Beloved Earth, Wind & Fire Drummer Fred White Dies At 67

Drummer Fred White of the iconic Grammy Award-winning R&B band, Earth, Wind & Fire, has died at age 67, his brother Verdine announced.

Verdine took to Instagram to share the somber news on Jan. 1. He did not, however, reveal the cause of death.

“Dearest family, friends and fans… Our family is saddened today with the loss of an amazing and talented family member, our beloved brother Frederick Eugene ‘Freddie’ White,” Verdine wrote in the emotional IG post. In it, he shared a slideshow of pictures featuring Fred and the rest of his bandmates and mentioned other beloved EWF members who passed away.

“He joins our brothers Maurice, Monte and Ronald in heaven and is now drumming with the angels!” he added.

Verdine continued praising Freddie- one of the band’s original nine members, and calling him a child protégé.

“Child protégé, member of the EWF ORIGINAL 9, with gold records at the young age of 16 years old! He was brother number 4 in the family lineup. [red hearts emojis],” the bassist wrote. “But more than that, at home and beyond, he was the wonderful bro that was always entertaining and delightfully mischievous! And we could always count on him to make a seemingly bad situation more light-hearted! [prayer hands and heart eyes emojis].”

Verdine concluded his post, by sharing that his brother will “live in our hearts forever.”

“He will live in our hearts forever. Rest in power, beloved Freddie!! We thank you all for your love, blessings and support at this time. Soar high baby bro, we love you to the shining and back! [star, prayer hands, doves, and rainbow emojis.” he said about his 67-year-old brother.

Fred played the drums on eight Earth, Wind & Fire albums, which included some of its biggest hits such as “Shining Star” (1975), “Saturday Night” (1976), “September” (1978), “Boogie Wonderland” (1979). The legendary trailblazing group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2000, as its one of the best-selling bands of all time with over 90-million records sold worldwide.

Back in April, Sis2Sis reported that EWF’s saxophonist and longtime member, Andrew Woolfolk, died at age 71.