Let A Woman Be A Woman, Let A Man Be A Man Dyke And The Blazers Video Steven Bogarat

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Arlester Christian, nicknamed "Dyke", was born (according to most sources) in Buffalo, New York.[1] He attended Burgard High School.[2] In 1960, he started playing bass in a Buffalo band, Carl LaRue and his Crew, who played local bars and clubs and released a single, "Please Don't Drive Me Away", on the KKC label in about 1963.[3][4] In 1964, LaRue was invited by Phoenix, Arizona disc jockey Eddie O'Jay to take his band to that city, to provide the backing for the vocal group that he managed there, The O'Jays. By 1965, however, the O'Jays and their manager had moved elsewhere, and LaRue's band fell apart. LaRue returned to Buffalo, but Christian and two other members of the band, guitarist Alvester "Pig" Jacobs and saxophonist J.V. Hunt, had no means of traveling and stayed in Phoenix.[3][1] They joined forces with an existing Phoenix group, The Three Blazers, who included tenor saxophonist Bernard Williams,[4] and, as "Dyke and the Blazers", added local musicians Rich Cason (organ) and Rodney Brown (drums).[5] Playing in local clubs, the group picked up on the rhythms, bass and organ innovations of James Brown's band, and through improvisation developed a riff-based song that became "Funky Broadway", the lyrics reflecting singer Dyke's memories of Broadway in Buffalo as well as Broadway Street in Phoenix.