For 50 years, Kool & the Gang has ruled dance floors and record charts with hits like “Jungle Boogie,” “Ladies Night,” “Too Hot,” and “Celebration.”

The band actually got started closer to 60 years ago, when brothers Robert Bell, known as “Kool,” and Ronald Bell formed The Jazziacs in Jersey City with their friends and neighbors in 1964.

George Brown was there from the start. The jazz-inspired drummer helped to create the template for funk, soul and R&B, and was a primary songwriter who contributed to hits that sold 70 million albums and won the band two Grammy awards.

Kool & the Gang have just released a new album, “People Just Wanna Have Fun,” and Brown has just published a memoir, “Too Hot: Kool & The Gang & Me.” He joined WNYC's Morning Edition for a chat about his childhood in Jersey City, finding music, and achieving fame.