Incredible find from Prince's 1970s Grand Central bandmate Terry Jackson has a few photos of Grand Central (incorrectly labeled) in their digital collection, from when they played the demolition of the YWCA in 1974.

Grand Central:

Prince (guitar, keyboard, vox)
André Cymone (bass, vox)
Morris Day (drums)
Terry Jackson (timbales)
Linda Anderson (keyboard)(André Cymone's sister)
William "Hollywood" Doughty (congas)

Source

[Edited 7/4/21 9:22am]

Thank God for these digital collections. They really do open up worlds for us.

So, Ruth Hawkins is that old dude in the background?

nayroo2002 said:

So, Ruth Hawkins is that old dude in the background?

No. The building being demolished was the Ruth Hawkins YWCA, due to be replaced by a new building.

[Edited 7/13/21 18:14pm]

Sorry!

Was being a bit cheeky in hopes that someone would name the musicians from left to right

Bernadette Anderson was on the board of the Ruth Hawkins YWCA at that time so when there was to be a demolition ceremony with the mayr and uppy-ups, she enlisted her son and his bandmates to perform.
For years, these photos were "lost" because the band was identified only as "The Ruth Hawkins Band" (from the name of the YWCA building). Big kudos to whomever unearthed them.

I haven't been able to determine the exact date of this event but it was obviously summer in Minneapolis, so Prince was either 15 or 16.
I've been wondering who the woman is who seems to be talking to P. It's not Linda Anderson (sitting at the keyboard) and it's obviously not Bernadette. Since Morris is at the drumgs, is it possible we're seeing Morris Day's mother here? She did some management of Grand Central for awhile and was described as a hottie.

[Edited 7/4/21 8:54am]

[Edited 7/4/21 17:33pm]

This is all so informative. We only know more of what Prince's life was like before he signed with Warner's only relatively recently. It's almost like Prince's life started when he signed to the label and forward.

Very nice photos, thanks heaps for posting

Just amazing.

Loved seeing these also shared via Housequake's FB group yesterday.

A couple of other fans were intrigued by the guitar as much as I was and it's a VOX Phantom V we reckon, probably the one that Andre Cymone mentions in a couple of interviews as their shared electric guitar (possibly Prince's first electric).

[Edited 7/5/21 3:48am]

Hard to believe that only 10 years later, he would be the biggest rock star in the world.

Someone on facebook said the Demolition ceremony and Grand Central performance was Thursday July 11th 1974.

The keyboard player, to me, looks like the same person as in that black and white photo, of the band all lined up in front of a tree. I thought that was Linda Anderson.

laytonian said:

I haven't been able to determine the exact date of this event but it was obviously summer in Minneapolis, so Prince was either 15 or 16.
I've been wondering who the woman is who seems to be talking to P. It's not Linda Anderson (sitting at the keyboard) and it's obviously not Bernadette. Since Morris is at the drumgs, is it possible we're seeing Morris Day's mother here? She did some management of Grand Central for awhile and was described as a hottie.

drumgs! the ultimate combo of rhythm and pharmaceuticals!

KeithyT said:

Someone on facebook said the Demolition ceremony and Grand Central performance was Thursday July 11th 1974.

The keyboard player, to me, looks like the same person as in that black and white photo, of the band all lined up in front of a tree. I thought that was Linda Anderson.

laytonian said:

I haven't been able to determine the exact date of this event but it was obviously summer in Minneapolis, so Prince was either 15 or 16.
I've been wondering who the woman is who seems to be talking to P. It's not Linda Anderson (sitting at the keyboard) and it's obviously not Bernadette. Since Morris is at the drumgs, is it possible we're seeing Morris Day's mother here? She did some management of Grand Central for awhile and was described as a hottie.

It's definitely Linda Anderson on the keyboards.
Thanks for the date info. So Prince would have just turned 16 a month before.

laytonian said:

It's definitely Linda Anderson on the keyboards.
Thanks for the date info. So Prince would have just turned 16 a month before.

Sorry I misread your comment about the lady with the bag (I don't know who that is either) and Linda on keys which you knew. Gotcha now.

Milty2 said:

This is all so informative. We only know more of what Prince's life was like before he signed with Warner's only relatively recently. It's almost like Prince's life started when he signed to the label and forward.

It's almost like he suddenly had a PR department behind him.

laytonian said:

I've been wondering who the woman is who seems to be talking to P. It's not Linda Anderson (sitting at the keyboard) and it's obviously not Bernadette. Since Morris is at the drumgs, is it possible we're seeing Morris Day's mother here? She did some management of Grand Central for awhile and was described as a hottie.

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Someone should send these photo's to Morris Day on his Instagram account.

Why not. He might remember this.

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Thank you so much for these incredible documents.

I'm also happy to see this is a 'sticky' !

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Vannormal said:

"you need to pick yo afro daddy cause it's flat on one side"-erykah badu

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Seems like Prince was already on heels !

Just imagine if this was recorded...

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Vannormal said:

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Seems like Prince was already on heels !

Just imagine if this was recorded...

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If you look closely at the crowd photo, there is a film camera just on the edge of the photo. Film possibly does exist of this.

Morris posted the photo to his Instagram account.

ISaidLifeIsJustAGame said:

And 10 years later he'd be the biggest musical artist in the world!

For the person who said that Prince's life seemed to start with the WB contract, that might've been by design. He was all about the mystery!

Se7en said:

And 10 years later he'd be the biggest musical artist in the world!

For the person who said that Prince's life seemed to start with the WB contract, that might've been by design. He was all about the mystery!

Ya that was me. I doubt it was by design. I believe so much of Prince's "professional" life was no different than any other musical artist once they signed a contract. You can track it against a lot of other artists. Some take off right away, some never really take off and some take a couple of albums to take off.

I believe in the "design by mystery" thing he eventually adopted but I don't like to put a lot of weight on it. Prince was awkward, he didn't like journalists and the media but if he needed to speak to an audience, he reserved it for the stage or a record. That I believe.

Does anyone know if he had kept that guitar?

nelcp777 said:

Does anyone know if he had kept that guitar?

I don't remember, off hand, seeing it in the police photos of Paisley Park. But that doesn't mean it wasn't somewhere else.