[1] White also worked with musical acts such as Deniece Williams, Cher, The Emotions, Barbra Streisand, Ramsey Lewis, and Neil Diamond.

[8] He grew up in South Memphis, where he lived with his grandmother in the Foote Homes Projects and was a childhood friend of Booker T. Jones and David Porter.

He also made frequent trips to Chicago to visit his mother, Edna, and stepfather, Verdine Adams, who was a doctor and occasional saxophonist.

In 1962 he joined The Jazzmen, a student jazz trio at Crane Junior College in Chicago, Illinois formed by Louis Satterfield on trombone, Charles Handy on trumpet, and Don Myrick on alto saxophone.

At Chess, he played the drums on records of Etta James, Chuck Berry, Rotary Connection, Betty Everett and Junior Wells.

Along with the likes of Sonny Stitt, Muddy Waters, the Impressions, the Dells, Willie Dixon, Sugar Pie DeSanto and Buddy Guy.

[15][16] In June 1966, he left Chess and the Pharaohs to join the Ramsey Lewis Trio, replacing Isaac "Red" Holt as the group's drummer.

A song from that album called "Hold It Right There" won a Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Group Performance, Vocal or Instrumental.

[19][11][20] In 1969, White joined his two friends, Wade Flemons and Don Whitehead, to form a songwriting team who wrote songs for commercials in the Chicago area.

White then left the trio, moved from Chicago to Los Angeles, and altered the name of the band to Earth, Wind & Fire.

[1] White immersed a sense of eclecticism to the band's recordings, conceptualizing their vibrant stage portrayals while crafting the vocal interplay between his tenor and Philip Bailey's falsetto.

[23] Prior to the band's 2000 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Maurice revealed an ongoing affliction with Parkinson's disease.

A website entitled Startalk.org was also established a year earlier in his honor where artists such as Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Boyz II Men, Smokey Robinson, Isaac Hayes, Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine posted complimentary messages.

Other noted artists who posted messages were Brian McKnight, Al Jarreau, Kenny G, Seal, Chick Corea, Carly Simon and Dionne Warwick.

As well as upon stage, with EW&F and special guest Alicia Keys, at Clive Davis' 2004 pre-Grammy party where they all sang "September".

White produced the girl group's 1979 LP Come into Our World which was released on his own Columbia imprint ARC Records.

[102] White collaborated with the Japanese band Dreams Come True on two songs: "Wherever You Are" from their 1994 album Delicious, and "Eternity", which appeared on the soundtrack for the 1994 animated film The Swan Princess.

Urban Knights I featured Ramsey Lewis, percussionist Omar Hakim, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, The Emotions and saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr.

Urban Knights II featured appearances by Ramsey Lewis, Paulinho Da Costa, Verdine White, singer-songwriter and guitarist Jonathan Butler and jazz saxophonist Najee.

[122] White served as the executive producer of an EWF tribute album titled Interpretations: Celebrating the Music of Earth, Wind & Fire, which was released in March 2007 by Stax Records.

On the LP were featured artists such as Chaka Khan, Musiq Soulchild, Mint Condition, Kirk Franklin and Angie Stone.

[123][124][125][126][127][128] White executively produced jazz musician Brian Culbertson's album Bringing Back The Funk which was released in 2008 on GRP Records.

Robin Denselow of The Guardian called the album a "lush collection of self produced dance tracks, and the occasional ballad, with synths and drum programming immaculately in place, and the vocals as classy as ever".

Considine of Musician also said the "Given his status as Earth, Wind & Fire's Shining Star, it comes as no surprise that White's first solo project sounds a lot like classic EW&F: tight, focused and punchy.

But while White remembers to sink a hook into every verse and chorus, the emphasis here is on subtlety and sophistication as he works his way from R&B basics, from the studio mechanics of 'Switch on Your Radio' to the modified doo wop of 'Stand By Me', with a sense of craft that makes slickness irrelevant".

[143] White wrote and produced songs for the feature films Coming to America, A Low Down Dirty Shame, and Gatchaman OVA.

[145] In the movie BAADASSSSS!, the actor Khalil Kain portrayed a young Maurice White leading the early incarnation of Earth, Wind & Fire.

[10][150][151] His younger half-brother, Verdine White, an original member of Earth, Wind & Fire, still tours with the band as its bassist and a backing vocalist.

While the world has lost another great musician and legend, our family asks that our privacy is respected as we start what will be a very difficult and life-changing transition in our lives.

[157] Artists such as Stokley Williams, Richard Marx, Raphael Saadiq, Larry Blackmon, and Nate Dogg have also named White as an influence.