Dyke & The Blazers

Among the earliest groups to explore funk outside James Brown's orbit, Dyke & the Blazers emerged as perhaps the most significant. Their sound frequently evoked a scaled-down counterpart to Brown and the JB's, with emphasis placed on interlocking rhythms and repeating riffs rather than melodic development. Lead singer Dyke Christian likewise delivered vocals that functioned chiefly as rhythmic and atmospheric elements, the semantic content taking a secondary role. The group's signature recording, "Funky Broadway," later achieved greater commercial success in a cover version by Wilson Pickett, yet Dyke & the Blazers still secured additional R&B chart entries before Christian was fatally shot in 1971.

Born Arlester "Dyke" Christian in Buffalo, New York, in 1943, he spent the mid-1960s performing on vocals and bass alongside the O'Jays' road band, the Blazers. When the O'Jays proved unable to finance the musicians' return to Buffalo, Christian and several Blazers found themselves stranded in Phoenix and decided to remain there. Their track "Funky Broadway" appeared on the local independent label Artco in late 1966 before Original Sound of Los Angeles assumed distribution duties; the single reached the upper ranks of the R&B charts and registered modestly on the pop side, possibly marking the first occasion the word "funky" appeared in a song title.

Dyke & the Blazers continued to register stronger sales and higher chart positions within the R&B market than among pop listeners, most of whom remained unfamiliar with the group. Throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s the band issued a succession of raw funk singles characterized by abrasive guitar figures, thick organ textures, raspy singing, and bright horn arrangements—stylistic traits first honed by James Brown and his ensemble. Christian executed the approach convincingly, including several two-part singles, though the output displayed limited stylistic range. Certain sessions took place in Los Angeles with players who subsequently joined the Watts 103rd Street Band; guitarist Al McKay would later become a member of Earth, Wind & Fire. Original Sound producer Art Laboe recalled that most of these singles originated as 15-to-20-minute improvisations subsequently edited to fit the 45 rpm format.

The group attained Top Ten R&B status with the 1969 releases "We Got More Soul" and "Let a Woman Be a Woman—Let a Man Be a Man," while "Uhh," "You Are My Sunshine," and "Runaway People" enjoyed more modest sales. Christian himself was shot and killed on a Phoenix street on March 13, 1971.