Maurice White of Earth Wind and Fire Dead

EWF is arguably the most influential funk band in recorded music history, alongside Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament-Funkadelic.

On slickly-produced tunes like 1974's Sly-influenced "Shining Star," EWF strove for an effervescent rhythm and blues that was a clever combination of Vietnam War-era counter-optimism, Black Arts movement-influenced Afrocentricity and Holiness Church messianism.

Maurice White garnered an impressive reputation for co-writing sweetly melodious hooks and for his tastefully manicured arrangements, and EWF took things up a notch a year later by augmenting their already-packed line-up with the resplendent Phenix Horns.

Maurice White's understated tenor perfectly complemented Philip Bailey's ozone-layer-falsetto, and the band's choral backgrounds are among the most accomplished in soul music.