Barrett released the record on his own Artco label,[7][8] with Christian credited as its writer although other band members later claimed that they had contributed to the song.
The band added bass player Alvin Battle, freeing Dyke to concentrate on vocals, and toured widely on the back of its success.
However, in the summer of 1967, the stresses of playing a series of engagements at the Apollo Theater in Harlem caused the band to split up, shortly before Wilson Pickett had a bigger hit with his own cover version of "Funky Broadway".
[10] Dyke returned to Buffalo, and put together a new touring band, including Willie Earl (drums - previously a member of Carl LaRue's band), Wardell "Baby Wayne" Peterson (second drummer), Otis Tolliver (bass), Ray Byrd (keyboards), and Maurice "Little Mo" Jones (trumpet).
[4] After 1968, Christian made Dyke and the Blazers records with a variety of Los Angeles studio musicians, later known as the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band.
[1][12] Dyke and the Blazers continued to have less sizeable hits into 1970, with a style described by critic Richie Unterberger as "gut-bucket funk... with scratchy guitar riffs, greasy organ, hoarse vocals, and jazzy horns".
[1] Christian was preparing for a tour of England and for recording with Barry White when he was fatally shot on a Phoenix street, on March 13, 1971, at the age of 27.
However, on April 22, 1971 Jet Magazine quoted Phoenix detective Eloy Ysasi as saying, "Dyke was a drug addict and had so many tracks on his arms you couldn't believe it.
[citation needed] For Mad Monster Party?, they recorded "The Mummy", voicing the animated skeletal rock band Little Tibia and the Fibias.