Skip Martin has served as the lead vocalist for funk legends Kool & The Gang for 19 years. Courtesy photo

Grammy-winning musician Skip Martin has a mantra for success: “Don’t drive past the bank.” Basically, keep it simple and relatable.

A former member of Kool & The Gang and The Dazz Band with Rick James, Martin explained how some musicians make complicated music that “the people can’t sing.”

“Everybody can sing ‘Get Down on It.’ That’s a big lesson that I learned because I played all over the world with (Kool & The Gang), and we would get everybody up no matter what country we were in,” he said. “So that’s a major lesson for up-and-coming artists to realize: Don’t drive past the bank.”

The lead vocalist for funk legends Kool & The Gang between 1988 and 2007, Martin performs April 3 at The Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua.

An acclaimed vocalist and trumpet player, Martin said he began playing trumpet in fifth grade, not knowing “it was one of the most difficult instruments to play,” but then the trumpet chose him, and he was “hooked like an ant on sugar.”

He still remembers the day as a 7-year-old that he felt a mission to perform.

“I was riding in a Dodge Rambler with my grandmother and grandfather, and Nat King Cole had just passed away, and they were playing a tribute to him with ‘Unforgettable,'” Martin recalled. “It sounded to me like he was in the car with us. I said to my grandmother, ‘That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to play music so that when I die, people will feel like I’m still in the car with them.’ That’s what Nat did for me.”

After not diving past the bank, Martin has a second piece of advice.

“The main thing to be great at anything is to prepare yourself to endure pain,” he said. “Nothing great comes without pain, and the key to being successful is to endure the pain. That’s what separates greatness from mediocrity. Many times I had to fail at a horn part before I would get it until it comes out like water.”

Drawn to R&B and jazz, he said he loves listening to Charlie “Bird” Parker, Miles Davis and musicians like Freddie Hubbard and Hugh Masekela, Herb Alpert and Chuck Mangione. “I was getting into that vibe about the space very early in my career. So when I play my horn, I’m singing it like somebody would be singing versus playing notes.”

Among his albums, “Love Notes” includes collaborations with Latin legend Arturo Sandoval, Tower of Power bassist Rocco Prestia and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s lead violinist Stefan Maier.

“Arturo Sandoval is one of the best players in the world, but people don’t know him like they know Herb Alpert,” Martin noted. “People don’t know (John) Coltrane like they know Kenny G. It’s always the ones that aren’t driving past the bank.”

During COVID, he released an updated version of Curtis Mayfield’s inspirational classic “People Get Ready” as a benefit for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, drawing a major ensemble of artists including Stevie Wonder, Ray Parker Jr. and CeCe Peniston.

“I ended up getting 29 artists to sing a little something,” he said. “I couldn’t bring myself to ask Stevie to sing, who paid for my vocal lessons, but I asked him to play harmonica.”

Martin most recently released the smooth jazz album “Tom’s Diner” and has a new album, “My Audacity,” out soon that mixes jazz and electric dance-style music.

For his Kapalua show, Martin said the audience can expect “some of my legendary solo things, and The Dazz Band’s ‘Let It Whip.’ You’re going to hear my legacy. I know how to entertain, and I’m going to be stopping right at the bank on every song.”

Martin performs at 6 p.m. April 3 at The Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua. Admission is $10 or free for resort guests.