Harry Wayne Casey of KC and the Sunshine Band will perform at Discovery Green: courtesy photo

Harry Wayne Casey laughs when I refer to his hits — as part of disco-funk group KC and the Sunshine Band — as the go-to New Year’s Eve soundtrack. Then he corrects me.

“I’m the go-to for any party, buddy,” he said.

His booty-shaking catalog rings in 2013 at Discovery Green. But it’s not his first momentous music moment in Houston.

“The one thing I can remember about Houston is at the Astrodome. I think we broke Elvis Presley’s record the night we were there (during RodeoHouston),” Casey said. “I had these platform shoes on, and I rode to the stage on a horse. When I got there, my left foot was stuck in the stirrup, and I fell in the dirt. Talk about embarrassing.

“They got my shoe out of the stirrup, and I stood up like the world boxing champ. Fists in the air, like, ‘Yeah! I’m all right!’

Trip-up aside, the Presley tidbit is a telling piece of trivia. KC and the Sunshine band played RodeoHouston three times (1977, ’79 and ’80), a testament to the band’s enormous popularity. The band was the first since the Beatles to score four No. 1 singles in a 12-month period, and several tunes crossed over to the R&B chart (including a head-scratching, 1998 collaboration with 2 Live Crew).

A string of enduring smashes — “Get Down Tonight,” “That’s the Way (I Like It),” “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty,” “I’m Your Boogie Man,” “Please Don’t Go” — appealed to diverse audiences and combined elements of pop, funk, soul and dance music. Casey picked up Grammys for his own albums as well as work with other artists and on the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack.

The songs have been featured in countless commercials and movies, from “Forrest Gump” to “Boogie Nights” to “Carlitos Way.” But almost 40 years since his first R&B hit — 1973’s “Blow Your Whistle” — Casey still feels that he deserves more credit for what he’s accomplished with his Sunshine Band.

“I feel the prestige, but personally, I feel a little disrespected in the whole thing. I always feel second-class to everybody,” he said. “It’s a genre that we kind of initiated. They gave the credit to the Bee Gees, to everybody else. Whenever people mention the ’70s, a lot of times they leave us completely out.

“We still stand a fat chance in hell of getting in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I think we belong there more than anybody, really, from then.”

Late disco queen Donna Summer was announced as a 2013 inductee. The Bee Gees and Parliament-Funkadelic earned spots in 1997. Earth, Wind & Fire followed in 2000. ABBA joined in 2010.

“We started this whole new era of uptempo dance music 40 years ago,” Casey said. “Now, it’s like every major artist in the world — from Rihanna to Beyoncé to Flo Rida to Pitbull to Usher to Justin Bieber — everybody, they’re all doing it. If it wasn’t for us and this music, they wouldn’t be having these (hits).

“It’s all ’70s dance music that’s on the radio right now. I feel good about it. I’m proud.”

Casey is also trying to get back in the game after hesitating for several years. He released a new single, “I Can’t Get You Out of My Mind,” earlier this year, and a package of club remixes is expected to follow. The song was produced by U.K. duo Bimbo Jones, who has remixed tracks for Adam Lambert, Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue and Rihanna. The pulsing single previews a new double-album of dance anthems and covers of ’60s classics.

Despite his high-energy history, Casey calls it his “first disco record.”

“I gave up on the music business because I was just tired of the political part of it. I started touring again, and it’s become comfortable for me. I think I finally understand what happened to me. I understand who I am now. Before, I was just all caught up in it. And then I went into drugs for 10 years. I kind of came out of this big cloud and feel relaxed with it,” he said.

“All of a sudden, that title came to me. The melody came to me. The words started flowing out of me nonstop. Within minutes, I had written this whole song. It’s almost like I woke up out of some musical coma. It’s exciting, and I love it. I’ve even written a song for (the Village People) that’s just killer. Who knows — maybe we’ll all have a comeback.”

New Years Eve Houston with KC and the Sunshine Band
When: 7 p.m. Monday
Where: Discovery Green, 1500 McKinney
Admission: Free; discoverygreen.com