Rootboy Slim And The Sex Change Band With The Rootettes

Root Boy Slim (July 9, 1944 – June 8, 1993) was the stage name assumed by American musician Foster MacKenzie III. He was born in Asheville, North Carolina but raised in Washington, D.C.'s Maryland suburbs. He was an exceptionally bright child with parents who were able to afford a series of costly prep schools, and he attended Yale University. He returned to Maryland upon receiving his bachelor's degree and was diagnosed with schizophrenia following an LSD-induced psychotic episode. In the 1970s, he formed his own alternative rock band (including musicians such as tenor saxophonist Ron Holloway) and an ensemble titled Crying Out Loud. 

 

At the height of the U.K.-imported punk movement, the United States answered with its own Root Boy Slim & the Sex Change Band. Along with support singers The Rootettes, Root Boy Slim was both a tongue-in-cheek parody of the generally unkempt punk rock scene and the leader of a fairly well-received and established blues bar combo. Their renown up and down the Atlantic seaboard was nothing short of a guide to low-brow humor and the "frat boy" lifestyle as espoused by the likes of 1978's "Animal House". Throw in a heapin' helpin' of proto-redneck sensibilities and voila. The band cultivated a dedicated fan base, largely confined to the Washington metropolitan area. MacKenzie died in his sleep in his home in Orlando, Florida at age 48 and is buried in Fletcher, North Carolina. He was inducted into the Washington Area Music Association Hall of Fame in 2004. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]