André Cymone

Key to "the Minneapolis sound" before the term was coined, André Cymone combines soul, funk, rock, blues, and pop with a positive message. The musician came up with Prince and went solo after several years of touring with the Purple One as bassist and backing vocalist. While signed to Columbia, Cymone released three albums that culminated with A.C., featuring the 1985 Top Ten R&B hit "The Dance Electric." Cymone also began supporting other artists as a writer and producer during those years, and he subsequently focused on that work, reaching a peak with Jody Watley's 1987 solo breakthrough. Cymone eventually took a step back to raise his children, and in the 2010s became active again, releasing the rock-oriented The Stone in 2014. The fiery 1969 (2017) and the descriptively-titled The Resurrection of Funk (2026) have seen him continue to offer feel-good, genre-blurring jams with progressive social commentary in the mix.