Larry Graham

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Larry Graham on the cover of his 1981 LP Just Be My Lady.
Larry Graham on the cover of his 1981 LP Just Be My Lady.

Larry Graham, Jr. (born August 14, 1946 in Beaumont, Texas) is an American baritone singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as both the bass guitar player in the popular and influential psychedelic soul/funk band Sly & 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 guitar, although he himself refers to the technique as "Thumpin' and Pluckin'."

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[edit] Biography

Graham played bass in the highly successful and influential funk band Sly & the Family Stone from 1967 to 1972. He pioneered the art of slap-pop playing on the electric bass guitar, in part to provide percussive and rhythmic elements in addition to the notes of the bassline when the band lacked a drummer. This style has become archetypical 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 'ghost' tones) to normal notes, which adds to the rhythmic effect.

This "machine-gun" bass style was later used by such artists as Les Claypool, Bootsy Collins, Louis Johnson, Mark King, Flea, Victor Wooten, Marcus Miller, Stanley Clarke, John Norwood Fisher, P-Nut, Danny McCormack, and Dirk Lance.

Upon the Family Stone's disintegration due to lead singer Sly Stone's drug addiction, 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 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 a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses[1]. In the early 1980s, Graham recorded five solo albums and had several solo hits. His biggest hit was "One in a Million, You", which reached number 9 on the Billboard chart in 1980.

He recorded another album in the late 1990s, with a new band using the Graham Central Station name. Two of the new members were former Family Stone bandmates Cynthia Robinson and Jerry Martini. He also toured with Prince and his band as his bassist in 2000. Discography with GCS: Graham Central Station 1974, Warner Bros. Release Yourself 1974, Warner Bros. Ain't No 'Bout-A-Doubt It 1975, Warner Bros. Mirror 1976, Warner Bros. Now Do U Wanta Dance 1977, Warner Bros. My Radio Sure Sounds Good to Me 1978, WEA Star Walk 1979, Warner Bros. The Best of Larry Graham and Graham Central Station, Vol. 1 1996, Warner Bros. Graham Central Station 2000 1998, NPG (produced with the artist formerly known as Prince) The Jam: The Larry Graham & Graham Central Station Anthology 2001, Rhino Greatest Hits 2003, Rhino Flashback

[edit] Solo

[edit] Albums

All Warner Bros. releases.
  • 1980: One in a Million You
  • 1981: Just Be My Lady
  • 1982: Sooner or Later
  • 1983: Victory
  • 1985: Fired Up
NPG Records release
  • 1999: GCS2000

[edit] Singles

Year Title Album US Hot 100 US R&B UK Chart
1980 "One in a Million You" One in a Million You 9 1
1980 "When We Get Married" One in a Million You 76 9
1981 "Guess Who" Just Be My Lady 69
1981 "Just Be My Lady" Just Be My Lady 67 4
1982 "Sooner or Later"/
"Don't Stop When You're Hot"		 Sooner or Later 27
16
1983 "I Never Forget Your Eyes" Victory 34

[edit] External links

Media

[edit] References

  1. ^ Awake! magazine, 22 February 1989, p.15
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