Charles 'Chazz' Smith is the founder, original drummer and lead vocalist of Grand Central - the band that spawned Morris Day (of The Time), Andre Cymone, and also featured his cousin Prince Rogers Nelson. Charles and Prince attended Lincoln Junior High School together, with several other young local musicians they collaborated with, and formed the roots of what was later described as 'The Minneapolis Sound'. Grand Central was one of the only black groups in MPLS to fuse both rock and funk. Their name was inspired by the group Grand Funk Railroad. They performed yearly at outdoor summer festivals, school dances, and talent shows. Later Charles was slated to be the drummer on Prince's first tour, but his cousin was told that he needed a more multi-racial band. Prince credited Charles influencing him on three things in his life - drums, basketball and girls, as cited in Dan Piepenbring's book The Beautiful Ones.
INTRO to Charles
1mins30s - Reflections on Lincoln Junior High School, with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
2mins - Knocking on local doors in the neighbourhood just to listen
3mins - Hanging out in Sonny T's basement, and studying him
3mins30s - The MPLS drum beat: did Charles teach Prince? And influences...
4mins45s - MPLS fashions for young teens, dressing like Carlos Santana
5mins30s - Local schoolfriend Andre, starts out on saxophone, but is asked to play bass...
6mins30s - Having the same confidence of Prince
7mins - Getting the drum set in the bedroom
7mins45s - ...going to Seventh Day Adventist Church, but also Allstar Wrestling!
9mins - Going to the Sly & The Family show in MPLS
11mins - Prince's report cards and high school talent show notes!
13mins - The roots of the tree
13mins30s - Prince always wanted to be a 'badass musician'
14mins30s - Going to Prince's Dad's house - being immaculate and coming from a military background
15mins - everything matched, everything was hung up, everything was in order...
16mins- Prince's Mum had fur on the floor...and he turned out just like her.
16mins30s - Military fathers, Prince's Dad and complicated music
17mins45s - You let John play... and 2 different versions of The Horse With No Name
19mins - Jerry Hubbard, the bass player in The Time (in Purple Rain)
20mins - Family gatherings in the late 1960s and early 1970s at Charles Aunt Mary's house, staring at the organ
22mins - Charles Facebook post: Prince's school report in 1967
23mins30s - Charles Grandmother tells him that Prince is going to do something really special
25mins - He was on my band, I was playing and singing on the Delphonics... high voiced singing. Masculinity and dignity...
26mins - Prince becoming famous worldwide, 'he was built for it'
28mins - "You be you"
30mins - "While you were runnin' around chasing women, Prince was recording..."
31mins - "I used to go to jam sessions and bury dudes! Because of Prince..."