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Prince · S1 E4
Grand Central
A high school band with his cousin Charles and friend André Cymone. Rehearsals in André's basement on the North Side
Bernadette Anderson's basement, 1973. Three teenagers plug into borrowed amplifiers and play so loud the neighbors call twice.
Prince, 1999 (Official Music Video, 1982). The party-on-the-edge-of-destruction anthem, performed with a full band. This is what a basement band from the North Side becomes when the kid running rehearsals finally gets his way.
The Band
Prince is fifteen when Grand Central comes together. The lineup is built from his inner circle: Andre Anderson on bass, Prince's cousin Charles Smith on guitar, and friends from the North Side filling out drums and keyboards. They play covers of Earth, Wind & Fire and Santana until Prince starts sneaking in his own compositions.
Central High School, Minneapolis. The school where Prince, Andre Anderson, and Charles Smith formed Grand Central and played their first shows at talent competitions and school dances.
“For the first time in his life, and I know for the first time in mine, we found someone in each other who took music and all its possibilities extremely seriously.”
— Andre Cymone, Billboard, 2016
TAP TO REVEAL: Why did rival bands dread competing against Grand Central?
What was the name of Prince's first band?
Uptown, Prince
From Dirty Mind (1980). Prince's love letter to the North Side of Minneapolis, the neighborhood where Grand Central was born. Over a stripped-down funk groove, he describes a place where none of the usual rules apply.
Grand Central is good, but Prince already knows he needs more than a high school band. Next: Pepe Willie, the family connection who opens the door to professional recording.
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