b. Arlester Christian, 13th June 1943, Buffalo, New York, U.S.A. d. 13th March 1971, Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A.)
Dyke and the Blazers were formed in 1964, and were disbanded in 1971, following Arlester's shooting.
Arlester 'Dyke' Christian was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1943.
In the middle of the Sixties Dyke found himself singing and playing bass with the O'Jays backing band, the Blazers.
He and some of the other Blazers were stranded in Phoenix when the O'Jay's couldn't afford to bring them back to Buffalo, thus the Blazers based themselves in Phoenix.
Their song, 'Funky Broadway' was released on the Phoenix indie Artco in 1966, although it was later released on the Original Sound label.In the late '60's and early '70's.
Dyke and the band issued a series of funk singles and were possibly one of the first acts to utilise the term 'funk'.
He issued several two-part singles and for some of his sessions, Dyke recorded in Los Angeles with musicians who would later play in the Watts 103rd Street Band (guitarist Al McKay would later be in Earth, Wind & Fire).
Rumours stated that most of the singles came from 15-to-20-minute sessions that were edited down to a length that could fit on the 45 rpm format.
Dyke & the Blazers had Top Ten R & B singles with 'We Got More Soul' and 'Let a Woman Be a Woman, Let a Man Be a Man' in 1969, along with several less successful recordings 'Uhh', 'You Are My Sunshine', and 'Runaway People'.
Dyke Christian, sadly, was fatally shot on the street in Phoenix on the 13th of March 1971.
