Larry Graham

All Music Guide:

Graham Central Station was a showcase for the revolutionary pop-and-slap bass guitar of Larry Graham, an alumnus of Sly & the Family Stone largely responsible for originating the percussive groove which typified the progressive funk sound of the 1970s. Born August 14, 1946 in Beaumont, TX, Graham was raised in Oakland, CA; by his teens he was adept not only on bass but also guitar, harmonica, and drums, and at the age of 15 began performing with the Dell Graham Trio, his mother's lounge act. While attending college, he served as a supporting musician with the likes of John Lee Hooker, Jackie Wilson, Jimmy Reed, and the Drifters; in 1968 he joined Sly & the Family Stone, appearing with the group during the halcyon period which gave rise to such classic albums as Stand! and There's a Riot Goin' On, as well as smash singles like "Dance to the Music" and "Everybody Is a Star," both of which prominently feature Graham's cavernous baritone in addition to his enormously influential thumping bass style.

In the wake of behind-the-scenes turmoil, Graham exited the group in late 1972; after initially agreeing to produce a band named Hot Chocolate (not the same act famed for hit singles like "Emma" and "You Sexy Thing"), he eventually joined their lineup, renaming the unit Graham Central Station. A propulsive, infectious funk ensemble, their original roster also included guitarist David "Dynamite" Vega, keyboardists Robert "Butch" Sam (formerly with Billy Preston) and Hershall "Happiness" Kennedy, percussionist Patryce "Chocolate" Banks, and drummer Willie "Wild" Sparks. The debut Graham Central album, an eponymously titled effort released in 1974, proved highly successful, launching a minor pop hit with "Can You Handle It." Another hit, "Feel the Need," emerged from Release Yourself, issued later that same year; the third GCS LP, 1975's Ain't No Bout-A-Doubt It, yielded the single "Your Love," a Top 40 pop hit which also topped the R&B charts. Mirror followed a year later.

With 1977's Now Do U Wanta Dance, Graham Central Station scored another R&B smash with the title track; by the release of 1978's My Radio Sure Sounds Good to Me, Graham's wife Tina had signed on as a vocalist, but pop crossover success remained elusive, and after Star Walk the following year, the group disbanded. Graham then turned solo, moving from funk to soulful ballads; his debut effort, 1980's One in a Million You, reached the Top 30, the title track becoming a Top Ten hit. 1981's Just Be My Lady yielded another hit with its own title cut, while 1982's Sooner or Later was also successful. However, after 1983's Victory, Graham's career took a downward turn, with 1985's Fired Up released solely in Japan. Aside from 1987's "If You Need My Love Tonight," a minor hit duet with Aretha Franklin, he was largely out of the public eye in the years to follow, instead working as a songwriter and sideman.

By the early '90s, Graham was leading Psychedelic Psoul, a nine-piece band which toured with comedian/singer Eddie Murphy; he also toured with the Crusaders. Following Sly & the Family Stone's 1993 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, he re-formed Graham Central Station, eventually bringing into the fold former Family Stone bandmates Cynthia Robinson on trumpet and Jerry Martini on saxophone. Throughout Graham's lean years, one of his most vocal supporters remained the Artist Formerly Known as Prince, who readily acknowledged the influence of GCS not only on his music but also on his flamboyant stage show; by 1997, Graham Central Station was ensconced as the regular supporting act on Prince's extended Jam of the Year tour, with the group also issuing a Japanese album titled By Popular Demand. Sessions at Minneapolis' Paisley Park Studios yielded the release of GCS 2000 in 1998.

Wikipedia:

Larry Graham, Jr. (born August 14, 1946, Beaumont, Texas) is an American bass guitar player, both with the popular and influential psychedelic soul/funk band Sly and the Family Stone, and as the founder and frontman of Graham Central Station. He is credited with the invention of the slapping technique, which radically expanded the tonal palette of the bass, although he himself refers to the technique as "Thumpin' and Pluckin'."

Biography

Graham played bass in the highly successful and influential funk band Sly and the Family Stone from 1966 to 1972. It is said that he pioneered the art of slap-pop playing on the electric bass, in part to provide percussive and rhythmic elements in addition to the notes of the bass line when his mother's band lacked a drummer; the slap of the thumb being used to emulate a bass drum and the pop of the index or middle finger as a snare drum. This style has become archetypal of modern funk. Slap-pop playing couples a percussive thumb-slapping technique of the lower strings with an aggressive finger-snap of the higher strings, often in rhythmic alternation. The slap and pop technique incorporates a large ratio of muted or "dead" notes to normal notes, which adds to the rhythmic effect.

This "slap" bass style was later used by such artists as Les Claypool (of Primus), Bootsy Collins, Louis Johnson, Mark King, Flea, Tim Commerford (of Rage Against The Machine), Peter Hook, Victor Wooten, Jonas Hellborg, Kim Clarke of Defunkt, Marcus Miller, Stanley Clarke, John Norwood Fisher, P-Nut, Danny McCormack, Matt Noveskey, Dirk Lance, and Pino Palladino.

After Sly and the Family Stone, Graham formed his own band, Graham Central Station. The name is a pun on Grand Central Station, the train station located in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Graham Central Station had several hits in the 1970s, including "Hair".

In the mid-1970s, Larry Graham worked with Betty Davis, the second ex-wife of jazz legend Miles Davis. Betty Davis' band included members of the Tower of Power horns and the Pointer Sisters, and she recorded three albums to critical acclaim but limited commercial success.

In 1975, Graham became Jehovah's Witness. Eventually he was credited with converting Prince to the faith. In the early 1980s, Graham recorded five solo albums and had several solo hits on the R&B charts. His biggest hit was "One in a Million You", a crossover hit, which reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1980.

He reformed Graham Central Station in the early 1990s and performed with the band for several years during which they released 2 live albums. One was recorded in Japan in 1992, and the other, recorded in London in 1996, had only 1000 copies printed and was exclusively sold at concerts.

In 1999, he recorded a solo album under the name Graham Central Station, GCS 2000. It was a collaboration between Larry Graham and Prince. While Graham wrote all the songs, except one co-written by Prince, the album was co-arranged and co-produced by Prince, and most of the instruments and vocals were recorded by both Graham and Prince. Graham also played bass on tours with Prince in 1997-2000. He appeared in Prince's 1998 VHS Beautiful Strange and 1999 DVD Rave Un2 the Year 2000.

He has appeared with Prince since then at various international venues.

Larry Graham and Graham Central Station performed internationally with a world tour in 2010 and the "Funk Around The World" international tour in 2011.

Graham is the uncle of Canadian rapper and actor Aubrey Graham (Drake). Graham is the father of Singer/producer/songwriter Darric Graham