Prince Charles & The City Beat Band

Prince Charles & The City Beat Band were an American synth-funk group that released the 1980 album Gang War on Solid Platinum Records, followed by the 1982–84 Virgin albums Stone Killers! and Combat Zone.

Members: Prince Charles Alexander, Kim Davis

Background

Prince Charles & the City Beat Band formed in Boston in 1979 when manager Tony Rose attached the City Beat Band name to singer and multi-instrumentalist Charles Alexander.

Alexander attended Boston Latin School, where he began clarinet around age eleven and soon moved to saxophone. He also attended programs at New England Conservatory and studied piano with Ran Blake.

Alexander joined the Energetics at fifteen and played alto saxophone in the Boston group under manager Roscoe Gorham. He left the group after entering Brandeis University in 1975 and spent summer 1976 playing club dates at Roscoe’s Lounge. Alexander formed the Live Music Band with Bil Mooney-McCoy and five other Brandeis students in fall 1977, then played Boston jazz clubs.

Alexander met Maurice Starr through the circle around Gorham and joined Starr on keyboards and drums. The two musicians also played clubs in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and Philadelphia. Alexander decided to make his own record after hearing Starr’s “‘Bout Time I Funk U” and asked Starr to produce the sessions. He bought a Computone Lyricon II shortly ahead of the studio date and made the wind synthesizer his principal instrument.

Gorham declined to finance the proposed sessions but introduced Alexander to Boston music executive Tony Rose, who paid the $2,500 studio bill and became Alexander’s manager. Alexander and Starr cut “In the Streets” and “Fresh Game,” with Alexander on Lyricon and Starr on guitar and synthesizer. Alexander scored a local nightclub hit in 1979 with “In the Streets.” Bassist Kim Davis joined the recording lineup as Rose and Alexander followed the single with sessions for Gang War.

Discography: