EARTH, WIND, & FIRE (TO BE CELESTIAL VS. THAT’S THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD)
(director/writer: Ahmi Andrew Morrow; music: Ray Angry, Questlove; cast: Maurice White (Bandleader), Philip Bailey (songwriter/vocals), Verdine White (Maurices’s brother & band member), Marilyn White (Maurice’s partner), Ralph Johnson (songwriter/percussion, band member), Jimmy Jam (producer/songwriter), Flea (musician), Al McKay (guitar player, songwriter), Fred White (drummer, half-brother to Maurice and brother to Verdine); Runtime: 119; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Samantha Grogin, Questlove, Arron Saxe, Dave Siruinick, KB White; HBO MAX; 2026)
“An informative conventional musical bio-pic documentary.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
An informative conventional musical bio-pic documentary by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (“Sly Lives”/”Summer of Soul”), who is also the drummer for Roots and a music producer. It could have used a better editing job since it at times went on for too long and needed some trimming, but it was engaging and filled with rich info about the colorful Grammy-winning R&B group that became popular during the 1970s & 1980s for its unusual sounds of soul and funk.
The film uses archival footage and interviews with various people in the musical field, such as Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), H.E.R., Bob Cavallo (band manager), David Foster (band’s white songwriter contributor), Stevie Wonder, Jimmy Jam, and Lionel Ritchie. The Obamas also offer their love for the group, saying how much joy they brought to the world with their music.
Maurice was the Earth, Wind & Fire’s leader from the band’s founding year of 1969 until his death from Parkinson’s disease in 2016, when he was 74. The group wasn’t called Earth, Wind and Fire until 1975, and It was taken from the elements in his astrological chart. Members included bassist Verdine White (Maurice White’s younger half-brother); co- lead vocalist Philip Bailey; guitarist Al McKay; percussionist Ralph Johnson; and drummer Fred White (half-brother to Maurice and brother to Verdine), who died in 2023, at the age of 67.
The story is more or less about the band’s visionary and control freak founder, the enigmatic, workaholic, ruthless and womanizing Maurice White. He was born in 1941, in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had a turbulent life as his father abandoned Maurice’s teen mother (whereby he suffered from poverty and racial bullying). Not able to support her child, mom abandoned Maurice when a child to live in Chicago. He was raised by his grandmother in Memphis, who was known as ‘Big Mama.’ As a teen his mom brought him back to live with her new family (stepfather & siblings) in Chicago, but he never got over that he was abandoned.
Maurice worked for Chess records and then got a drummer gig with the popular Ramsey Lewis jazz band in NYC. In 1969, he left the band to start his own band in California. His music was created from his interest in transcendental meditation, Egyptology, mysticism and healthy living. He preached a lifestyle of eating health food and not taking drugs and alcohol. The band reflected Maurice’s mystical beliefs and Afro-futurism in its innovative music.
When his new band got off to a poor commercial start, he replaced them with new members.
Earth, Wind & Fire had hit singles from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, including “Shining Star,” “That’s the Way of the World,” “Sing a Song,” Fantasy,” “Getaway,” “Serpentine Fire,” “September,” “Boogie Wonderland”, “After the Love Is Gone”, “Got to Get You Into My Life,” and “Let’s Groove.”
We learn how the group was formed, the great costs of putting on their expansive touring shows, their musical contacts and their creative process.
Band members Ralph Johnson and Philip Bailey talk about being underpaid. Thereby Maurice breaks up the group in 1984, feeling it was going nowhere. When Maurice’s solo career fails, his record company convinces him to reunite the band in 1987– he also brings in new members.
It played at the Tribeca Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 9/9/2026 GRADE: B
dennisschwartzreviews.com