The Short, Funky Life of Arlester “Dyke” Christian

Ever wonder who scored the first Billboard Hot 100 hit with the word “Funky” in the title? No? Well you’re gonna find out anyway.

In 1966, Dyke & the Blazers became the answer to this never-asked trivia question with “Funky Broadway”.

“Funky Broadway” is a celebration of the most famous street in New York…Buffalo, New York, that is.

It might be a stretch to say Buffalo was the birthplace of funk. But it was the birthplace of a decidedly funky young singer and bassist named Arlester “Dyke” Christian. The Queen City boasted a surprisingly buzzy hive of clubs in the early ‘60s. Arlester became a fixture on the scene while still in his teens.

He was just 17 when he landed his first steady job in 1960 with a local combo called Carl LaRue and His Crew. In 1962, they recorded a minor Northern Soul single called “Please Don’t Drive Me Away”.

While the tune didn’t make much of an impact outside the Buffalo metro area, it did help bring the band to the attention of a prominent DJ named Eddie O’Jay. Eddie was based out of Phoenix, Arizona and managed a budding soul band called the O’Jays.

Eddie invited Carl LaRue and his Crew out to Phoenix to record backup vocals for his future stars. They jumped at the opportunity and made their way out west.

By The Time I Get to Phoenix

The collaboration was short-lived. The Crew arrived in 1964. The O’Jays left for L.A. in 1965. LaRue returned to Buffalo.

As for his Crew… bereft of funds, they remained stranded in the desert and took up semi-permanent residence in Arizona.

Arlester and his bandmates (one of whom was actually named Alvester!) joined forces with a local combo called the Blazers. In 1966, Dyke and the Blazers were born. Arlester, Alvester and the rest of the Blazers drew heavily on James Brown’s improvisational soul workouts for their live performances. One such workout evolved into a song called “Funky Broadway”, which namechecked both Buffalo’s Broadway and Broadway Road in Phoenix.

The single was sliced into two parts–Part I on the A-Side; Part II on the B-Side—and released by a small Phoenix-based label called Artco.

Down on Broadway, there's a crowd

Some radio stations, suspicious of the word funky, refused to play it. Still, “Funky Broadway” peaked at #17 on the R&B Charts and reached #65 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Dyke and the Blazers seized on the song’s popularity, touring extensively, introducing a trademark dance move, and even appearing in the occasional cinematic masterpiece.

Behold their 1967 guest spot performing “The Mummy” as Little Tibia and the Fibias for Boris Karloff’s stop-motion animated film–Mad Monster Party?

Down in a Blaze of Glory

Unfortunately, tension within the group erupted during a series of demanding engagements at Harlem’s famed Apollo Theater. The band splintered and Dyke lost his Blazers just before Wilson Pickett recorded his own version of “Funky Broadway”. This one topped the R&B charts and scaled all the way up to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967.

Pickett’s version is considered among the definitive soul recordings of the era.

Arlester scrapped together various touring lineups over the next year. Then in 1968, he traveled to L.A. where he hooked up with a collection of local session musicians–most of whom would later become members of either Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band or Earth, Wind & Fire.

How You Like Me Now?

These L.A. sessions actually produced the band’s two biggest hits, both charting entries in 1969.

“We Got More Soul” reached #7 on the R&B charts and #35 on the pop charts.

"Let A Woman Be A Woman, Let A Man Be A Man" reached #4 on the R&B charts and #36 on the pop charts.

If that one sounds familiar, that’s because it’s been sampled well over 100 times, perhaps most notably in 2009 by British indie rockers The Heavy.

Sadly, Dyke and the Blazers would manage just a few more minor R&B charting hits in 1970. Arlester Christian’s life would end in tragedy the following year.

Death and the Desert

Just 27 years old, Arlester was killed by a gunshot on the streets of Phoenix. The shooting was deemed an act of self-defense during a drug deal gone wrong.

According to the Phoenix detective who found him, “Dyke was a drug addict and had so many tracks on his arms you couldn't believe it.”

Fellow Buffalo native and funkster Rick James once described the sound of “Funky Broadway” as revolutionary. In spite of the dark turn in Arlester’s personal life, the Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame recognized his revolutionary acheivement by inducting Dyke and the Blazers in 2008.