(June 1, 2026) The history of the Minneapolis sound and funk music courses through the music of the Minneapolis Funk All Stars. Prince, the legendary creator of that sound that made Minneapolis music famous, is the band’s connective tissue.
Each Minneapolis Funk All Star member was either discovered by Prince, toured with him, played in a band that Prince put together or appeared in films like “Purple Rain.” That includes St. Paul Peterson, who was discovered by Prince and appeared in “Purple Rain” and became the lead singer of the band The Family, which scored hits in the mid-1980s with “Screams of Passion” and “Nothing Compares 2 U.”
“Gotta Keep the Funk Alive,” the song featured in this First Listen was co-written by a name familiar to Soultrackers – Jason Peterson DeLaire, who toured as a saxophonist and keyboardist during the “Diamonds and Pearls” era.
“Gotta Keep the Funk Alive” is an homage to the artists who contributed to funk music and the culture, whether those artists were from the Twin Cities like The Time or from other parts of the country like The Gap Band, James Brown, the P-Funk Family or Zapp.
In that way “Gotta Keep the Funk Alive” keeps with the tradition artists making songs that recognizes and pays tribute to the heroes and contemporaries that influenced them. Prince himself contributed to that genre with his 2004 banger “Musicology.” Check out the Minneapolis Funk All Stars on the World Premiere of “Gotta Keep the Funk Alive.”
By Howard Dukes
