was inducted at a ceremony in Cleveland. It was a bittersweet recognition for the band. Its three founding members – Brown, Dennis “Dee Tee” Thomas, and Ronald Bell – had all died within the three years prior.
When showing on the Georgia-based Kelly Discuss Present in 2018, Sumler recalled how he joined the group in 1985. “I had a neighborhood band out of Chicago referred to as Energy Pac,” he mentioned. “One of many Kool & the Gang safety guys caught our act within the membership in Chicago and we grew to become buddies.”
Sumler mentioned they traveled to satisfy the band Minneapolis, and that whereas he was launched and began as a stylist-choreographer, the group shortly “noticed that I might do another issues” and “mentioned we have to have you ever onstage.” He mentioned that after he began opening as a hype man for the band, he later joined on background vocals and labored the whole present.
Since their formation in 1964, Kool & The Gang have been honored with two Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, a BET Soul Practice Lifetime Achievement Award, and star on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame. Their inescapable hits embrace “Girls Evening,” “Jungle Boogie,” “Get Down on It,” and “Celebration.”
In his induction speech for Kool & the Gang, Public Enemy’s Chuck D, honored the group’s profound and lasting influence on music. “Let it’s identified: it is a long-overdue celebration. Y’all know the deal, birthdays, weddings, sports activities, championships,” mentioned Chuck. “And once they created the tune ‘Celebration,’ it was quoted that the band mentioned, ‘We don’t know nothing. We simply rejoice and Reward you God.’ So right here we’re, celebration, full circle, within the the OH 10, from Youngstown, proper right here to Cleveland.”
