Earth, Wind & Fire Honored With 2005 Grammy Award Nomination for Best R&B Album for the Group’s new Release Illumination

New York, NY, December 9th, 2005 - Earth, Wind & Fire was honored yesterday with a GRAMMY Award nomination for Best R&B Album for their new release Illumination.

“We are ecstatic that our new album Illumination” has been recognized by the academy,” said EWFs Philip Bailey. “Congratulations to all the other nominees.”

2005 has been an incredible year for Earth, Wind & Fire. Their 23rd career album Illumination hit stores on September 20th and debuted at # 32 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart, marking a career best for the group. EWF’s influence and timeless signature sound is clearly felt on the album and was hailed by fans and critics alike for their creative collaborations with a new generation of soul artists such as Brian McKnight, Will.I.Am, Raphael Saadiq, Big Boi, Sleepy Brown, Kelly Rowland, Floetry, and Kenny G. USA Today proclaimed that “Earth, Wind & Fire is as vibrant as ever” on the release and Billboard Magazine said that the “collaborations eloquently capture EWF’s classic horn-and-harmony sound.”

The group’s current single from the album “Pure Gold,” also received a 2005 GRAMMY nomination today honoring its producers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis in the Best Production Non-Classical category. The first single off of Illumination, “Show Me the Way” featuring Ralph Saadiq, was nominated for a 2004 GRAMMY for Best Collaboration by a Duo or Group. In addition, “To You” the new single off Illumination, featuring Brian McKnight, was recently the #1 most added song at Urban Adult Contemporary radio with 33 adds.

The release of Illumination was kicked off by a historical performance opening the 57th Emmy Awards Ceremony with the Black Eyed Peas and was followed by series of high profile TV appearances throughout the fall that included such highlights as performances on the first ever LIVE edition of The Ellen Degeneres Show, the annual NBC Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at Rockefeller Center and McCormick’s Presents an Earth, Wind & Fire Tribute on Ice featuring Olympic gold medalist Brian Boitano, set to air on NBC December 17th .

Illumination hit stores following on the heels of the group’s successful concert tour with Chicago, illustrating that Earth, Wind & Fire remains to this day one of the top globally popular touring attractions. The concert tour resulted in a concert DVD that has reached nearly two times platinum status.

Earth, Wind & Fire continues to be simply one of the most important, influential, innovative and commercially omnipotent contemporary pop music bands of the 20th century. Their 35-year history has produced millions of albums sold worldwide including eight double-platinum albums, two platinum albums and three gold albums. Earth, Wind & Fire and the founding members have eight GRAMMY Awards, four American Music Awards, honors from the NAACP and BET, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the coup de grace: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2000.