Harry Wayne Casey - Early Years

Early Years

Born in Opa-Locka, Florida, to an Irish-American father and an Italian-American mother, Casey became interested in music at an early age. As a teenager he played and sang with several local bands and played piano at the Pentecostal church his family attended. He also attended Hialeah High School in Hialeah, Florida, where he developed his music talent. He studied music at Miami-Dade Community College and worked part-time in a record store. KC noticed that often customers would come in not remembering the titles of the records they wanted, and the store would lose the sale — this is the reason so many of his songs repeat their titles over and over.

While working at the record store, Casey often made deliveries to the headquarters of TK Records in Hialeah, and spent so much time visiting the studio that he was eventually hired to work in the warehouse. On August 12, 1973, Casey signed a contract with TK and formed KC and the Sunshine Junkanoo Band, using other recording artists at the studio for backgrounds and instrumentation. The Miami Junkanoo Band was a local group brought in to perform on the record. Casey played electric piano and sang lead with the group. As the second single, "Sound Your Funky Horn", was released, the group's name was finalized as KC and the Sunshine Band. Casey brought in Richard Finch's musical talents and their production team (also the only white members of the group) was initiated. In 1974, they had their first Number One hit as songwriters with George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby." Casey and Finch also wrote and produced songs for Betty Wright and Jimmy "Bo" Horne.