A promotional photo of the Wicked Good Band from the 1980s or early 1990s, with Steve Bither on the far right, standing.  Photo courtesy of Bill Schulz

The Wicked Good Band had just played in front of a national TV audience, on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” when host Charles Gibson turned to the camera and said he’d like to introduce the band.

Steve Bither, the band’s keyboard player and acknowledged leader, said there was no need for that.

“He said we already knew each other,” said Jere DeWaters, the band’s washboard and harmonica player. “The host’s jaw just dropped.”

Bither, who helped form The Wicked Good Band and was a crucial part of the group’s sound and signature brand of Maine humor for more than 45 years, died on Tuesday. He was 76 and had lived in Portland.

Friends and bandmates on Thursday remembered Bither not only for his sense of humor and musical skill, but for his intelligence, kindness and service to others. He had earned a law degree while playing in the band, and as a lawyer, took on clients who needed help, regardless of their ability to pay.

His personality influenced the way he thought of ideas for songs, which were funny without making fun of someone or something in a malicious way, said Tim Sample, a long-time Maine humorist who knew Bither for more than 50 years.

“He was such a kind-hearted, gentle human being, and his way of doing humor was not even remotely mean-spirited,” said Sample “What he came up with was a celebration of the absurdities of life, and of Maine life. He was brilliant.”

Steve Bither of The Wicked Good Band, at his keyboard.  Photo courtesy of Bill Schulz

Bither’s bandmates said Thursday that the foundation of the band was the friendship they forged over the years, which was their inspiration, more so than public attention or audience applause.

“We were so close, it was all about getting the other guys to laugh on stage. We were there for each other,” said Bill Schulz, the band’s washtub bass player. “If we got the audience to laugh, that was good, too.”

Bither had grown up in Portland and went to Deering High School, where he said he was “class president one year and class clown every year,” according to Schulz. He attended Brown University in Rhode Island, but worked a variety of jobs, including as a cab driver, teacher and disc jockey, before attending the University of Maine School of Law.

He played music around Portland, including with Schulz and DeWaters, before officially forming The Wicked Good Band around 1980. Beginning in the early 1980s, The Wicked Good Band became known in Maine and beyond for combining clever lyrics about everyday Maine things — baked beans, the town of Gray, mud season, potatoes — with catchy tunes and Downeast accents.

The group made four albums and played at dozens of Maine festivals and fairs over the years, even while the band members went on to long careers in other fields. Besides appearing on “Good Morning America,” (sometime in the 1980s or 90s, band members say), the group also played on “CBS Sunday Morning” when Sample was doing regular segments for the show, between 1993 and 2004.

One of the band’s best-known songs, “Wicked Good,” was played on the nationally syndicated Dr. Demento radio show. On that song, Bither can be heard singing a bouncy tune to a girl named Velma, who’s in prison but who’s the “most cunnin'” girl he’s ever seen.

“I love ya darlin’ cuz you’re wicked good, you started fires in my haht of wood, and they’re burning hot because you’re wicked good,” Bither sang. “Wicked shahp, everything about you is wicked shahp, when I saw you at the counter of the old Kmart, fell in love with you because you’re wicked shahp.”

Another of the band’s tunes is a parody of Harry Belafonte’s 1956 hit “Day-O” (The Banana Boat Song) about banana pickers and featuring the chorus “day-o, day-ay-o.” The Wicked Good Band came up with a Maine version, with Bither on lead vocals, called “Ayuh, The Potato Pickin’ Song.” The chorus became “ayuh, ay-ayuh.”

Growing up, the band members were all fans of Maine humorists and storytellers like Joe Perham. So the accents and that brand of humor became part of their act, DeWaters said. He said the funny patter started when they needed to change instruments on stage and didn’t want the audience to get bored.

Steve Bither, at the keyboard and with a long beard, during a Wicked Good Band show more than 35 years ago. Photo courtesy of Bill Schulz

Besides playing in The Wicked Good Band, Bither was a volunteer with many local organizations, including Southern Maine Big Brothers Big Sisters, The Cleaves Law Library, Mad Horse Theatre, Pihcintu Multi National Girls Choir, the Committee to Restore the Abyssinian Meeting House, Friends of Evergreen Cemetery, and The Portland Conservatory of Music.

The band’s last appearance was in July at the Yarmouth Clam Festival, where they have played for 42 years. When asked if the band might play it again this year, without Bither, Schulz said he didn’t think so.

“There’s no band without him,” said Schulz. “I think we knew when one of us left, that would be it.”