Dyke Arlester Christian
1943-1971
Inducted in 1998
"Dyke" Arlester Christian was born in Buffalo, New York in 1943. In 1965 he sang
and played bass guitar with the O'Jays' backing band, The Blazers.
Dyke and some of the Blazers were left in Phoenix, Arizona after the
O'Jays found
that they couldn't afford to bring the band back to Buffalo. In order to
raise the money needed to get home, the stranded musicians decided to
continue working as a group.
Bass player Dyke became the lead singer, they added some local musicians and
started playing the local clubs. The band was soon discovered by local producers
Art Barrett and Austin Coleman who released "Funky Broadway" , a tune Dyke had
written to go with a dance he had invented. The record was first released
on the
Phoenix based Artco label towards the end of 1966.
A local disc jockey, Tony Evans, started playing the record which rapidly
picked up
airplay on other stations in the Southwest. It was licensed in December,
1966 by top
Los Angeles "Oldies but Goodies" DJ, Art Laboe for his Original Sound label.
The
rest is history. On Original Sound 64, it reached number 65 on the Top 100 and
number 17 on the R&B chart in 1967. Dyke's recording of "Funky Broadway" went
on to sell almost a million records and was later covered by several other
artists,
notably Wilson Pickett, who had a hit with it on the Atlantic label. Dyke
and the
Blazers went out and toured heavily on the back of their hit, appearing at
most major
venues including the legendary Apollo Theatre in New York. Between tours, Dyke
recorded with the Blazers at Audio Recorders Studio in Phoenix, where the
classic
"The Wrong House" and "So Sharp" were cut. Arlester Christian (Dyke)
returned to
Phoenix whenever he could, dispite his success, and it was here that he was
shot dead
by a deranged man in the street where he usually hung out. He died on March 13,
1971.
Excerpted from liner notes by Preston Adams
Back to Hall of Fame