“Celebration” is a 1980 song by American band Kool & the Gang. Released as the first single from their twelfth album, Celebrate! (1980), it was the band’s first and only single to reach No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. In 2016, “Celebration” by Kool & The Gang was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
In 2021, the Library of Congress selected “Celebration” for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being “culturally historically or aesthetically significant”. The song is prominently featured in the 2023 Hallmark Movies feature film Rescuing Christmas. Co-founder Ronald Bell, the group’s saxophonist and musical arranger, explained the origins of the song; The initial idea came from the Quran. I was reading the passage, where God was creating Adam, and the angels were celebrating and singing praises. That inspired me to write the basic chords, the line, ‘Everyone around the world, come on, celebration.’
Songs with Banjo from Harold Hagler
