| Larry Graham | |
| Birth Name: | Larry Graham Jr. |
| Birth Date: | 14 August 1946 |
| Birth Place: | Beaumont, Texas, U.S. |
| Instrument: | Vocals, bass guitar |
| Genre: | Funk, soul, R&B |
| Occupation: | Musician, songwriter, producer |
| Years Active: | 1961–present |
| Label: | Epic, Warner Bros., NPG, Rhino, Sphinx |
| Associated Acts: | Sly and the Family Stone, Prince, Graham Central Station, Drake |
Larry Graham Jr. (born August 14, 1946) is an American bassist and baritone singer, with the psychedelic soul/funk band Sly and the Family Stone and as the founder and frontman of Graham Central Station.[1] In 1980, he released the single "One in a Million You", which reached the top ten on the US Billboard Hot 100. He is credited with the invention of the slapping technique on the electric bass guitar, which radically expanded the tonal palette of the bass, although he himself refers to the technique as "thumpin' and pluckin'".[2]
In 1993, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Sly and the Family Stone.[3] He is also the uncle of rapper Drake.
Graham was born August 14, 1946, in Beaumont, Texas, U.S., to parents who were successful musicians.[4]
Graham played bass in the funk band Sly and the Family Stone from 1967 to 1972. The band was the first major American rock group to have a racially integrated, mixed-gender lineup.[5] They had a series of influential tracks during the 1960s that entered the Billboard Hot 100 such as "Dance to the Music" (1968), "Everyday People" (1968), and "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" (1969), as well as critically acclaimed albums such as Stand! (1969), which combined pop sensibility with social commentary.
After many years of tension between Graham and frontman Sly Stone, Larry Graham left Sly and the Family Stone in 1972, after a post-concert brawl broke out between Graham and Sly, and rumours also spread that Larry had hired a hit man to kill Sly.[6] Graham and his wife climbed out of a hotel window to escape, and Pat Rizzo gave them a ride to safety.[7] Unable to continue working with Sly, Graham immediately quit. In 1993, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Sly and the Family Stone.
After Sly and the Family Stone, Graham formed his own band, Graham Central Station.[4] The name is a pun on Grand Central Station, the train station located in Manhattan, New York City. Graham Central Station had several hits in the 1970s, as well as the album track "Hair".
In the mid-1970s, Larry Graham worked with Betty Davis, the second ex-wife of jazz musician 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 one of Jehovah's Witnesses.[8] Eventually, he was credited with introducing Prince to the faith. In the early 1980s, Graham recorded five solo albums and had several solo hits on the R&B chart.[4] His biggest hit was "One in a Million You", a crossover hit that reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1980.[4]
He reformed Graham Central Station in the early 1990s and performed with the band for several years during which they released two 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 1998, 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 from 1997 to 2000. He appeared in Prince's 1998 VHS Beautiful Strange and 1999 DVD Rave Un2 the Year 2000. He has since appeared with Prince at various international venues.Graham and Graham Central Station performed internationally with a world tour in 2010 and the "Funk Around the World" international tour in 2011. He appeared with Andre Beeka as a special guest at Jim James' "Rock N' Soul Dance Party Superjam" at the 2013 Bonnaroo Music Festival.
Graham is the half-brother of Dennis Graham, and the uncle of Canadian rapper and actor Drake.[9]
It is said that Graham 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 decided to no longer have a drummer in her band, while Graham also admits in a BBC documentary on funk music that he is unsure if it was done on economic grounds;[10] 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 the archetype 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.
He is credited with the invention of the slapping technique on the electric bass guitar, which radically expanded the tonal palette of the bass, although he refers to the technique as "thumpin' and pluckin'".
This "slap" bass style was later used by such artists as Bootsy Collins (P-Funk), Les Claypool (Primus), Bernard Edwards (Chic), Louis Johnson,[11] Mark King, Keni Burke, Victor Wooten, Kim Clarke of Defunkt, Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Marcus Miller, and Stanley Clarke.
| Year | Album | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [12] | US R&B [13] | ||||
| 1980 | One in a Million You | align=center | 26 | align=center | 2 |
| 1981 | Just Be My Lady | align=center | 46 | align=center | 8 |
| 1982 | Sooner or Later | align=center | 142 | align=center | 15 |
| 1983 | Victory | align=center | 173 | align=center | 52 |
| 1985 | Fired Up | align=center | — | align=center | — |
| 2019 | Chillin | align=center | — | align=center | — |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||||
| Year | Single | Album | Peak chart positions | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=35 | US [14] | width=35 | US R&B [15] | width=35 | US Dance [16] | width=35 | US A/C [17] | width=35 | UK [18] |
| 1980 | "One in a Million You" | One in a Million You | 9 | 1 | — | 37 | — | ||
| "When We Get Married" | 76 | 9 | — | — | — | ||||
| 1981 | "Guess Who" | Just Be My Lady | — | 69 | — | — | — | ||
| "Just Be My Lady" | 67 | 4 | — | — | — | ||||
| 1982 | "Don't Stop When You're Hot"/ "Sooner or Later" | Sooner or Later | 102 110 | 16 27 | 17 | — | 54 | ||
| 1983 | "I Never Forget Your Eyes" | Victory | — | 34 | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | |||||||||
See main article: articles and Sly and the Family Stone discography.
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Compilation