Graham Central Station
Biography
Graham Central Station was a funk band named after founder Larry Graham(formerly of Sly and the Family Stone) and Grand Central Station in New York City.
The bands origins date from when Santana guitarist Neal Schon formed the band Azteca along with Larry Graham (bass guitar) and Gregg Errico (drums), both from Sly and the Family Stone, and Peter Sears (keyboards), from Hot Tuna and Jefferson Starship. Santana bass guitar player Tom Rutley would move into to the bass spot with Azteca. That band, like Santana with heavy Latin influences, would eventually morph into Graham Central Station, while Schon would found Journey.
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Graham Central Stations biggest hit was Your Love, which charted at number 9 in 1975. The group integrated Grahams slap bass style along with influences ranging from marching band to gospel. They played with the dichotomy between the funk rock star image and the "sanctified" gospel group image. Some of their recordings feature their then Warner Bros labelmates Tower of Power horn section. Graham went solo in the later 1970s having a chart hit with "One in a Million, You".
While no longer as popular as in the 70s, Larry Graham (born in Beaumont Texas in 1946) continues to tour and play music into the 21st century, most notably with Prince with whom he shares an interest in the Jehovahs Witness religion. In 1999, Graham recorded an album for Princes label under the Graham Central Station moniker that featured old Sly Stone era bandmates Cynthia Robinson and sax player Jerry Martini and performed on Princes "Rave Un2 2000" live DVD and appeared as a featured act throughout Princes Jam of The Year tour. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.
