Verdine White has put out a song nobody outside a small circle had heard. Celebrate Our Love is the last thing his brother Maurice White recorded, and Verdine announced it himself on 19 September, a decade after the Earth, Wind and Fire founder died.
Maurice White co-wrote the song with the keyboardist Freddie Ravel, but it was never completed or released. The demo sat in a vault for years. Verdine's account is that Ravel eventually brought it to him and that he knew straight away there was something there worth finishing.
The work was done through PWP Works of Art Productions, with Neal H. Pogue, a seven-time Grammy winner, and the Earth, Wind and Fire drummer John Paris mixing, mastering and producing it into a finished record. Paris has had a hard year of his own: the band reported in August that he had been placed in an induced coma after a health emergency, and they postponed a San Francisco show with Lionel Richie around the same time.
SoulTracks, which carried the announcement, describes the result as soothing and Caribbean-inspired, which is closer to the run of warm mid-tempo material Maurice White wrote late on than to the horn-driven R&B and soul the band are usually remembered for.
No label has been named, and nothing has been said about whether Celebrate Our Love belongs to a wider collection or stands alone. Verdine framed it as a gift to the group's audience rather than the start of a campaign, and there is no indication of anything else left in the vault.
The song is out now and is logged on the release calendar.
The facts
- Verdine White has released Celebrate Our Love, the last song Maurice White recorded.
- Maurice White co-wrote it with the keyboardist Freddie Ravel.
- The song was never completed or released and sat as a demo for years.
- Ravel brought the demo to Verdine White, who set about finishing it.
- Neal H. Pogue and John Paris helped mix, master and produce the track.
- The work went through PWP Works of Art Productions.
- Maurice White founded Earth, Wind and Fire and died a decade ago.
- SoulTracks describes the finished track as Caribbean-inspired.
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