Graham Central Station

Graham Central Station was an American funk band named after founder Larry Graham (formerly of Sly and the Family Stone). The name is a pun on New York City's Grand Central Terminal, often colloquially called Grand Central Station.

Background

Origins

While still with Sly & the Family Stone, Larry Graham came into contact with Patryce Banks. They formed an ensemble called Hot Choc’let aka Hot Chocolate. According to the I Rock Jazz website, Graham intended to build a band around Banks and his role would be that of composer and producer. The band was playing a gig at a San Francisco club and towards the end of the performance, the audience encouraged Graham to do the last song with the band. Things clicked there. This led to Graham replacing the bass guitarist with himself, and the name of the band was changed from Hot Chocolate to Graham Central Station. Due to his involvement with the group, he left Sly & the Family Stone. According to The Virgin Encyclopedia of Seventies Music, Vega, Kennedy, Sparks and Banks were from Hot Chocolate. It reached number 18 on the R&B charts and this would be the bands only hit in the UK peaking at number 53.

Members

Larry Graham – vocals, bass, guitar, clavinet, organ, piano, drums, percussion
Lenny Williams – vocals
Patryce Banks – vocals, electric funk box (Maestro Rhythm King), tambourine
Ashling Cole – vocals, electric funk box (Maestro Rhythm King)
Tina Graham – vocals, electric funk box (Maestro Rhythm King)
David Vega – vocals, guitar
Gail Muldrow – vocals, guitar, electric funk box
George Johnson – vocals, guitar
Wilton Rabb – guitar
Freddie Stone – guitar
Gemi Taylor – guitar
Hershall Kennedy – vocals, clavinet, trumpet
Robert "Butch" Sam – vocals, piano, organ
David Council – vocals, keyboards
Jimi McKinney Jr. – vocals, keyboards
Rose Stone – vocals, organ, electric funk box
Cynthia Robinson – trumpet
P. CaboOse – tenor saxophone
Jerry Martini – saxophone
Dennis Marcellino – saxophone
Willie Sparks – vocals, drums
Manuel Kellough – drums
Noel T. Closson – drums
Gaylord Birch – drums
Brian Braziel – drums
Milt Holland – percussion

Discography

Studio albums

{| class="wikitable"

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Album

! scope="col" colspan="2"| Peak chart positions

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Certifications

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Label

! style="width:35px;"|US

! style="width:35px;"|US R&B

| rowspan="2"|1974

| Graham Central Station

| align=center | 48

| align=center | 20

| rowspan="5"|Warner Bros.

| Release Yourself

| align=center | 51

| align=center | 22

| 1975

| Ain't No 'Bout-A-Doubt It

| align=center | 22

| align=center | 4

US: Gold

| 1976

| Mirror

| align=center | 46

| align=center | 7

| 1977

| Now Do U Wanta Dance

| align=center | 67

| align=center | 12

| 1978

| My Radio Sure Sounds Good to Me

| align=center | 105

| align=center | 18

| WEA

| 1979

| Star Walk

| align=center | 136

| align=center | 44

| Warner Bros.

| 1997

| By Popular Demand

| align=center | —

| P-Vine

| 1998

| GCS 2000 (produced with Prince)

| align=center | —

| NPG

| 2012

| Raise Up

| align=center | —

| align=center | 65

| Moosicus Records

| colspan="6" style="text-align:center; font-size:9pt;"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Live albums

Live in Japan '92 (1992) Star Maker – manufactured by PIA Corporation & Edoya Records Inc. (Tokyo, Japan)
Live in London (1996) – Funk24 (London, England)
Can You Handle This? (2003) – Kezar Stadium – 1975, Big Fro Discs (Japan)

Compilation albums

The Best of Larry Graham and Graham Central Station, Vol. 1 (Warner Bros, 1996)
The Jam: The Larry Graham & Graham Central Station Anthology, (Rhino, 2001)
Greatest Hits (Rhino Flashback, 2003)

Singles

{| class="wikitable"

! rowspan="2"|Year

! rowspan="2"|Title

! colspan="3"|Chart positions

! style="width:35px;"|US R&B

! style="width:35px;"|US Pop