The One in Funk Music

The One in Funk Music is a blog dedicated to all things funk. From the latest news and reviews to interviews and features, we cover everything you need to know about the genre.

George Clinton and the Funkadelics

Funk music is a style of danceable music that developed in the mid-1960s. Its roots are in rhythm and blues and soul music. Funk music is often characterized by a strong, repetitive bass line and catchy melody. The One in Funk Music is George Clinton and the Funkadelics.

The early years

George Clinton was born in Kannapolis, North Carolina, on July 22, 1941. He later moved to Plainfield, New Jersey. During his teen years Clinton formed a doo-wop group inspired by Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers called The Parliaments, while working at a barber shop in Plainfield. For a brief period after high school he toured with The Parliaments as part of The Famous Flames, an early incarnation of James Brown’s backing band featuring Bobby Byrd on keyboards. Shortly thereafter, Clinton met former doo-wop singer Ray Davis, who enlisted him as a guitarist in his new soul music band The Parliaments. Davis changed the name of the band to Funkadelic which became one of the first groups to fuse rock and R&B.

The Parliament-Funkadelic years

Clinton formed the Parliament-Funkadelic collective in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The name “Parliament-Funkadelic” became synonymous with the bands,costumes,and onstage visuals used by the collective. The Parliament section of the band would become extremely successful with their string of number-one R&B hits during the 1970s. The Funkadelics would also have success with their brand of psychedelic funk, scoring a number of hits including “(Not Just) Knee Deep” and “One Nation Under a Groove”.

Bootsy Collins

Bootsy Collins is a legendary bassist who is best known for his work with Parliament-Funkadelic and his own group, Bootsy’s New Rubber Band. He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and his bass playing has influenced many other musicians.

The early years

William Earl “Bootsy” Collins was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 26, 1951. The youngest of three brothers ( Phelps “Catfish” Collins and Phillip “Philthryte” Collins ), he has said that his mother nicknamed him “Bootsy” because of his long legs and “cowboy Boots”. When he was five years old, his family moved to the south side of Cincinnati. Bootsy’s father became ill with cancer and died in 1963.

The Parliament-Funkadelic years

In 1970, after the release of the T.A.P.O.A.F.O.M. album, Collins left the J.B.’s to join George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic collective as a bass player and singer. This period saw Collins’ greatest success as he became one of the most prominent members of P-Funk and secured his role as bass player on a number of hit singles and albums, including Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain (1971) and One Nation Under a Groove (1978). Parliament’s “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)” from their 1976 album The Mothership Connection became one of Collins’ most memorable hits; he sang both lead and backup vocals on it and co-wrote its lyrics with Clinton.

Sly and the Family Stone

Sly and the Family Stone was an African-American funk band from San Francisco. Led by singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone, and featuring a rotating cast of family members and friends, the band was active from 1967 to 1983. One of the first truly multi-racial bands, Sly and the Family Stone’s music was a mishmash of styles, blending soul, R&B, rock, and psychedelia.

The early years

Sly and the Family Stone was an American rock, soul and funk band active during the late 1960s and early 1970s. To date, the band has sold over 100 million records worldwide.

The group’s original lineup consisted of singer-songwriter Sly Stone (born Sylvester Stewart), Multi-instrumentalist Freddie Stone, saxophonist/vocalist Rose Stone, trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, bassist Larry Graham, drummer Gregg Errico and keyboardist/vocalist Dal Martino. By 1969, the band had added guitarist/vocalist Rusty Evans and trombonist/vocalist Michael McKinney to their lineup.

The band’s fourth album Stand!, which was released in May of 1969, is often considered their magnum opus. The record features the classic tracks “I Want to Take You Higher” and “Everyday People”, both of which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Following the success of Stand!, Sly and the Family Stone ventured into psychedelic soul with their next album There’s a Riot Goin’ On (1971). The record topped the Billboard 200 chart and spawned the hit singles “Family Affair” and “Running Away”.

The band’s final studio album Fresh (1973) was another critical and commercial success, spawning the hits “If You Want Me to Stay” and “Thanks for stoppin’ by”. After its release, Sly Stone became increasingly isolated from the rest of the band due to his drug use. This led to tensions within the group and ultimately led to their dissolution in 1975.

The Parliament-Funkadelic years

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Parliament-Funkadelic (which would later be shortened to Parliament) became one of the most notable acts in all of black music. The collective’s work would touch upon (and in many cases, define) virtually every musical trend of the era: soul, R&B, rock, funk, and psychedelia.Keyboardist Bernie Worrell, bassist Bootsy Collins, and guitarist/vocalist Eddie Hazel were all significant members of Parliament during this period; in fact, Hazel’s guitar solo on “Maggot Brain” is widely considered one of the greatest ever recorded.