94 East was a Minneapolis-based funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

 group formed in December 1975 by Pepe Willie, the former husband of Prince

Prince (musician)

Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...

's cousin. Willie was one of the people responsible for getting Prince's career up and running, and soon enlisted the talents of a young Prince and his childhood best friend, André Cymone

André Cymone

André Cymone is an American bassist, songwriter and record producer. Cymone was a bass guitarist for recording artist Prince's touring band, pre-Revolution. Cymone began a solo career in 1981. His song, "The Dance Electric" , reached number ten on the R&B charts...

. Prince also composed one song for them, "Just Another Sucker". The band disbanded when Prince became a star in his own right. The 94 East recordings were recorded between December 1975 and February 1979. 94 East was named after Interstate 94

Interstate 94

Interstate 94 is the northernmost east–west Interstate Highway, connecting the Great Lakes and Intermountain regions of the United States. I-94's western terminus is in Billings, Montana at a junction with Interstate 90; its eastern terminus is the U.S...

.

Discography

All albums are variations and comprehensive versions of Minneapolis Genius.

• Minneapolis Genius or Minneapolis Genius - The Historic 1977 Recordings (credited as 94 East featuring Prince) (released in 1985 on vinyl and 1987 on CD).
• Symbolic Beginnings (credited as 94 East featuring Prince) (released in 1995, double CD)
• One Man Jam (credited as Prince and 94 East) (released in 2000, double CD)
• Just Another Sucker (credited as 94 East) (released in 2004, double CD)

External links

• Symbolic Beginning at Pepe Willie's official site