Patryce “Choc’Let” Banks’ unique experiences will give you a behind-the-scenes look into the intriguing life of one of the fore runners of "funk" music. The lead female singer of the Grammy nominated group Graham Central Station, Larry Graham's (Sly and the Family Stone's bass player) band, has truly come up with a book that you can't put down until you finish—riveting.

~Terry a O’Neal, BEST SELLING AUTHOR
www.TerryOneal.com

"Déjà View:
Memoirs of a Funk Diva"

Texas native and Funk Diva #1 Patryce “Choc’Let” Banks has released a luscious new memoir that chronicles one helluva ride aboard the Graham Central Station wagon. This soul-scorching, page-turning and often mind-boggling tale of how Patryce came to be the group’s greatest female vocal presence is chock full of truly jaw-dropping anecdotes on what life was like in the studio and on the road and behind the scenes with some of funk music’s biggest legends. This kaleidoscopic journey with Choc’Let takes one back in time thru a magical era of music and culture.

She tells it straight with no chaser. There were times when I had to actually put the book aside to gather my wits...In fact, I came completely apart and found myself shaking my head in disgust at Graham’s greed. The story is all too familiar. Frontman pockets millions while his band toiled for a measly weekly wage that bordered on poverty level....For fans of the group this may be a bitter pill to swallow. But once that pill gets in yo’ system all that glitters ain’t gold, especially in the behind-closed doors often clandestine business of pop music. Patryce recounts literally dozens of episodes throughout these pages and pens one of the most frank and accurate memoirs I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading.

Choc’Let didn’t write the book with any bitterness and provides the reader with as straight-forward an account as I’ve ever sat down to. All the juicy tidbits are there for sure, and I could go on and on about those. Honestly, that is what initially drew me into the book, but as I read on what I found was a deep introspection, profound wisdom, respect for life and peeling self-analysis.

This deeply personal and profoundly moving story is at it’s root, about one woman’s challenges and struggles for self and professional respect in a predominantly male-controlled industry and society. It’s a veritable who’s who of black music in the 70s and beyond. From her collaborations with hard-working Stephanie Mills, wild times with Chaka Khan, backing vox for artists as diverse as BB King to NWA(the latter of which were completely spellbound by the presence of The Funk Goddess) & too many others to begin to mention, Patryce has come full circle.

She is now respected throughout the music world as one of the great innovators in the genre. Give the soul sista her heartbeat props for this brutally honest, light-hearted and at times gut-wrenching account of her experiences from inside the trenches of one of funk’s most powerhouse bands at the height of it’s creative and commercial powers. Get it, read it for yourself, you will be a better person for it.

Cincinnati, OH Funk Journalist~"Bustin'"Bob Mitchell

Newly Released! "Secret Sacrifice"

Children are so vulnerable, offering pure, unconditional love with no expectations. Their minds, blank slates, where joyful memories can be tenderly etched or trauma burns itself onto the slate like a brand on the skin of an animal. How does a child cope with life devoid of a sense of wellbeing? This child learned to trust her instincts, much as the blind and the deaf do. If you can't believe your ears because people's words differ from their actions, you learn to listen between the lines, to what they don't say. If you can't believe your eyes because you live in a world where nothing is as it seems, you learn to look past what your eyes see on the outside and dwell in the spirit. If you can't feel, in someone's touch, when they say they "love" you, you learn to sense the energy of their being from a distance, escaping any undesirable contact. Life consisted of trying to create an existence in the place between what was real and what wasn't. The developing sense of my being was thwarted with each heinous innuendo, gesture, and act that Jack consistently tortured me with. As time went on, I managed to live with the fear. I really had no choice. Children were to be seen and not heard. In a world of adults, an abused child suffers in silence, trying to avoid trouble and even worse, alienation. Adults stuck together in thought, word, and deed. It was impossible to try to figure them out. All they did was lecture about what's "right" and what's "wrong". Children were supposed to do all the right things but adults could do all the wrong things. Who did they have to answer to? It didn't seem like God was paying attention.