Graham Central Station was an American funk band named after founder Larry Graham (formerly of Sly and the Family Stone). The name is a pun on New York City's Grand Central Terminal, often colloquially called Grand Central Station.
Background
Origins While still with Sly & the Family Stone, Larry Graham came into contact with Patryce Banks. They formed an ensemble called Hot Choc’let aka Hot Chocolate. According to the I Rock Jazz website, Graham intended to build a band around Banks and his role would be that of composer and producer. The band was playing a gig at a San Francisco club and towards the end of the performance, the audience encouraged Graham to do the last song with the band. Things clicked there. This led to Graham replacing the bass guitarist with himself, and the name of the band was changed from Hot Chocolate to Graham Central Station. Due to his involvement with the group, he left Sly & the Family Stone. The Graham Central Station line up was Graham, Willie Sparks, Patrice Banks, David Vega, Robert Sam, and Hershell Kennedy. According to The Virgin Encyclopedia of Seventies Music, Vega, Kennedy, Sparks and Banks were from Hot Chocolate.
Career...
Extract from Wikipedia: “Graham Central Station” (CC BY-SA 4.0).