You got to give it up the my man, Prince. He always had a mixed band from the beginning. Can't think of any asians, but he did have one handling his guitars for the Musicology tour. So, we can count that as one. With the exception of the Dave Matthews crew and Hootie, I can't think of many people who have had as much diversity as my dude. I could be wrong. It makes me think of Rockstar INXS. Remember, the TV show with Dave Navarro. The black guy Tyler had got voted off and was saying how it's a shame that in this day and age a black man can't front a white band. I agree with him. (This is of course, with the exception of Sananda fronting them after their lead singer died.) Let's thank Prince for not being colorblind!!! WE ARE THE WORLD!!!!! Whooo Hoooo!!

So did Benny Goodman. His was the first integrated band to play Carnegie Hall - in 1938.

mayebelle81 said:

race is only a color. if we can accept colored crayons cant we accept everybody in the world? be glad that u see a rainbow in the sky. if it werent for that rainbow life would be a 1940s horror movie wouldnt it? thank Goodness for technicolor.

im glad that Prince isnt colorblind. he can see real well actually. hes got 4 eyes really. 2 on his head and 2 under that ribcage of his. i think he uses the second pair more often than the first. after all it was the first pair he had in the 1st Place.

i was thinking about some of the major rock bands like metallica, rolling stones, aerosmith they didn't have blacks

Benny Goodman was the 1930s equivalent of "a major rock band."

mayebelle81 said:

Metallica has Rob Trujillo, i think he's latin. Stones have Daryll Jones, Bernard Fowler, Blondie Chaplin and Lisa Fisher in their live line-up.
Prince had this fake keyboarder in graffiti bridge (his hairdresser!) Phillip C., he looks a bit asian...

Sly and the Family Stone
Graham Central Station
KC and the Sunshine Band
Rick James and The Stone City Band
Hot Chocolate
Wild Cherry
Heatwave
Kleeer
Bill Summers and Summers Heat
Sun
Rufus and Chaka Khan
The Dazz Band

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE!.. Black, White, Male and Female. That was considered radical back in 1968.

Get it through your head people. Racists are idiot's, don't associate with it.
They just don't have the grace of understanding the human body at the cellular level.
There is little to no difference between races. (And blood types can be exchanged throughout races...individual types have to be determined.)
Men and women are further apart in unlikeness than ethnicity variation.And what does that difference bare? The same thing race difference bares. Kidz Kidz and more kidz.

I like I said I could be wrong. I forgot about some of the bands that were mentioned in here. Thanks for reminding me. I'm not a racist. I don't care about it. I would love to see a band of all races do a tribute to Prince at an award show. It would be cool if they were from the org and some of the other prince sites. That would be awesome!!!!

A band...from the org? Huh?

No No No!!! Just fans showing their appreciation for him. Musicians, singers, and dancers. I'm quite sure there are a lot of people who come to this site that are talented and would love to show Prince in person how much they love him. I know I would. I play any instruments that well, but I can sing and dance. That's what I'm saying. It would be cool if some of us could meet at Prince's house or something and have a jam session with him. I would give part of my left boob to see him. (It's the bigger one, so it would even them out.)

mayebelle81 said:

He got this idea from Sly & the Family Stone... to have his band be multi-cultured, not to mention the stage set-up he had with them being on different platforms.

Sly truly inspired him a lot in that respect
much like James Brown (fixing typo) inspired him because he had some gorgeous girls and because of the command he had over his group.

What's really interesting is that when Prince gets a band together, he makes sure that they all revolve around his vision. They all think the same way, not to mention surrounding himself with different cultures influences his music.

Wendy & Lisa helped influence his ATWIAD and Parade sound, which I LOVE... more so with Parade, but they helped him become a lot of what the artist he turned into.

The original NPG line-up doesn't have quite the same feel. They don't always give me that same touchy-feeling... feeling, but they influenced him in many different ways. He even worked with them extensively to help them get their sound out there (so comes the number of NPG albums that came about in the 90's).

In all cases of his bands and his proteges, etc, he uses them as ways to channel out their music. Learn from them and incorporate their vision into his own. Supposedly his work with The Family helped him define his sound that came about in the Parade/SoTT era (all the more reason why I wouldn't mind adding The Family's album to my collection, even if its just a vehicle he created and my collection more/less revolves around him).
His bands somewhat help him work through his material, trial & error and evolve his sound until he has something he likes.

And having mulit-cultural bands has helped him achieve his dream to write all kinds of music. His music touches so many of his and holds our interest because of his bands.

My
[Edited 4/2/08 9:03am]

"JAMES BOND!" Don't you mean Brown?

James Bond did also have gorgeous girls, and he does love the theme tune, so it all fits.

Just checking!

Good grief. Right. Because Sly Stone was the first person to have an integrated band...that sat on different levels.

Genesia said:

you don't agree?

mayebelle81 said:

Do you understand the meaning of the phrase, "When pigs fly?"

Genesia said:

Sure, I do!!! I didn't know what the hell that was!! Sorry for asking.

mayebelle81 said:

I like the multi-cultural thing too...everyone no matter race,color,creed,religion has talents...I'm a product of "jungle fever" myself and I love it!LOL. Yup you're lookin at German Chocolate here!LOL

Sasal said:

Rock On, Sista!!!!

xtraloveable said:

As for 70's-era bands,what about Mother's Finest and don't forget about Thin Lizzy, and more recently there's Rage Against The Machine. There are some black guys fronting hard rock/metal bands..check out Killswitch Engage and Sevendust.

DerekH said:

thanks i'll check them out

mayebelle81 said:

Thin Lizzy is a must!!!