Kool & The Gang’s Michael Sumler dead at 71: ‘Chicago Mike’ killed in horror car crash

Kool & The Gang’s Michael Sumler has reportedly died at age 71 after getting into a car crash over the weekend. 

Sumler passed in Cobb County, Georgia after the vehicle he was driving collided with another car, according to Fox 5. The crash occurred right before midnight Saturday on Veterans Memorial Highway, close to Buckner Road.  

The legendary musician reportedly died at the scene. 

DailyMail.com has contacted representatives for Kool & The Gang for comment.  

The mayor of Mableton, Michael Owens, praised Sumler – who is also known as ‘Chicago Miker’ – in a statement released following his death.

‘We are saddened by the death of musician Michael Sumler. ‘Chicago Mike’ contributed so much to the music and entertainment communities. His style and energy added flare and excitement to Kool and the Gang for decades. The city of Mableton, council members and I join his family, friends and fans in mourning his loss,’ he said. 

Kool & The Gang’s Michael Sumler has reportedly died at age 71 after getting into a car crash over the weekend

Kool & The Gang formed in 1964 in Jersey City, New Jersey and by 1969 had their self-titled first album; the band pictured in 1983, before Sumler joined

Kool & The Gang formed in 1964 in Jersey City, New Jersey and by 1969 had their self-titled first album.

Some of their top songs were Ladies Night, Too Hot, Jungle Boogie, Celebration and Cherish. 

A longtime member of the band, Sumler joined Kool & The Gang in 1985 after getting introduced by a member of the group’s security team. 

‘I had a local band out of Chicago called Power Pac,’ he told the Kelly Talk Show in 2018. ‘One of the Kool and the Gang security guys caught our act in the club in Chicago and we became friends, and he decided… he said, “Hey, you’d like to meet my group?” And I said “Sure.”‘

Sumler then travelled to Minneapolis to meet with the band at Prince’s soundstage before joining the group as a stylist choreographer.  

‘I started out as a stylist choreographer, because he introduced me as that. But once they saw that I could do some other things, they said, we need to have you on stage,’ he said. 

His role with the band evolved from opening for the group by dancing to Kool & The Gang music with a boombox on his shoulder before he joined on doing background singing. 

‘So I started off doing moves on the stage, and so that was the opening for the band. And then they said, “Well we need you a little more.” So I started coming on doing background singing and just working the whole show… just creating even more moves for the band,’ he explained.  

Kool & The Gang pictured in 1972, before Sumler joined

 A longtime member of the band, Sumler joined Kool & The Gang in 1985 after getting introduced by a member of the group’s security team

Some of the band’s top songs were Ladies Night, Too Hot, Jungle Boogie, Celebration and Cherish

Kool & The Gang has had many members join it’s ranks ever since it first began, but it was originally founded by seven musicians, the majority of whom are now deceased. 

The group was launched by brothers Robert ‘Kool’ Bell (bass) and Ronald Bell (keyboards), Dennis Thomas (saxophone), Robert Mickens (Trumpet), Ricky West (keyboards), George Brown (drummer), and Charles Smith (guitarist).

Robert ‘Kool’ Bell is the only surviving founding member of the band left.

‘I know they’re looking down and having a happy time also, so I’m thankful that we finally got in,’ Robert told NJ.com last year of his late bandmates ahead of the group’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.  

Kool & the Gang have won numerous awards, including two Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, and, in 2006, a Music Business Association Chairman’s Award for artistic achievement. 

In 2013 the group released a Christmas album Kool for the Holidays. This was the group’s 24th studio album.

In 2015, the group received their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.