associated_acts death_place death_date years_active label background birth_date instrument genre article_title name occupation
kc and the sunshine band , blowfly miami , florida , u.s. 28 july 2000 1973 -- 2000 tk records , sunshine sound records , rhino non_vocal_instrumentalist 18 june 1953 guitar disco , pop , funk jerome smith -lrb- musician -rrb-
 jerome smith musician
jerome smith -lrb- musician -rrb-

jerome smith -lrb- june 18 , 1953 -- july 28 , 2000 -rrb- was a guitarist at tk records in miami , florida , who was a member of kc and the sunshine band .
his rhythm guitar playing was a key part of the band 's propulsive disco sound , first gaining international attention on george mcrae 's hit recording of `` rock your baby '' -lrb- for t.k. -rrb- in 1974 .
smith 's high-pitched , restless guitar solo on `` get down tonight '' , kc and the sunshine band 's first us # 1 single , resembled the sound of a synthesizer .
it was achieved by speeding up the solo guitar track against a normal-speed rhythm guitar track in the studio .
with the group he recorded five no. 1 songs , including `` that 's the way -lrb- i like it -rrb- '' , '' -lrb- shake , shake , shake -rrb- shake your booty '' and `` i 'm your boogie man '' .
he was also sought after as a session guitarist , playing on 10 albums by the disco burlesque artist blowfly and touring in america with the australian group the divinyls .
in the 1990s , he contributed to the soundtrack of the television series `` melrose place '' .
he died on july 28 , 2000 , in an accident on a construction site in miami where he was working as a bulldozer operator .
