Continuing to release music that makes the good times better and the bad times more bearable, this collection is the band's 34th studio album, featuring some of the last studio work by founding horn players, Kool's brother Ronald "Khalis" Bell and Dennis "D.T." Thomas, who passed in 2020 and 2021. Lead vocals on the album also include Sha Sha Jones, Shawn McQuiller, Lavell Evans, Dominique Karan, Rick Marcel and Walt Anderson, plus rappers Ami Miller & Ole'.
From Newark to Nairobi, Kool & the Gang have performed continuously longer than any R&B group in history and are the most sampled R&B band of all time, including by Madonna, Jay-Z, Beastie Boys, Janet Jackson, Cypress Hill and P. Diddy. Not to mention their music on soundtracks from Rocky, Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction to Wreck-It Ralph and many more.
Yet, throughout all the success, Kool & the Gang has remained true to their roots while pushing into the future. Bell says of People Just Wanna Have Fun: "You've got the funk, you've got the jazzier tracks, we have a few ballads on there. Then there are songs that cross over to a pop sort of thing. We go from the '70s, the '80s, right into now. It's old school, it's new school - we kinda captured it all here. With all our music over the years, people have had fun. So I'd say this album just about sums it all up."