10/04/2026
47 years ago, I remember driving my cousin Prince to the Capri Theater and afterward, we drove home together. Long before Grand Central was formed, our musical journey began at his mother’s house on 8th and Upton, where we first started playing music together. As cousins, we would go back and forth from his house to mine on 9th and Sheridan. The upstairs den in my house had mirrors on the closet doors. The best part was that we could angle the doors to watch our performances as we played. Andre then joined us in junior high and we became a three-piece. We moved to Andre’s basement after my father who worked for the City of Minneapolis received a call at his job site. The police had been called because the music we were playing attracted so many kids outside my house.
Fast-forward to 1984, when I sat down with Steven Ivory for a book he was writing. Steven needed more information about our family, growing up together, our musical influences and how the band was formed. Ivory wrote, “Prince on guitar, and Andre, on bass, were playing together in a band called Grand Central, which had been formed by Prince’s cousin, Charles Smith, who played drums. Andre, Prince and his cousin Charles could now spend as much time as they wanted making music. Bernadette was fairly permissive with the fellas. As long as they went to school, got good grades and stayed out of trouble, they could do whatever they wanted.”
These are some of the memories of how it all began... long before the world knew the name Prince. There was family, friendship, music, and a dream that started right in our neighborhood.
Charles Smith, William “Hollywood” Doughty & Andre Anderson
Grand Central originals at the Minneapolis Urban League.
