I started EWF because I had a vision, and music was playing in my head that I wanted to bring through. What I had in mind was exactly what Earth, Wind & Fire became.
Maurice White
Music is always a creative process that comes from the heart. It's a feeling, a vibration, that we ride on.
Most people can't see beauty and love. I see our music as medicine.
I have learned that music helps a lot of people survive, and they want songs that can give them something - I guess you could call it hope.
I think the '70s was a much healthier period for music because people were more innovative and creative.
Earth, Wind & Fire was something new. I wanted to bring something innovative to the music. It was out of a desire to create excitement with music that was pleasurable to play and listen to.
We've been called the soundtrack of people's lives. There have been lots of downs, of course but mostly ups. That EW&F is still clicking at least twenty years on and has a life of its own, that the songs have stayed alive - we're like a good book that people go back to.
With Parkinson's, you do need more rest.
I've never been to anywhere in Africa except Egypt. We've never performed there, so I would definitely like to make that trip, probably to South Africa. I'd also like to score a movie from top to bottom. I've had songs in a bunch of films but never done an entire movie. I'd like to do that and have it to be a hit, too!
I don't really listen to contemporary R&B with an ear for hearing my influence. Music is a spirit unto itself, and all of us musicians influence each other all along the chain.
From my youngest days, I always felt certain affinities with the idea of being a preacher.
I traveled with the band for five years with Parkinson's.
