Too Hot: Kool & the Gang & Me

Brown, with the help of Dave Smitherman (coauthor, This Stops Today), talks about his career with Kool & the Gang and his upbringing in this fast-paced memoir. Brown started out as a teenage drummer who provided the backbeat to various bands around his Jersey City, NJ, neighborhood. Brown was mostly a self-taught drummer who took a couple of lessons when he could afford it, but he consistently practiced for hours. Before the age of 20, he met and joined the members of a band that would later call themselves Kool & the Gang. They had a string of R&B and soul hits, and Brown served as one of the group’s main songwriters. They transformed into a mainstream pop group by the late 1970s, attaining stardom and riches beyond Brown’s wildest dreams. While covering much of the same ground as other music memoirs—songwriting, groupies, drug use, clash of egos, and more—Brown’s book is not concerned with airing grievances or showing ill will towards his bandmates. Instead, he focuses on his good fortune and the blessings of his talent.