Parliament (band)
Encyclopedia
Parliament was a funk
band most prominent during the 1970s. It and its sister act Funkadelic
, both led by George Clinton
, began the funk music
culture of that decade.
, a doo-wop
vocal group based at a Plainfield, New Jersey
barber shop. The group was formed in the late 1950s and included George Clinton
, Ray Davis
, Fuzzy Haskins
, Calvin Simon
, and Grady Thomas
. Clinton was the group leader and manager. The group finally had a hit single in 1967 with "(I Wanna) Testify
" on Revilot Records. To capitalize, Clinton formed a backing band for a tour, featuring teenage barbershop employee Billy Bass Nelson
on bass and his friend Eddie Hazel
on guitar, with the lineup eventually rounded out by Tawl Ross
on guitar, Tiki Fulwood
on drums, and Mickey Atkins on organ.
During a contractual dispute with Revilot, Clinton temporarily lost the rights to the name "The Parliaments," and signed the ensemble to Westbound Records
as Funkadelic
, which Clinton positioned as a funk-rock band featuring the five touring musicians with the five Parliaments singers as uncredited guests. With Funkadelic as a recording and touring entity in its own right, in 1970 Clinton relaunched the singing group, now known as Parliament, at first featuring the same ten members. Clinton was now the leader of two different acts, Parliament and Funkadelic, which featured the same members but were marketed as creating two different types of funk
.
The Parliament album Osmium
was released on Invictus Records
in 1970, and was later reissued on CD with non-album tracks as both Rhenium and First Thangs. Osmium featured a mostly psychedelic soul
sound that was more similar to the Funkadelic albums of the period than to the later Parliament albums. The song "The Breakdown" was released separately as a single, and reached #30 on the R&B charts in 1971. Due to continuing contractual problems and the fact that Funkadelic releases were more successful at the time, Clinton abandoned the name Parliament until 1974.
Following Osmium, the lineup of Parliament-Funkadelic began going through many changes and was expanded significantly, with the addition of important members such as keyboardist Bernie Worrell
in 1970, singer/guitarist Garry Shider
in 1971, and bassist Bootsy Collins
(recruited from the James Brown
backing band) in 1972. Dozens of singers and musicians would contribute to future Parliament-Funkadelic releases. Clinton relaunched Parliament in 1974 and signed the act to Casablanca Records
. Parliament, now augmented by the Horny Horns (also recruited from James Brown's band) was positioned as a smoother R&B-based funk ensemble with intricate horn and vocal arrangements, and as a counterpoint to the guitar-based funk-rock of Funkadelic. By this point, Parliament and Funkadelic were touring as a combined entity known as Parliament-Funkadelic
or simply P-Funk (which also became the catch-all term for George Clinton's rapidly growing stable of funk artists).
The album Up for the Down Stroke
was released in 1974, with Chocolate City following in 1975. Both performed strongly on the Billboard R&B charts and were moderately successful on the Pop charts. Parliament began its period of greatest mainstream success with the concept album Mothership Connection
(1975), the lyrics of which launched much of the P-Funk mythology
. The subsequent albums The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein
(1976), Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome
(1977), and Motor Booty Affair
(1978) all reached high on both the R&B and Pop charts, while Funkadelic was also experiencing significant mainstream success. Parliament scored the #1 R&B singles "Flash Light" in 1977 and "Aqua Boogie" in 1978.
The rapidly expanding ensemble of musicians and singers in the Parliament-Funkadelic
enterprise, as well as Clinton's problematic management practices, began to take their toll by the late 1970s. Original Parliaments members Fuzzy Haskins
, Calvin Simon
, and Grady Thomas
, who had been with Clinton since the barbershop days in the late 1950s, felt marginalized by the continuous influx of new members and departed acrimoniously in 1977. Other important group members like singer/guitarist Glenn Goins and drummer Jerome Brailey left Parliament-Funkadelic in the late 1970s after disputes over Clinton's management. Two further Parliament albums, Gloryhallastoopid
(1979) and Trombipulation
(1980) were less successful than the albums from the group's prime 1975-1978 period.
In the early 1980s, with legal difficulties arising from the multiple names used by multiple groups, as well as a shakeup at Casablanca Records
, George Clinton dissolved Parliament and Funkadelic as recording and touring entities. However, many of the musicians in later versions of the two groups remained employed by Clinton. Clinton continued to release new albums regularly, sometimes under his own name and sometimes under the name George Clinton & the P-Funk All-Stars. The P-Funk All-Stars
continued to record and tour into the 1990s and 2000s, and regularly perform classic Parliament songs.
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
band most prominent during the 1970s. It and its sister act Funkadelic
Funkadelic
Funkadelic was an American band most prominent during the 1970s. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:...
, both led by George Clinton
George Clinton (funk musician)
George Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost...
, began the funk music
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
culture of that decade.
History
Parliament was originally The ParliamentsThe Parliaments
The Parliaments were a doo-wop quintet from Plainfield, New Jersey, formed in the back room of a barbershop in the late 1950s and named after the cigarette brand. After some early personnel changes their lineup solidified with George Clinton, Ray Davis, Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, and Grady Thomas...
, a doo-wop
Doo-wop
The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...
vocal group based at a Plainfield, New Jersey
Plainfield, New Jersey
Plainfield is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population increased to a record high of 49,808....
barber shop. The group was formed in the late 1950s and included George Clinton
George Clinton (funk musician)
George Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost...
, Ray Davis
Ray Davis (musician)
Raymond "Ray" Davis was the original bass singer and one of the founding members of The Parliaments, Parliament, and Funkadelic. His regular nickname while he was with those groups was "Sting Ray Davis". Aside from George Clinton, he was the only original member of the Parliaments not to leave the...
, Fuzzy Haskins
Fuzzy Haskins
Clarence Eugene "Fuzzy" Haskins is a former singer with 1950s and 1960s doo-wop group, The Parliaments. He is a founding member of the groundbreaking and influential 1970s funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic, also known as Parliament-Funkadelic. He left Parliament-Funkadelic in 1977 to pursue a...
, Calvin Simon
Calvin Simon
Calvin Eugene Simon is a former member of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic....
, and Grady Thomas
Grady Thomas
Grady Thomas is a former member of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic...
. Clinton was the group leader and manager. The group finally had a hit single in 1967 with "(I Wanna) Testify
(I Wanna) Testify
" Testify" is the first hit single by the Detroit soul singing group The Parliaments. The single was released at the beginning of the summer of 1967 by Revilot Records. The single went to #3 on Billboard R&B chart and #20 on the Pop chart. It would be the only major hit for the group for the entire...
" on Revilot Records. To capitalize, Clinton formed a backing band for a tour, featuring teenage barbershop employee Billy Bass Nelson
Billy Bass Nelson
William "Billy Bass" Nelson is a U.S. musician, who was the original bassist for Funkadelic. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic....
on bass and his friend Eddie Hazel
Eddie Hazel
Edward Earl "Eddie" Hazel was a guitarist in early funk music in the United States who played lead guitar with Parliament-Funkadelic...
on guitar, with the lineup eventually rounded out by Tawl Ross
Tawl Ross
Lucius "Tawl" Ross was the rhythm guitarist for Funkadelic from 1968 to 1971 and played on their first three albums. He left the band in 1971 soon after a debilitating experience with LSD. He moved back to North Carolina and dropped out of the music scene, but resurfaced in 1995 after a nearly...
on guitar, Tiki Fulwood
Tiki Fulwood
Ramon "Tiki" Fulwood was a drummer for the funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic...
on drums, and Mickey Atkins on organ.
During a contractual dispute with Revilot, Clinton temporarily lost the rights to the name "The Parliaments," and signed the ensemble to Westbound Records
Westbound Records
Westbound Records is a Detroit-based record label founded by Armen Boladian in 1970. It had a distribution deal with Janus Records from 1970 to 1975, but then it switched distribution to 20th Century Records during 1975 and 1976, but again switched distribution to Atlantic Records from 1976 to...
as Funkadelic
Funkadelic
Funkadelic was an American band most prominent during the 1970s. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:...
, which Clinton positioned as a funk-rock band featuring the five touring musicians with the five Parliaments singers as uncredited guests. With Funkadelic as a recording and touring entity in its own right, in 1970 Clinton relaunched the singing group, now known as Parliament, at first featuring the same ten members. Clinton was now the leader of two different acts, Parliament and Funkadelic, which featured the same members but were marketed as creating two different types of funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
.
The Parliament album Osmium
Osmium (album)
Osmium is the debut album of American funk band Parliament, led by George Clinton. The album has a psychedelic soul sound with a spirit of experimentation that is more similar to early Funkadelic than the later R&B-inspired Parliament albums. It was originally released in July 1970 on Invictus...
was released on Invictus Records
Invictus Records
Invictus Records was an American record label based in Detroit, Michigan created by Edward Holland, Jr., Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland...
in 1970, and was later reissued on CD with non-album tracks as both Rhenium and First Thangs. Osmium featured a mostly psychedelic soul
Psychedelic soul
Psychedelic soul, sometimes called black rock, is a sub-genre of soul music, which mixes the characteristics of soul with psychedelic rock...
sound that was more similar to the Funkadelic albums of the period than to the later Parliament albums. The song "The Breakdown" was released separately as a single, and reached #30 on the R&B charts in 1971. Due to continuing contractual problems and the fact that Funkadelic releases were more successful at the time, Clinton abandoned the name Parliament until 1974.
Following Osmium, the lineup of Parliament-Funkadelic began going through many changes and was expanded significantly, with the addition of important members such as keyboardist Bernie Worrell
Bernie Worrell
George Bernard "Bernie" Worrell, Jr. is an American keyboardist and composer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic...
in 1970, singer/guitarist Garry Shider
Garry Shider
Garry Marshall Shider was an American musician and guitarist. He was musical director of the P-Funk All-Stars for much of their history. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic.-Early life:Shider was born in Plainfield, New...
in 1971, and bassist Bootsy Collins
Bootsy Collins
William Earl "Bootsy" Collins is an American funk bassist, singer, and songwriter.Rising to prominence with James Brown in the late 1960s, and with Parliament-Funkadelic in the '70s, Collins's driving bass guitar and humorous vocals established him as one of the leading names in funk...
(recruited from the James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
backing band) in 1972. Dozens of singers and musicians would contribute to future Parliament-Funkadelic releases. Clinton relaunched Parliament in 1974 and signed the act to Casablanca Records
Casablanca Records
Casablanca Records was an American record label started by Neil Bogart, who partnered with Cecil Holmes, Larry Harris, and Buck Reingold in 1973, and based in Los Angeles. The label was formed after all of them had left Buddah Records and secured financing by Warner Bros. Records to start the venture...
. Parliament, now augmented by the Horny Horns (also recruited from James Brown's band) was positioned as a smoother R&B-based funk ensemble with intricate horn and vocal arrangements, and as a counterpoint to the guitar-based funk-rock of Funkadelic. By this point, Parliament and Funkadelic were touring as a combined entity known as Parliament-Funkadelic
Parliament-Funkadelic
Parliament-Funkadelic is a funk, soul and rock music collective headed by George Clinton. Their style has been dubbed P-Funk. Collectively the group has existed under various names since the 1960s and has been known for top-notch musicianship, politically charged lyrics, outlandish concept albums...
or simply P-Funk (which also became the catch-all term for George Clinton's rapidly growing stable of funk artists).
The album Up for the Down Stroke
Up for the Down Stroke
Up for the Down Stroke is a 1974 album by Parliament. It was the band's second album , and their first to be released on Casablanca Records. The album's title track was Parliament's first chart hit and remains one of the most well-known P-Funk songs...
was released in 1974, with Chocolate City following in 1975. Both performed strongly on the Billboard R&B charts and were moderately successful on the Pop charts. Parliament began its period of greatest mainstream success with the concept album Mothership Connection
Mothership Connection
In 2003 the TV network VH1 named Mothership Connection the 55th greatest album of all time.In 2003, the album was ranked number 274 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time....
(1975), the lyrics of which launched much of the P-Funk mythology
P-Funk mythology
The P-Funk mythology is a group of recurring fictional characters, themes and ideas related in a series of concept albums and live shows, primarily from George Clinton and his founded bands Parliament and Funkadelic....
. The subsequent albums The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein
The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein
The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein is an album by funk band Parliament, released in the summer of 1976. The album is notable for featuring horn arrangements by ex-James Brown band member, Fred Wesley. The album charted at #20 on the Billboard pop chart and became Parliament's second album to be...
(1976), Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome
Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome
Funkentelechy Vs. The Placebo Syndrome is a funk album by Parliament, released in 1977 .The album is considered to be one of the best in Parliament's catalog...
(1977), and Motor Booty Affair
Motor Booty Affair
Motor Booty Affair is an album by funk band Parliament. Released in late 1978, it contains two of the group's most popular tracks, "Rumpofsteelskin" and "Aqua Boogie " which went to number one on the Billboard Black Singles chart. The album title refers to the music coming out of "Motor town"...
(1978) all reached high on both the R&B and Pop charts, while Funkadelic was also experiencing significant mainstream success. Parliament scored the #1 R&B singles "Flash Light" in 1977 and "Aqua Boogie" in 1978.
The rapidly expanding ensemble of musicians and singers in the Parliament-Funkadelic
Parliament-Funkadelic
Parliament-Funkadelic is a funk, soul and rock music collective headed by George Clinton. Their style has been dubbed P-Funk. Collectively the group has existed under various names since the 1960s and has been known for top-notch musicianship, politically charged lyrics, outlandish concept albums...
enterprise, as well as Clinton's problematic management practices, began to take their toll by the late 1970s. Original Parliaments members Fuzzy Haskins
Fuzzy Haskins
Clarence Eugene "Fuzzy" Haskins is a former singer with 1950s and 1960s doo-wop group, The Parliaments. He is a founding member of the groundbreaking and influential 1970s funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic, also known as Parliament-Funkadelic. He left Parliament-Funkadelic in 1977 to pursue a...
, Calvin Simon
Calvin Simon
Calvin Eugene Simon is a former member of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic....
, and Grady Thomas
Grady Thomas
Grady Thomas is a former member of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic...
, who had been with Clinton since the barbershop days in the late 1950s, felt marginalized by the continuous influx of new members and departed acrimoniously in 1977. Other important group members like singer/guitarist Glenn Goins and drummer Jerome Brailey left Parliament-Funkadelic in the late 1970s after disputes over Clinton's management. Two further Parliament albums, Gloryhallastoopid
Gloryhallastoopid
Gloryhallastoopid is a 1979 album by the funk ensemble Parliament. It was their penultimate album on the Casablanca Records label, and is another concept album which tries to explain that Funk was responsible for the creation of the universe...
(1979) and Trombipulation
Trombipulation
Trombipulation is a 1980 album by the funk band Parliament . It was released by Casablanca Records. It was the last album of original material produced by the group. Unlike previous Parliament albums, George Clinton did not serve as sole producer of the album, as other P-Funk figures assisted in...
(1980) were less successful than the albums from the group's prime 1975-1978 period.
In the early 1980s, with legal difficulties arising from the multiple names used by multiple groups, as well as a shakeup at Casablanca Records
Casablanca Records
Casablanca Records was an American record label started by Neil Bogart, who partnered with Cecil Holmes, Larry Harris, and Buck Reingold in 1973, and based in Los Angeles. The label was formed after all of them had left Buddah Records and secured financing by Warner Bros. Records to start the venture...
, George Clinton dissolved Parliament and Funkadelic as recording and touring entities. However, many of the musicians in later versions of the two groups remained employed by Clinton. Clinton continued to release new albums regularly, sometimes under his own name and sometimes under the name George Clinton & the P-Funk All-Stars. The P-Funk All-Stars
Parliament-Funkadelic
Parliament-Funkadelic is a funk, soul and rock music collective headed by George Clinton. Their style has been dubbed P-Funk. Collectively the group has existed under various names since the 1960s and has been known for top-notch musicianship, politically charged lyrics, outlandish concept albums...
continued to record and tour into the 1990s and 2000s, and regularly perform classic Parliament songs.
External links
- The Motherpage.
- History of Parliament/Funkadelic (at the P-Funk portal NewFunkTimes.com).
- Parliament discography at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
.