In 1974, they released the single "Can You Handle It?". It peaked at number 9 on the R&B charts[1] and number 49 on the Billboard Hot 100. Graham Central Station's biggest hit was "Your Love", which charted at number 1 on the R&B charts in 1975.[1] The same year they issued a cover version of the Detroit Emeralds 1972 hit "Feel the Need in Me".[7] It reached number 18 on the R&B charts and this would be the bands only hit in the UK peaking at number 53.[8] The group also integrated gospel music into their repertoire, and played with the dichotomy between the funk/rock star image and the "sanctified" gospel group image. Some of their recordings feature the Tower of Power horn section.
In 2011, Graham Central Station opened for Prince on Prince's "Welcome 2 America" tour.[9]
^ abcLiebman, Jon (October 2012). "Interview - Larry Graham". For Bass Players Only. Retrieved June 29, 2015. In the beginning, it was really built around the girl vocalist, Patrice Banks. We called her Chocolate, so we called the group Hot Chocolate. I was intending to be the writer and producer of the group. One night they were doing a gig at this nightclub in San Francisco called Bimbo's and I knew the music well that the band was playing because I wrote and arranged a bunch of it. Towards the end, with the urges of the crowd and everything, I ended up going on and playing with the band and I guess something happened that night. It was like we all knew that something had just happened there and it ended up being my band, with me just replacing the bass player.
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